Saving a change does not mean republishing
Saving a change and sending it to the platforms are two completely different things.
Saving only updates the details in our system – until you send the release again, the platforms know nothing about any change.
Where the confusion comes from
We are used to changes taking effect immediately. You edit a message in a chat – the other person sees it straight away. You change the caption of a social media post – it updates within a second. So you assume the same applies to music distribution. But it does not.
Digital music distribution works differently. The Bez Labelu system is an intermediary between you and the streaming platforms – and the changes you save with us are, for the time being, just a local edit in your release. Nothing is sent to Spotify, Apple Music or any other platform until you actively send the release to distribution again.
How it works – a simple analogy
Imagine that your release is a letter you have already sent once. Now you want to change something:
You correct the text of the letter on your desk. The recipient knows nothing about the change – they are still holding the original version.
You seal the corrected letter in an envelope and actually send it. Only now does the change reach the recipient.
Distribution works exactly the same way. Saving = an edit on paper at your home. Republishing = sending that corrected version to the platforms.
How to send a release again
After you save a change, the app will remind you that saving is not republishing. In the release detail, go to the Distribution section, tick the platforms on which the release should be updated and click Distribute Selected (or Distribute next to an individual platform). The distribution buttons only unlock once you have ticked all the points in the Declaration before distribution card. The platforms then take a few days to process the change – more in the article When to send your music to distribution and how long it takes. You can see when you last sent the release in the Distribution history card. You will find a detailed guide in the article Submitting a release for distribution step by step.
Why changes are not sent to the platforms automatically
It makes sense from both sides. Platforms such as Spotify or Apple Music do not accept every small edit on an ongoing basis – they process incoming releases and updates in batches, carry out their own checks and only then register the changes. If they had to respond to every single save, the system would be unworkable.
Thanks to this, you can take your time preparing all your edits, even over several days – fix the cover art today, the authors tomorrow, review everything the day after – and only when you are happy with the result do you send the release again. What goes to the platforms is always the final, finished version.
Careful – not everything can be changed
Being able to make a change and then republish a release does not mean that anything at all can be changed. Some details are restricted after distribution or cannot be edited at all. This topic is covered in detail in the article What can still be changed after distribution and what cannot.
Similarly, recordings cannot be added to or removed from an album that has already been released – more in the article Recordings cannot be added to or removed from albums that are already released.
You can make the edits and send the release again yourself in the app. Before bigger edits, or if you are not sure whether a change is possible, it is better to contact us beforehand – we will be happy to confirm it for you and you will avoid unnecessary complications. Remember that digital distribution has real legal consequences and a mistake in the metadata is not just a cosmetic issue.
If you are wondering why distribution works this way in general, read the article Digital distribution works on the same principle as distributing a physical album – there we use a concrete analogy to explain why it cannot be a service with instant changes.
Summary
- Saving a change in the Bez Labelu system is not the same as sending it to the platforms – they are two separate steps.
- For the change to actually take effect on Spotify, Apple Music and others, you have to send the release to distribution again (republish it) – in the release detail via Distribute Selected.
- Platforms process updates in batches – automatically sending every single edit as you go is neither possible nor desirable.
- Not everything can be changed after distribution – you can see the rules in the release detail and in the article What can still be changed after distribution and what cannot. Before bigger edits, it is better to contact us.