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We spent a month writing practical guides on releasing music, from registering a song to reading the statement that pays for it. This is the short version, in the order you will need it, with each step pointing back to the guide and the official page behind it.
Industryvia Spotify for Artists
Spotify plays music at -14 LUFS by default and turns louder masters down, so a -8 LUFS master buys you no extra volume, only less dynamic range and more risk of encoding distortion. Here is what Spotify, Apple and YouTube actually document, what they leave out, and how to make mastering decisions with that in mind.
Industryvia Spotify for Artists
Apple Music weights plays of tracks available in Spatial Audio at 1.1 against 1 for everything else, whether or not anyone listens in spatial. The catch is that you can't fake the mix, and the maths only works for tracks with a lot of Apple plays.
Industryvia Apple Music for Artists
TikTok and Apple Music launched Play Full Song on 11 Mar 2026, letting Apple Music subscribers hear a whole track inside TikTok through Apple's MusicKit, so the play is paid as an Apple Music stream. The 15-second clip in the feed still isn't a stream, the feature is exclusive to Apple, and Spotify listeners still only get a save button.
Industryvia TikTok Newsroom
One email a week: the music-tech and AI-in-music news that mattered, and what we think about it.