Releases and distribution

How a release reaches the stores and how listeners are sent to it.

• Music distributor

  A music distributor, or aggregator, delivers an artist's or label's releases to streaming services and download stores, and collects the master-side income those services pay, returning it with a statement. Digital distributors typically assign ISRCs and UPCs if the artist has none, and charge either a subscription fee or a percentage of royalties.

• Smart link

  A smart link is a single shareable URL for a song or release that leads to a landing page or redirect sending each listener to the version of it on their preferred streaming service. More advanced smart links route by country, device or referring site, and report which services and places the clicks came from.