How to enter another artist who does not have profiles on the platforms yet
An artist you add as an additional primary or featuring artist should already have profiles on the platforms.
If that is not the case, it is an exception – instead of the identifier, you enter the value NEW in the form and a profile is created for the artist during distribution. Here is exactly how to do it.
Why an artist usually has profiles on the platforms
Adding someone as an additional primary artist or a featured artist (featuring) makes sense when it is an artist who already exists as an artist and is actively making music. Such an artist should have their profiles on Spotify and Apple Music long before they become part of your release – because they have their own music, under which these profiles were created.
That is why the form requires both a Spotify URI and an Apple Music ID for each name – these are the identifiers of an existing profile, which the platforms use to assign the music to the right profile. The form will not accept an empty field: The number of identifiers must exactly match the number of names. If the artist really does not have a profile on one of the platforms, you write NEW in its place.
NEW means that a new profile is created for the artist during distribution. If you enter it for an artist who already has a profile (you just could not be bothered to look it up), they will end up with a duplicate profile on the platform and their music will be split between two places. What is more, the form will not overwrite an identifier already saved for the artist – the correction then has to be handled by support. Before you write NEW, search for the profile carefully.
What to do when the artist does not have profiles
If the artist you want to add has never performed on Spotify or Apple Music and really does not have any profiles, you do not need to write to us – you can sort everything out directly in the release or recording form.
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Check that the profile really does not exist
Search for the artist on both Spotify and Apple Music (watch out for similar names and other artists with the same name). If you find the profile, use its identifier – how to get it is described in the article Spotify URI, Apple Music ID and Amazon Music ASIN. -
Write NEW in place of the missing identifier
In the Spotify URI or Apple Music ID field, write NEW for this artist instead of the identifier (capitalisation does not matter). This applies to each platform separately – if the artist has a profile on only one of them, you enter their identifier for that one and NEW for the other. It works the same way on the release and on the recording. -
Save and send to distribution
The profile is created for the artist during distribution. After the release, they can claim it on the platforms themselves (for example in Spotify for Artists), and for further joint releases you will use their actual identifier.
Below are examples of what the fields look like in different situations – so you know what to write in the form and when.
Example 1 – one additional artist who does not have profiles
You write NEW in both the Spotify URI and the Apple Music ID fields.
Example 2 – three additional artists, one of whom (in the middle) does not have profiles
The order must be the same in all three fields. Where an artist does not have an identifier, write NEW in its place – this keeps the position and the other artists stay correctly matched. BlueBoy’s profiles will be created during distribution.