Does Approving a Copyright Alert Guarantee Distribution?
When you receive a Copyright Alert during your release submission process, you may be asked to approve a declaration confirming that the content belongs to you. This step is crucial — but it's also important to understand what it does and does not guarantee.
What Happens When You Approve the Declaration?
By approving the declaration, you are officially confirming your ownership of the content that has been flagged as a potential match with existing material online. This is an important first step and shows that you're confident in your rights to distribute the track.
However — Approval Does Not Guarantee Distribution
While your declaration is essential, it does not automatically result in your release being approved for distribution. Here's why:
Our team must still perform a full manual review of the flagged content, along with the details you've submitted.
All copyright-related alerts require close human assessment to ensure compliance with platform rules, legal standards, and metadata accuracy.
We review the release information, ownership claims, and any supporting documentation to determine whether we can confidently and legally distribute the track.
This is to protect you, us, and the digital platforms from distributing content that might cause future takedowns, disputes, or penalties.
What Our Team Will Do After Your Declaration
Once you've approved the declaration:
Our content integrity team will review the alert manually.
We will check for consistency between: the matched content, the release metadata (track title, artist, label, ISRC, etc.), and any supporting documentation you provide.
Based on the findings, we will determine whether the release can move forward to the stores or whether further action or clarification is needed.
What You Can Do to Help Speed Things Up
To help our team assess the case more efficiently, you can provide:
- Session files or screenshots from your DAW (Ableton, Logic, etc.)
- Licensing agreements or split sheets
- Proof of prior ownership or publishing rights
- Links to your previously distributed content (if relevant)
Final Reminder
The declaration step is an important statement of ownership, but it's just one part of the full review process. While many releases are approved following this step, some may still require further clarification or ultimately not be eligible for distribution — depending on the findings.
We appreciate your understanding and your cooperation. If you ever have questions about the status of your release after a declaration, our support team is here to help.