- Delivery
- Within 24 hours of approval; most releases are live within a few days
- Codes
- ISRC and UPC included free
- Your share
- 100% of Amazon Music royalties on the Artist and Label plans
- Reach
- Strongest in the US, UK and Germany; plays on Alexa and Echo
How music gets onto Amazon Music
Amazon's own artist FAQ puts it plainly: content on Amazon Music is delivered by a record label or a distributor. There is no upload form for artists. We send Amazon the audio, artwork and metadata for your release, and Amazon pays what it earns back through us.
One delivery reaches every part of Amazon's music business: the streaming tiers, Alexa and Echo devices, and downloads people buy. Amazon Music is available worldwide and is strongest in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany.
Prime, Music Unlimited and the free tier
Amazon sells music in several ways, and a release is in all of them. They differ in how people listen, which affects how your music is found.
| Tier | Who has it | How people listen |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon Music Free | Anyone, with ads | The catalogue with advertising |
| Prime | Included with Prime membership | The catalogue ad-free, mostly in shuffle play, plus All-Access playlists |
| Music Unlimited | Paid subscription | Any song on demand, plus HD, Ultra HD and Spatial Audio versions |
| Downloads | Anyone who buys | Tracks and albums bought from Amazon to keep |
Music Unlimited plays HD (16-bit/44.1 kHz) and Ultra HD (24-bit, up to 192 kHz); Prime and the free tier stream in standard definition. We accept WAV, FLAC or AIFF at 16 or 24-bit and 44.1 to 192 kHz, so upload your master as it came from mastering rather than a converted copy.
Alexa and voice requests
Amazon Music is the default music player on Amazon devices with Alexa built in, so on Amazon a song is often asked for out loud rather than chosen from a screen. That has practical consequences for your metadata:
- Main artists are found by name. Amazon says Alexa should respond correctly as long as your name is listed as a main artist in the metadata. Credit collaborators as artists, not in the title.
- Titles are spoken. A title that is clear to say is easier to ask for. Leave out decoration — capitals, symbols, "official audio" — that nobody would say aloud.
- Mispronunciations are fixed through the distributor. If Alexa mispronounces your name or cannot find your releases, Amazon asks you to contact your label or distributor — that is us.
Amazon Music for Artists counts these as Voice Requests — every explicit request to Alexa that matched your artist, album, song or lyric — and ranks your voice engagement against artists of a similar size in a daily Voice Index.
Amazon Music for Artists
Amazon Music for Artists is Amazon's app and website for artists and their teams. You can claim your artist profile once your first release is publicly available; Amazon does not accept claims before that. The first person whose claim is approved becomes the Owner and can add Admins and Viewers.
- Streams and listeners, updated several times an hour; a stream is any play longer than 30 seconds
- Fans and Superfans, and the playlists your music has recently been added to
- Voice Requests and the Voice Index, for Alexa
- A pitch: Owners and Admins can submit one track from each new release to Amazon's editors
- Your profile photo, at least 500 × 500 px
Pitch early. Amazon will not take a pitch more than 14 days after the release date, makes no promise of a placement, and does not say whether a pitch was accepted. Artist bios on Amazon are licensed from a third party rather than written in the app. And if your release has been with Amazon for more than 24 hours and does not appear under New Releases in the app, Amazon suggests checking the delivery with your distributor, so tell us.
Releasing on Amazon Music, step by step
- Apply and set up your artistAccounts are opened by application — tell us about your music and we usually have you ready within one working day.
- Add the release detailsTitle, artists, genre, release date and territories. Credit every main and featured artist as an artist so Alexa and search can find them.
- Upload artwork and audioSquare artwork of at least 2400 × 2400 px (3000 × 3000 is ideal) and lossless audio. Both are checked on upload.
- Tick Amazon Music and the other storesWe deliver approved releases within 24 hours. How fast Amazon publishes is up to Amazon; most stores have releases live within a few days. Set the release date two to three weeks ahead.
- Claim your profile and pitchWhen the release is public, claim your artist profile in Amazon Music for Artists and pitch your focus track.
How Amazon Music pays
Amazon pays from several pots: Music Unlimited subscriptions, Prime, advertising on the free tier, and the price of each download. There is no fixed amount per stream, and we do not quote one; it varies by tier, country and month.
Stores report in arrears — most about two months after the month the streams happened. Amazon's earnings land in your TempoDigital wallet with everything else, in US dollars. On the Artist ($29.99 a year) and Label ($149 a year) plans you keep 100%; on the Release plan ($8.99 per release) we keep 10%. Statements close on the 15th of the following month, and above $70 you can withdraw by Payoneer, PayPal, Wise or bank transfer.
Amazon's own app warns that its figures can change and are not for financial reporting. Your statement is the record of what you were paid.
Mistakes that hold Amazon releases back
- Featured artists written into the title. Credit them as artists. Alexa and search find main artists by the artist field.
- Pitching too late. Amazon will not take a pitch more than 14 days after release. Claim your profile as soon as the release is public.
- Titles in capitals or with extra text. ALL CAPS titles are refused, and words like "official audio" do not belong in a title. Both make a song harder to ask for.
- Different spellings of the artist name. One artist, one spelling, on every release.