Once you have submitted your release in the Uploader on the AWAL Portal, our Operations team will check all aspects of your release thoroughly.
If an issue is raised, your release will be ‘queried’ and returned to your AWAL Portal, and you’ll receive an accompanying email to let you know the reason. To prevent querying and avoid the possibility of your release date being compromised, it’s important that your release meets all specifications laid out in our Asset Specifications article and the iTunes Music Store Style Guidelines before it is submitted for the first time.
Keep in mind these frequent issues to avoid a delay in your release date:
- Artwork
- Artist, Producer, Remixer, and Songwriter Credits
- Version Titles
- P & C lines
- Incorrect use of Clean & Explicit Tags
- Invalid label names
- Instrumental Language
- Live Versions
#1 Artwork
Cover artwork issues are the most common and can sometimes require multiple rounds of edits before it can be approved.
Check out our article Artwork, What Isn’t Allowed for more information.
#2 Artist, Producer, Remixer and Songwriter Credits
Issues with the credits on your release could arise if artist, remixer, producer and songwriter names are entered incorrectly in the Uploader. The most common issues are:
- Adding a featuring artist or producer credit in the release/track title
- Songwriters are credited using a stage or band name instead of full legal (first and last) names.
- Crediting remixers as primary artists. Remixers should only be credited using the ‘remixer’ role on step 5 of the Uploader.
- The roles you use to credit contributors don’t match at the release level (step 3) and track level (step 5).
Note: Contributors should be credited in the exact roles they play on your release. You should not alter the credits of your release for display purposes on the digital services.
For more assistance with adding credits to your release, see Additional Contributors.
#3 Version Titles
Version Titles should only be used if the album or track you are uploading has been rereleased or if multiple versions exist. Examples of releases that should likely have Version Titles are remasters, radio edits, and remixes. ‘Original’ is not a valid Version Title and should not be utilized.
See the article Version Titles for more on best practices for using Version Titles on your releases.
#4 P & C lines
P & C lines denote the copyright of your release. The ‘P’ Year is the copyright of the sound recording you’re uploading. P lines are present at both the Release (step 4 of the Uploader) and Track level (step 5 of the Uploader) of a product and can be entered during the upload process.
The ‘C’ Year should match the year the artwork, packshot, packaging etc of the Product was first created.
More information about P & C lines can be found here.
#5 Incorrect Parental Advisory Tags
You’ll select a Parental Advisory tag (Clean, Explicit, or Not Explicit) for every track you upload to AWAL.
Clean tags should only be used if an Explicit version of the track you’ve uploaded has been/will be released. If there is no Explicit version, please update the Parental Advisory to 'Not Explicit’.
If a track contains Explicit content, it needs to be flagged as such in the Track Information section of the AWAL Uploader. If you choose to include the Parental Advisory image on the artwork, please ensure it’s the image used by the British Phonographic Industry.
#6 Invalid label names
You’ll enter a label name on every release you upload to AWAL (Step 4 of the Uploader). If you do not use a ‘label name’ to release under please feel free to enter your artist name in that field. The following cannot be accepted as label names on your releases:
- AWAL
- Independent
- N/A
- Self-released
#7 Instrumental Releases
Please only use the ‘Instrumental’ genre if your release is in fact instrumental and doesn’t contain any vocals. If you’re releasing an instrumental release, you must set the Lyrics Language (on step 5 of the Uploader) to ‘None (Instrumental)’.
#8 Live Versions
If you’re uploading a live track or product, you must include live details in the ‘Version Title’ section of the Uploader. You should include the date and location of the recording in your Live Version Title, so it's formatted as Live at Place, Year/Date. For example:
Version Title: Live at Abbey Road Studios, London, 2020