Symphonic Distribution Release Plan: 90, 60 And 30 Days Out
How far in advance to upload to Symphonic Distribution, which of their deadlines you have already missed on a short runway, and what a 90, 60 or 30 day plan looks like. Symphonic Distribution recommends 6 weeks ideal.
Symphonic asks for the most runway of any distributor on this page, and for a defensible reason: their marketing team is doing pitching work that needs lead time of its own. Five weeks is the floor for the marketing team and six weeks is ideal. Marketing drivers for playlist pitching should be in at least four weeks out.
Recommended lead time: 6 weeks ideal. Stated minimum: 5 weeks for the marketing team. Six weeks ideal, five weeks as a hard floor, because a marketing team is doing pitching work that needs its own runway.
How Symphonic Distribution actually works
- Pre-save: Release Campaign Builder in SymphonicMS.
- Pitching: An in-house client marketing team pitches DSPs, gated behind the marketing drivers form and your plan tier.
- Payout: Revenue share, with marketing and pitching support included on Partner plans.
The 90 day calendar on Symphonic Distribution
- Day 90: Lock the release date and stop moving it. Every deadline counts backward from it.
- Day 85: Final masters delivered. No more revisions.
- Day 75: Artwork finished at 3000 x 3000, and readable at thumbnail size.
- Day 70: Clear every sample and feature in writing.
- Day 42 (Symphonic Distribution): Deliver the release. Six weeks is what Symphonic asks for.
- Day 40 (Symphonic Distribution): Confirmed press is a marketing driver field, so book any coverage before the five-week form deadline. Coverage you can name makes the pitch materially stronger.
- Day 35 (Symphonic Distribution): Hard deadline: submit marketing drivers in SymphonicMS under Marketing, then DSP Pitching, then Marketing Drivers. No less than five weeks before release, or you are not pitched at all.
- Day 35 (Symphonic Distribution): Multi-track release? Pick your focus track first. That is the one the client marketing team pitches.
- Day 35 (Symphonic Distribution): Answer 'what is the story of this release' properly and fill the mandatory driver fields: confirmed press, upcoming shows, visual asset, advertising, radio, physical product.
- Day 35 (Symphonic Distribution): Marketing drivers are English only and not available on Starter. Check your plan covers it before you count on the pitch.
- Day 21: Push pre-saves properly. It is the strongest day-one signal you control.
- Day 14: Confirm every piece of release-week coverage has your assets and the right date.
- Release day: Release day. Work the day, do not just watch the numbers.
- Day 21 after: Third asset, and pitch playlists that only take already-released tracks.
Symphonic Distribution on a 90-day runway: Comfortable
Ideal. Deliver at day 60 to 45 and the marketing team gets the full window they are asking for.
Symphonic Distribution on a 60-day runway: Tight
Deliver in the first ten days or you drop under the five-week marketing floor and lose the pitching support.
Symphonic Distribution on a 30-day runway: Already late
Under the marketing floor before you start. You can still distribute, but plan as though the pitching support is not there, because it may not be.
Deadlines already passed on a 30-day runway: Deliver the release. Six weeks is what Symphonic asks for. Confirmed press is a marketing driver field, so book any coverage before the five-week form deadline. Coverage you can name makes the pitch materially stronger. Hard deadline: submit marketing drivers in SymphonicMS under Marketing, then DSP Pitching, then Marketing Drivers. No less than five weeks before release, or you are not pitched at all. Multi-track release? Pick your focus track first. That is the one the client marketing team pitches. Answer 'what is the story of this release' properly and fill the mandatory driver fields: confirmed press, upcoming shows, visual asset, advertising, radio, physical product. Marketing drivers are English only and not available on Starter. Check your plan covers it before you count on the pitch.
What happens if you miss the Symphonic Distribution deadline
Delivery still happens, the pitching does not. Missing the five-week marketing driver deadline means you paid for a distributor with a marketing team and got distribution only.
- Five weeks is the marketing floor, not the delivery floor. Delivering late means you get distribution without the pitching you signed up for.
- Marketing drivers are a separate submission from the audio. Both have deadlines.
- Their guidance assumes you have assets ready. It does not include time for you to make them.