When Kahmy finished her first song, she assumed the hard part was over — and then froze at the last step. "How do I actually put this on Spotify?" she asked. "Do I need a label? Does someone have to approve it?" The answer surprised her: no, and no. Getting your own song onto Spotify is one of the most straightforward parts of the whole journey. Here is exactly how it works.
A quick reality check first: releasing music is easy. Making music that's ready to release is the real work. So before we touch distributors and upload buttons, make sure the song itself is actually done.
Step 1 — Make sure the song is genuinely finished
"Finished" means mixed, and ideally mastered — not just "the parts are all there." If you're not sure whether yours is done or you keep stalling before this point, that's incredibly common and worth reading about on its own: here's why most people never finish a song, and how to get past it. Once the mix sounds good on your headphones, your phone speaker, and the car, you're ready.
Step 2 — Export a proper master file
From your DAW, export a stereo WAV file, 44.1kHz / 16-bit (the standard for streaming). Not an MP3 — you want the highest-quality version, and the distributor makes the compressed copies later. Give it a clear filename and keep it somewhere safe. That single WAV is the thing the entire world will hear.
Step 3 — Pick a distributor
Spotify and Apple Music don't let individuals upload directly — you go through a distributor (an "aggregator") that delivers your song to every platform at once. The popular ones are DistroKid, TuneCore, CD Baby, Amuse and Ditto. For a first release, most people pick DistroKid (cheap yearly fee, unlimited uploads) or Amuse (has a free tier). You keep your rights and your royalties — the distributor just handles delivery.
"I'd built this whole story in my head about needing to be 'signed'. The actual release took an afternoon."
— Kahmy, on releasing her debut
Step 4 — Upload and fill in the details
Inside the distributor you'll add: your artist name, the track and its WAV file, cover art (3000×3000px, no logos or web URLs on it), songwriter credits, and a release date. Set that date at least two to three weeks out — this gives you time to submit the song to Spotify's editorial playlists through Spotify for Artists, and to line up a pre-save link so fans can save it before it's live.
Step 5 — Release day and beyond
On the day, your song appears under your name on Spotify, Apple Music, and everywhere else, where anyone in the world can press play. Share the link, thank the people who pre-saved it, and — this is the part that matters most — start the next one. Your first release is a door, not a destination. Kahmy has released several tracks since.
None of this requires a label. It requires a finished song — which is exactly the part we help our students get to. If you'd like a professional producer working on your actual track through all six months up to release day, here's how the journey works.
You can hear Kahmy's release — and a wall of others who started exactly where you are — over on the student releases page.