For: Releasing artists (RA) and label managers (LM) whose release came back denied or needs action You'll need: The denial notes from our review team (shown on the release page and emailed to you) Time: 5–30 minutes, depending on what needs fixing
A denial isn't the end of the road. Most denials are small fixes — a misspelled artist name, low-resolution artwork, a missing language tag. Here's the loop.
Quick answer
Open the denied release, read the notes at the top, fix every issue listed, and click Submit for review again. While in denied, every field autosaves as you edit — there's no Save bar to worry about. Resubmission moves the status back to submitted and review starts again.
Step-by-step
Open the release. The denial reasons appear in a banner at the top and are listed under "Reasons for denial" in the email we sent.
Read every reason — don't fix just the first. Reviewers list everything in one pass so you can address it all in one resubmission.
Edit the fields. The release is in denied status, which puts you in free-edit mode: type, click away, it saves.
If artwork was the problem, re-upload a 1400 × 1400 px + square RGB image.
If audio was the problem, replace the file. (You can replace audio while in denied — once the release is approved, audio is locked.)
When everything is fixed, click Submit for review. Status changes to submitted and review queues it again.
Common denial reasons and what they mean
"Artwork doesn't meet specs" — usually too small, not square, or contains text/logos that aren't allowed.
"Metadata mismatch" — track title, artist name, or featured credit doesn't match between the release page and the audio file. Make sure casing and spelling are consistent.
"Explicit content not flagged" — open the track and toggle the Explicit flag on.
"Audio quality" — file is below 16-bit / 44.1 kHz, or has clipping, silence at the start, or other technical issues.
"Rights / clearance" — we couldn't verify you have the right to release the audio. This may need supporting documentation; reply to the denial email.
Why it works this way
Streaming services reject releases for the same reasons, just slower and with less feedback. Our review catches problems before they hit Spotify and Apple Music so you don't end up with a takedown on a release that's already live. Denials are reversible; takedowns after delivery are much harder to undo.
Common problems
Banner says "denied" but no reasons are shown — refresh the page; if still empty, contact support.
You fix the issue but Submit stays disabled — another field is still failing validation; scroll through each section for the red note.
Same denial again after resubmit — the underlying issue wasn't fixed, or a different issue surfaced. Reply to the denial email and we'll walk through it.