TuneCore Release Plan: 90, 60 And 30 Days Out
How far in advance to upload to TuneCore, which of their deadlines you have already missed on a short runway, and what a 90, 60 or 30 day plan looks like. TuneCore recommends 3 to 4 weeks.
TuneCore recommends uploading three to four weeks ahead of your release date. The detail most artists miss is the second deadline: for playlist consideration, your release has to be approved by TuneCore and processed in stores at least two weeks before release day, which means the upload has to land well before that.
Recommended lead time: 3 to 4 weeks. Stated minimum: More than 3 weeks. Three to four weeks recommended, but the playlist deadline is stricter than the delivery deadline.
How TuneCore actually works
- Pre-save: Pre-order start date, which becomes the deadline that matters if you run one.
- Pitching: Spotify for Artists, plus TuneCore Accelerator as a paid pitching and growth programme.
- Payout: 0% commission on paid plans. Store reporting runs about two months behind.
The 90 day calendar on TuneCore
- 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 28 (TuneCore): Upload to TuneCore. If you are running a pre-order, the pre-order start date is your deadline, not the release date.
- Day 28 (TuneCore): Decide whether you are using TuneCore Accelerator, their pitching and audience programme, before you upload.
- Day 26 (TuneCore): Review takes about two business days. That is before store ingestion, not instead of it.
- 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.
- Day 14 (TuneCore): Hard deadline: for playlist consideration the release must be approved and processed in stores at least two weeks before release day. Miss it and delivery still happens, pitching does not.
- Release day: Release day. Work the day, do not just watch the numbers.
- Release day (TuneCore): Stores report on roughly a two-month delay. iTunes posts the first weekend of the month, Spotify the last weekend.
- Day 21 after: Third asset, and pitch playlists that only take already-released tracks.
TuneCore on a 90-day runway: Comfortable
Upload at day 60 to 45. Everything clears with margin, including the two-week in-store requirement for pitching.
TuneCore on a 60-day runway: Comfortable
Upload by day 40 and both deadlines clear comfortably.
TuneCore on a 30-day runway: Tight
Upload immediately. You need approval plus store processing done by day 14 if you want playlist consideration, which leaves almost no room for a correction.
What happens if you miss the TuneCore deadline
You will almost certainly still get delivered, but the two-week in-store rule removes playlist consideration completely while everything else still looks fine.
- Review takes about two business days, but that is on top of store ingestion, not instead of it.
- Playlist pitching needs the release in stores two weeks before the date, which is a stricter deadline than delivery alone.
- Pre-order start dates count as the deadline, not the release date, if you are running one.