Help & documentation

A tour of the core building blocks: releases, tracks, artists, labels, publishers, people, and pitches, and how they fit together.

The distributable container: tracks, artwork, metadata, and the state machine from draft to live.

The individual recording: audio file, ISRC, credits, lyrics, and explicit flag: what lives on the track vs. the release.

Who owns what, and why an independent artist is usually both the artist and the label.

Two distinct concepts: a Person is a credits entity on a release; a User is an account holder with scoped access. Neither implies the other.

Master vs. publishing royalties, shareholder splits, DSP reporting lag, and how payouts reach your account.

The full pitching workflow: what a pitch is, when to submit, what goes in it, and how Velveteen tracks it from draft to delivery.

Your editorial submission: linked to a release, separate from distribution, tracked through Velveteen review.

Distribution and editorial pitching are independent: your release goes live whether or not you pitch.

6 weeks recommended, 4 weeks minimum: why timing matters and how Velveteen enforces the window.

Where to start, what release states qualify, and how the pitch detail tabs are organized.

The readiness checklist: required fields across Overview, Artist, Music, and Marketing tabs.

Draft → submitted → approved → delivered, plus needs work and rejected paths.

The copy editors read: hook, story, big picture, and the supporting metadata around them.

Review timelines, delivery to editorial teams, and what acceptance does, and doesn't, mean.

A complete guide to artist profiles, from setup and metadata to DSP identifiers, credits, approval, and trust declarations.

The performing identity: separate from your account, owned by a label, and the name listeners find on DSPs.

Every field on an artist profile: what it does, whether it syncs to DSPs, and when you need it.

The identifiers array that links your artist to Spotify, Apple Music, and every other DSP profile.

Primary vs. featured credits, how release_artists and track_artists work, and how to add a feature.

The approval lifecycle: what each status means, what triggers transitions, and what to do when needs_work.

The one-time declaration required before delivery, the trust status lifecycle, and how to resolve a restricted artist.

Credits entities with no login: composers, lyricists, contributors, and performers, and the identifiers that connect them to collecting societies.

A metadata record for anyone who appears in track credits. No account, no login: purely a credits entity.

Three identifiers with three purposes: ISNI for name disambiguation, IPN for performer royalties, IPI for composer PRO matching.

Role-based contributor credits and instrument-based performer credits: what the difference is and how to add both.

How the track_publishers join connects a composer to their publishing house, and why it matters for royalty collection.

Everything about publishing houses: composition rights, the songwriter-publisher relationship, royalties, and how to add publishers to tracks.

The entity that owns composition rights: what it is, how it differs from a label, and when you need one.

How one track_publishers row pairs a composer with their publishing house, and what to do for co-writes.

Mechanical vs. performance royalties, PRO registration, and what leaving publisher fields blank means for your payouts.

The step-by-step workflow for adding publisher credits to a track, and the free-text fallback when a person record doesn't exist yet.

Account model, entity permissions, label membership, and access control for everyone who uses Velveteen.

Your account: email, profile, and global role (user or admin). Separate from artist profiles and Person credits records.

Viewer, editor, and admin: how each entity in Velveteen has its own permissions table and what each role can do.

The label_members system: roles for artists, staff, managers, and label admins under a single label account.

How to share access to entities with other users, and how to remove it.

Per-track royalty splits: what shareholders are, how percentages are assigned, when editing locks, and how multi-shareholder change requests work.

An email address and a share percentage on a single track: the basics of the shareholder entity.

Percentages that must sum to 100% or less, distributed to each shareholder when royalty reports are processed.

Shareholders lock when a track is attached to a submitted or live release. After that, edits require a change request.

How multi-shareholder change requests work: one shareholder proposes, all must approve before the new splits take effect.

The full release object: formats, metadata, tracks, labels, readiness checks, submission, review, and delivery.

The package Velveteen sends to stores: single, EP, or album, with tracks, artwork, dates, label metadata, and credits.

Title, display artist, artwork, label, genre, copyright lines, UPC, dates, and the fields that live on the release rather than the track.

What the release states mean, when tracks lock, and why submitted releases cannot be edited like drafts.

The readiness gate before review: subscription, artist approval, dates, tracks, credits, artwork, label approval, and fraud declarations.

Consumer release date, original release date, pre-order date, and the Single, EP, or Album format field.

The recording-level object: audio, previews, ISRCs, credits, contributors, performers, shareholders, and release attachments.

One recording: attach it to releases, then manage its audio, ISRC, credits, performers, publishers, and shareholders.

Title, display artist, genre, language, explicit flag, AI declaration, P line, preview settings, and ISRC.

The uploaded audio file, minimum duration, and preview window that Velveteen checks before release submission.

Contributor roles, instrument performers, artist credits, publisher links, and shareholders on a single recording.

The recording identifier: when Velveteen generates an ISRC, when you supply one, and how format validation works.

Release ownership, custom label names, label permissions, label team members, release approvals, and public label pages.

The owner-of-record for releases: independent artists use an assigned label, and Pro or Label accounts can use custom labels.

Name, slug, public page settings, FUGA identifier, permissions, and the label data used on releases.

Plan gates for custom labels, assigned labels on lower plans, and locked copyright text.

Label plan team management, label admins, managed artists, and the release approval gate before submission.

The readiness panel and the full set of release-level and track-level checks Velveteen runs before a release can leave draft, plus quick fixes and common blockers.

The panel on a draft release: issue count, jump links, Release fixes and Track fixes, and the All set state that enables Submit for Review.

Name, artwork, label, genre and uniqueness, explicit, copyright lines, format, UPC, release dates, artist identifiers, artist approval and trust, and accepted invitations.

Title, audio file and 30-second minimum, genre, language, copyright, ISRC, preview window, contributors and composer or lyricist, performers, and the AI declaration.

The one-click fixes Velveteen offers for common issues, and the Apply fixes action that clears several at once.

The blockers that come up most: artist approval, DSP identifiers, release dates, the AI declaration, contributors, and the single-track genre match.

FUGA reports, shareholder snapshots, balances, payout requests, sales credits, and royalty-recouped fees.

Recording royalties and direct-sale credits flow to track shareholders. Publishing royalties remain separate.

Imported FUGA statements, user royalty reports, summaries, and statement PDFs.

Available balance, payout method, payout email, payout minimums, requests, cancellations, and payout history.

Direct sale fees, continuing distribution fees, payout fees, and converting royalty balance into account credit.

Public release pages, pricing, platform fees, Stripe checkout, fan purchases, download zips, and sales credits.

Fans buy a download from a public release page. Purchases are tracked and credited through shareholder splits.

The profile-level sales toggle, release-level sales toggle, public release pages, and eligible release states.

Default minimum prices, custom release prices, and plan-based platform fees for direct sales.

Stripe checkout, fan purchase records, zip generation, download links, purchase success, and recovery.

From a new account to your first submitted release: artist setup, release drafting, tracks, readiness, submission, and post-submit states.

Catalog > Artists > New Artist: name, DSP identifiers, new-artist flag, terms, and approval status.

Catalog > Releases > New Release: title, display artist, format, genre, dates, copyright lines, and label assignment.

Use Add Track on the release, upload audio (30+ seconds), then complete ISRC, credits, performers, and AI declaration on each track.

The Release Readiness panel on a DRAFT release: issue count, jump links, auto-fixes, and the checks behind Submit for Review.

When readiness passes, use Submit for Review. Velveteen locks the release and tracks and moves the package into review.

Post-submit states, locked edits, Velveteen review, delivery timing, and what to do while you wait.

How to use Vee for product questions, catalog lookups, release guidance, navigation, and handoff to support when an issue needs a person.

The practical scope: answer help questions, inspect catalog data, explain fields, summarize statuses, and move you to the right dashboard page.

Open Vee from the dashboard, use admin-only composer dictation during rollout, use the mobile bottom bar, full-screen chat route, or field-help cards tied to a specific page.

How Vee uses scoped catalog tools for releases, tracks, artists, royalties, analytics, and dashboard navigation.

When Vee is enough, when support is better, and how to choose between docs, tickets, Pro Support, and Label Support.

Modal chats, full-screen threads, saved conversation history, unread indicators, and starting fresh when the context changes.

Profile details, plan features, subscriptions, login methods, payout preferences, and account deletion.

The Settings page: email, full name, store visibility, direct sales, email preferences, and account status.

Choose a plan, start Stripe checkout, manage your subscription, update payment methods, and view invoices.

Artist limits, release limits, pitching, custom labels, collaborator invites, label features, support, and direct-sale fees.

Apple, Google, password, passkey, connecting new methods, and the last-method safeguard.

Set payout country, payout method, payout email, and understand payout minimums.

Confirmation, password checks, hard deletion, anonymization, and retained financial records.

Share your link and earn subscription credit: how referrals work, how to share, the rewards for both sides, and how a referral is tracked.

The three steps: share your link, your friend subscribes for a free first month, and you get a credit. What counts as a successful referral.

Find your referral link on the Referrals page, copy it or share by email, and how a signup is attributed to your code.

Your friend's first month free, and your credit matching their plan's monthly price, applied automatically to your next bill.

Pending, Subscribed, and earned: what each status means and how to track your referrals and credits.

The notification center and bell, what triggers a notification, email preferences in Settings, and push on the mobile app.

The bell and its unread badge, the Notifications page, the All and Unread filters, and Mark all read.

Release and pitch decisions, delivery, payouts, support replies, invitations, achievements, and release milestones.

Essential app emails always send; product updates, tips and offers, the newsletter, and achievement emails can be turned off in Settings or by unsubscribing.

Push notifications on the Velveteen mobile app: what they deliver and how they relate to in-app and email notifications.

The Streaming dashboard: stream counts by track, artist, label, and release, where the data comes from, the few-day reporting lag, and how streams differ from royalties.

The six tabs (Overview, Trend, Tracks, Artists, Labels, Releases) and the 7D, 30D, 90D, and YTD date presets.

Daily DSP reports delivered through distribution, broken down by Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Amazon, and Deezer, scoped to your catalog and lagging a few days.

Why a stream count is not a dollar amount, and how streaming analytics and the royalty engine track different data on different timelines.

The Trend tab, day-over-day change percentages, top DSP and top track, and what active tracks means.

Velveteen aggregates across platforms with a short lag. Use the DSP portals when you need real-time or play-level detail.

Tiered milestone badges earned per artist for streams, releases, sales, EPs, albums, and social links. Awarded automatically, with the Streaming badge shareable.

Each badge has numbered tiers with thresholds, tracked per artist. Velveteen checks your numbers automatically and awards new tiers as you reach them.

The six badges Velveteen tracks: Streaming, Releases, Sales, First EP, First Album, and Social Presence, with the threshold for every tier.

The Streaming badge can be shared as a card image. An artist visibility toggle controls whether badges show, and you get a notification when one is earned.

Two link types for promoting a release: pre-save links before it is out and release-day links once it is live, plus how to create, track, and remove them.

For pre-saving a release before it is out. Built on Found.ee and prepared asynchronously after you request one.

For release day and after: one link that routes fans to your music across stores. Built on vlvtn.link and minted instantly.

Create link, choose pre-save or release-day, pick a release you have permission on, then confirm. One active link of each type per release.

Requested, Building, Live, and Failed: what each status means and how to retry a link that failed.

Copy and open links, cancel a pre-save still being built, and choose whether to remove a release-day link from Velveteen only or from vlvtn.link as well.

Every way to get help: Vee and the Help Center first, email support for account and release questions, and the in-app priority chats on the Pro and Label plans.

Email support@velveteen.fm for account, release, and royalty questions, or hello@velveteen.fm for business and partnerships. What to include to get a faster answer.

The priority in-app support chat included with the Pro plan, where to find it, and how it differs from email.

The dedicated in-app support channel for Label-plan accounts and label leadership, and how it differs from Pro support and email.

Vee and the Help Center answer most product questions instantly. When to use each, and when to escalate to email or a support chat.

Build on Velveteen: API keys, Bearer authentication, scopes, and the catalog, pitching, and royalty endpoints. Available on the Pro and Label plans.

Create a key with a name and scopes, copy it once at creation, revoke it anytime, and the limit of ten active keys per account.

The base URL, the Authorization Bearer header with your key, and where to find the in-app reference and code examples.

The six scopes, catalog, pitches, and royalties in read and write form, and how they limit what a key can do.

The resource groups the API covers, how pagination works, and the standard error codes the API returns.