Tracking delivery to the stores
What each delivery state means, how your run.stream page connects pre-saves and streaming links, why stores go live at different times, and what to do when one lags behind.
Once a reviewer approves your release, delivery starts on its own. Your release is delivered to the stores in under 24 hours, and you can watch it go out from the release page.
That is where Run’s part ends and each store’s part begins. Delivering a release and a release appearing on a store are two different events, run by two different companies, and only the first one is ours. Nobody in this industry can tell you the exact minute a store will publish a page, and we do not pretend otherwise.
Where to look
Open the release from your releases. The release page shows its state at the top, and once the first confirmations arrive it grows a Store availability list: one line per store, with its own state.
| What the line says | What it means |
|---|---|
| In progress | The delivery to that store is on its way or being processed |
| Delivered | That store has confirmed it received the release |
| Failed | That store reported a problem. It affects that store only |
| Removed | A takedown has completed at that store |
Stores confirm separately and at their own speed, so a half-filled list is normal for a while rather than a sign of trouble.
The release states around delivery
| State | What is happening |
|---|---|
| Approved | Review passed. Delivery is about to start |
| Delivering | The release is being sent out. Store lines fill in as confirmations arrive |
| Live | Delivery is done and confirmed. Store pages can still take longer to appear |
| Needs attention | Something went wrong on our side of the delivery. We are notified and are on it |
“Needs attention” is not a request for you to do anything. If we need something from you, we email you and say so.
Your run.stream release page
Every submitted release gets a link at run.stream/{artist}/{release}. Before release day, the page can offer Spotify pre-save and Apple Music pre-add when each service is available for that release. After release day, it brings together the streaming links as they become available.
Fan data is counts only, with no fan list, email collection or Run fan accounts. Your run.stream release link explains the complete pre-save and streaming views. The public page is a place to share your release; its links do not replace the per-store delivery states in your workspace.
Releases with a future date
If you set a release date in the future, the release is delivered ahead of it. While that date is still ahead you get a “Scheduled for” email saying the release is set to go live on it, and then the usual email once it is live.
Give the stores room when you pick the date. A date set for tomorrow leaves no margin if one store ingests slowly, so choose one with some slack in it.
Why stores go live at different times
Every store runs its own ingestion: it takes the delivery, runs its own checks, builds the pages and puts them in front of its own indexes. Those steps happen on that store’s schedule, not ours, and the schedules are not the same on any two services.
A few things follow from that, and none of them are faults:
- Some stores publish within hours of a confirmed delivery, others take days.
- A release can be playable through a direct link before it turns up in that store’s search.
- Apps and caches lag behind the web page, and both lag behind the store’s own database.
- A new artist’s first release is often slower, because the store is creating the artist page at the same time. See your store pages.
When a store reports a problem
If a store rejects or fails a delivery, we get told and so do you: an email names the store and repeats the message it sent back, and the store’s line reads “Failed”. It affects that store alone, and delivery to the others carries on separately.
You do not need to do anything with it. Our team is notified on every one of these and looks into it, and we email you if the fix needs something from you, such as a different file or corrected metadata.
Stores also review releases after they have taken them. If one comes back with a review update after your release is out, you get a “Store review update” email and the release page carries the feedback. Unless we tell you otherwise, your release stays available while that is sorted out.
If one store never appears
Give it a few days after the release reads Live, and check the store directly rather than relying on search. If it is still missing, open a support request with the release and the store named. We can see the per-store delivery record and, where the store allows it, chase it.
What tracking does not tell you
The delivery state says where your release is, not how it is doing. Streams and earnings arrive on a completely different clock: stores report usage to us in periods, well after the fact. See how earnings work.
Playlists, editorial placement and store promotion are decisions each store makes on its own. Run delivers your release and your metadata: it cannot place you anywhere.