How to Release a Single on a Leased Beat: 4-Week Timeline

Most singles don't flop because the song is bad. They flop because the artist uploaded on a Wednesday night, found out the cover was the wrong size, forgot the beat credit, and told nobody until the song was already live. A release is a small project with deadlines, and a month of lead time fixes almost all of it.

This guide is a four-week plan for putting out one song on a leased beat. It covers what to lock first, which files to prepare, which distribution settings can get you in trouble, and what to post while the pre-save runs. Bookmark it and tick things off as you go.

Lock the license before you lock the date

Pick the license before anything else. The tier decides what you're allowed to do after the song drops, and changing your mind later means redoing metadata and sometimes the whole release.

Check your plan against the tier limits:

• Basic (MP3): 1 new song, up to 100,000 streams across all platforms combined, up to 2,500 sales, 1 music video. No live shows, no radio.
• Premium (WAV + MP3): 1 new song, unlimited streams, up to 10,000 sales, unlimited music videos, radio and live shows are allowed.
• Exclusive (WAV): the beat is removed from sale and earlier leases stay valid. Read the rights wording in the licensing page and the Terms of Sale before you buy. It transfers what the producer holds in the beat, not a guarantee of full ownership.

Run through these questions:

1. Are you planning a show or a radio push? Then Basic is out.
2. Will you push this song hard on paid ads, playlists or Shorts? If you think 100,000 streams is realistic, start on Premium.
3. Do you want more than one music video, such as a visualizer plus a full video? Premium.

Sync (film, TV, ads, games, podcasts) is not covered by Basic or Premium. Neither is registering the song's beat in Content ID. Both are on the "not allowed" list for the leases, so don't plan a monetization strategy around them.

The 4-week timeline, walked through

Here is a real calendar for a release on a Friday. Say you leased a 96 BPM beat like TOXIN LEDGER and the song is recorded and mixed to a rough version.

Day -28 (Friday, four weeks out): Final song decision. Lock the license, download the files, and settle the title, the artist name spelling, and the release date. Write all of it in one note so you copy from it, not from memory.

Day -24 to -21: Finish the mix. Fix the last vocal problems, bounce a version, and listen on earbuds, a phone speaker and a car.

Day -21: Send the mix to master or do the final limiting yourself. Cover art gets commissioned or made this week.

Day -14: Upload to your distributor. Distributors commonly ask for a few days to a couple of weeks of lead time, and playlist pitching tools generally want the track submitted at least a week before release, so two weeks out leaves you a buffer. Choose the release date and finish the metadata.

Day -10: The pre-save link goes live. This is your first post.

Day -7 to -1: Teaser content, one post a day. Preview clips of the hook and a short verse snippet, each with the release date.

Day 0, Friday: Post the link, pin it, and change your bio link. Reply to every comment in the first hour.

Prepare your files

Get all three assets final before the upload, not during it.

Audio

Export a WAV at 44.1 kHz, 16-bit or 24-bit. Leave at least 1 dB of headroom, with true peaks no higher than about -1 dBTP, because encoding to lossy formats can push peaks over zero. For loud trap and rage tracks, an integrated level in the -10 to -8 LUFS range is a common target. Streaming platforms normalize playback around -14 LUFS, so chasing -6 just flattens your vocal.

Cover art

Make a square image, 3000 x 3000 px, RGB, JPG or PNG. Check it at thumbnail size, around 150 px, since that is how most people will see it. Keep the title big, don't put small text in the corners, and avoid any logo that isn't yours. If your cover uses artwork you didn't make, confirm you have the right to use it.

Metadata

Write the exact song title, your artist name, and the writers' legal names. Add the producer credit as Prod. SIGIL, since credit is a condition of Basic and Premium. Pick the explicit tag honestly. If your distributor assigns an ISRC, save it, because you'll need it for every later register or royalty form.

Distribution settings that cause trouble

Distributors offer extra services, and a few of them clash with a non-exclusive lease.

Content ID and fingerprinting. Basic and Premium beats must never be registered in YouTube Content ID or similar systems. Other artists may hold a lease on the same beat, and a claim on their video is a real problem for them. If your distributor has a "YouTube Content ID" or "monetize on YouTube" option, switch it off for this release.

Exclusive and Content ID. If you buy Exclusive, you may register the beat in Content ID at your own risk, and you must not claim earlier licensees' uses of it.

Splits. If anyone besides you wrote lyrics or melody, agree the percentages in writing before release. A text message that says "50/50 on the song" is better than nothing, and a clean screenshot is better than a memory.

Release date. Choose a Friday and set it a couple of weeks ahead, so you have time for playlist pitching if your distributor or streaming service provides it.

Pre-save and the week of content

A pre-save does one job: it collects people who want the song before it's out. Use a link tool that supports your streaming services, and put it in your bio at least 7 to 10 days before release.

Plan one post per day for the final week:

1. Hook snippet, 10 to 15 seconds, with the date on screen.
2. Behind the cover art: show the idea and the process.
3. Verse snippet with captions.
4. Studio clip or voice note: why the song exists.
5. Reaction to the instrumental, or a short story about picking the beat.
6. Countdown with the pre-save link.
7. Release-day post: link, hook, "out now."

Keep each clip under 20 seconds. Post the hook part first, since the hook is what makes people save. Credit the beat in every caption, such as "Prod. SIGIL", so the credit habit is already in place on release day.

Common mistakes and fixes

Uploading the same night you finish. The song gets rejected or ships with typos. Fix: finish the file two weeks before the date.

Leaving the beat credit off. Basic and Premium both require Prod. SIGIL. Fix: put it in the title field or credits and in your caption template.

Content ID turned on by default. It conflicts with the lease terms. Fix: check every distributor toggle before submitting.

Cover art that fails at thumbnail size. Fix: shrink it to 150 px before approving it.

Choosing Basic for a song you plan to perform. Live shows are not allowed on Basic. Fix: buy Premium if the song will be in a set.

Announcing the date once. One post is invisible. Fix: use the seven-post plan above and repeat the date in each.

Quick checklist

• License tier chosen to match streams, shows, radio and videos
• Release date set on a Friday, with at least two weeks before it for upload
• Final WAV exported with true peaks around -1 dBTP
• Cover art at 3000 x 3000 px and checked at thumbnail size
• Title, writers, splits and the Prod. SIGIL credit written down
• Content ID and YouTube monetization options switched off
• Pre-save link live 7 to 10 days before release
• Seven teaser posts scheduled, each with the date

Need the beat first? Browse the beats and check the licensing tiers before you set a date.

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Fresh from PROD. SIGIL: TOXIN LEDGER · COLD SOLVENT — all beats