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When your cover art must be ready: a release timeline
Your cover is due on the day you upload to your distributor, not on release day. The art travels with the audio and metadata in one delivery, and changing it afterwards is slow or impossible. Spotify wants music delivered at least 7 days before release so its editors can listen, distributors need days to review, and you need the art earlier still for pre-saves and promo. So plan for the cover to be finished four weeks before release, the day you upload: DistroKid says to set a release date at least four weeks ahead if it has to hold in every store. Checked on 20 October 2026.
The deadlines that set the timeline
Spotify's pitch window. Spotify's pitching guide asks you to deliver music at least 7 days before release so editors have time to listen. A song pitched at least 7 days before release is added to your followers' Release Radar playlists. You can pitch one song at a time, and once a song is live it can no longer be pitched.
Distributor review and delivery. DistroKid says it can take several days for a release to be reviewed, approved and sent to stores. After that its rough estimates are 2 to 5 days for Spotify, 1 to 7 days for Apple Music, with a small share of albums going through a manual review at Apple that adds 1 to 2 weeks, and 1 to 2 weeks for Facebook and Instagram.
Changing the cover later. DistroKid takes edit requests and says stores typically process them within a few days, but an artwork change can take up to 1 to 2 weeks to reach every store. CD Baby locks artwork once a release is delivered, so even a typo means cancelling and resubmitting. Treat the cover as final when you upload.
Countdown Pages. For albums and EPs, Spotify's Countdown Pages let fans pre-save from your profile. They need at least 3,000 monthly active listeners, an original album or EP (singles do not qualify), and a release already delivered by your distributor; the option appears within 72 hours of delivery. The earlier you deliver, the longer your pre-save runs.
A four week plan
Four weeks out: the cover is finished.
- Final square file, 3000 by 3000 pixels, RGB JPG. Our sizes guide has the store and distributor limits.
- Text on the art, if any, matches the release form exactly. See text on cover art.
- A version with no text, saved for everything else.
- Checked small, on your phone, next to other covers.
Four weeks out: upload.
- Upload audio, cover and metadata to your distributor with a future release date. On DistroKid, a future release date needs the Musician Plus or Ultimate plan, and once you set one you can also pick the time the release goes live on Spotify; every other store goes live around midnight in each listener's time zone.
- Mark explicit tracks honestly. See Parental Advisory on cover art.
- Leave time for a rejection and a second upload.
Two to three weeks out: pitch and pre-save.
- When the release shows in Spotify for Artists under Upcoming, pitch your focus song. Seven days is the minimum; earlier gives editors more time.
- For an album or EP, set up a Countdown Page if you qualify.
- Start sharing the cover. It is the first thing people learn to recognise as the release.
One to two weeks out: the moving pieces.
- Upload a Spotify Canvas for each track; it can be added before release.
- If your distributor delivers Apple Album Motion, send it now. See Apple Music animated cover art.
- Prepare the YouTube static video and thumbnail, the vertical story, and the square post.
Release day.
- Check the cover in every store on a phone. If a store shows the wrong picture, start the fix that day: an edit request on DistroKid, or cancel and resubmit on CD Baby.
- Post the cover and the Canvas, and point people to the song.
When the timeline is shorter
Sometimes the song is finished on a Monday and has to come out on Friday. That is possible, but something gives. You will likely miss the 7 day pitch window, so the song will not be picked for Release Radar from a pitch. Store timing is less certain, so a fixed release hour is a risk. And the cover has to be right the first time, because there is no room for a rejection.
In that case, make the cover the day the song is done. Soundae reads the finished song and makes covers from its own words the same day, so the art is not what holds a quick release back.
Plan the next release now
If singles are coming every few weeks, the timelines overlap: one cover is being pitched while the next is being made. Plan the covers for a run of singles together, so they belong to one world without repeating. Our guide to covers for singles, EPs and albums shows how.