Moving your existing catalogue from a different distributor (DistroKid, CD Baby, Tunecore, Ditto or others) to Make Waves is a very easy and straightforward process that a lot of artists do every day. However, it’s important that you follow the steps that are described below to make sure you don't have any downtime on your existing releases and don't lose any streams or playlist positions.
The first step is to recreate the release(s) that you’re transferring to your Make Waves account. You can do this in the same way that you would set up a brand-new release. More information on how to set up a release using the Make Waves platform can be found here.
We would strongly recommend using the exact same metadata and audio file(s) that you used with your previous distributor. If you use the same ISRCs for the track(s) and the same title and artist name, the release will be matched correctly. Meaning that the existing streams will be transferred automatically.
For optimal results, it is recommended that all data in the new release matches the previous one, with the exception of the UPC. You could either use the same UPC as the old release or have Make Waves generate a new one for you automatically.
To make sure your release is showing correctly and chronologically on your artist pages, it's best to fill in the original release date for your release. When you get to the 'Distribution' step, tick the following box in order to fil in the date of when the release first went live on stores.
The second step is to deliver this new release to stores through Make Waves. Once Make Waves has accepted and delivered the release, you should see after 48-72 hours that this new product has been successfully delivered and that the streams have merged on Spotify.
To complete the "switch", you can now safely proceed by deleting or requesting a takedown for the old version of your release with your previous distributor. You can always contact [email protected] to ensure your takedown is issued at the right time. Or check out the video tutorial below!
Please note that if you delete the original release too soon (i.e. before the old version of the release is matched with the new Make Wave release), you risk losing streams or playlist positions. If you are unsure whether the old release can already be taken down, feel free to let us check! This can be done by contacting [email protected].
Related content