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Spotify Catalog Migration Guideline

Version v1.1

You can download a version of the below guidelines at this link: Spotify Catalog Migration Guideline v1.1

Overview

The Spotify Catalog Migration Guideline describes the Spotify policy and guidelines for content providers when they switch distributors to license, deliver, and maintain their catalog releases via the SFTP feed.    This policy is applicable in particular to the delivery platform services who operate such SFTP feed on behalf of the distributors.   It is imperative that the content providers and their distributors adhere to the policy described in detail below.   Failure to do so will result in complications of royalty calculations.   

Change Log

03-08-2023:  Update on the handling of artist watchlist
25-05-2023:  Initial publish of the document

Spotify requires content providers to deliver and maintain their releases and metadata updates via an SFTP feed.   When a content provider switches from one distributor to another, Spotify requires a fresh redelivery of the catalog in its entirety.  This is because Spotify does not offer any backend mechanism to swap the licensing information on the existing catalog.   If the distributor commissions a delivery platform service to handle their content delivery and the transitioning catalog was also serviced by the same delivery platform, then Spotify requires the distributor and the delivery platform to adhere to the following policy and guideline.

For example in a situation where catalog is moving from Licensor = Y to Licensor = X, but both parties use the same the delivery platform.

Delivery Platform Catalog Migration Policy

  1. The delivery platform must deliver the catalog with consistent metadata and assets, but use new primary identifiers, regardless of its ingestion status of the previous distributor.

  2. The delivery platform must obtain approval from Spotify Content Operations team before commencing the backfill to avoid issues related to royalties.

  3. The delivery platform must take down the previous instance of the catalog.

Content providers and their distributors must follow the above 3 points. It is advisable to notify Spotify Label Licensing and Operations team at your easiest convenience about catalog migration.  Consult with the Spotify Operations team when unsure of the lead time of notices.   If the delivery platform isn’t able to deliver the catalog with new primary identifiers, they must reach out to Content Provider Operations for approval and guidance on how to proceed.  In addition, if the delivery platform has been involved with Artist Watchlist with Content Protection team, they must provide Spotify a product list along with the artist URIs and the rights confirmation type.  Spotify Operations team will assess the catalog and take actions accordingly.