FAQ
FAQ
Share your music on digital platforms by signing up, uploading your song, selecting preferred streaming stores, and following the submission process.
MonoTapes Digital is transparent; there are no hidden charges, except for the plan subscription. Refer to our terms and conditions for a clear understanding of the associated fees.
Royalties are distributed quarterly based on streaming activity. Our automated dashboard displays available royalties promptly, and you can withdraw earnings anytime, with a minimum withdrawal amount of €100.
Yes, you can edit your music before it’s approved by deleting the existing version and creating a new one. For artwork changes post-approval, contact our support team for guidance.
It varies based on your music’s streaming and download activity. However, with MonoTapes, you retain 100% of your royalties and all rights to your music.
Your song may become live on music stores within 3-5 days following approval.
It is always advisable to select a date of at least 5 business days after your upload date.
MonoTapes offers promotional and digital marketing services for your songs and videos on social media and other platforms upon request, with additional charges. Contact us for more details.
Certainly! However, only electronic music from the 33 eligible dance music genres for Beatport can be released.
Include music contributors when filling out details during submission. MonoTapes will assess eligibility, and upon approval, the release will be available on Beatport.
Once a song has been released for an artist, you cannot change the artist’s name in the artist’s profile.
You can delete an artist profile any time in Label Plan through ‘Discard’ Button on Artist’s profile, make sure you can’t recover the same profile once deleted and also loose royalties earned from the same artist.
For Independent Artist Plan, you loose all your royalties for deleted artist where you can create another artist for the remaining subscription period.
Yes, you can add another artist in replacement of deleted artist, where you also have liberty to remove any artist or additional artist during your yearly plan renewal.
The label has the option to generate a new artist profile with accurate details for the same artist to release the next song. Alternatively, independent artists can purchase a new plan.
After your trial, you have the flexibility to purchase any plan, but upgrading a plan post-purchase is not allowed. MonoTapes has a no-refund or upgrade policy. However, you can buy a new plan at any time.
You have the freedom to take down your music from stores whenever you wish. Just log in to your MonoTapes account, navigate to the My Releases section on your My Music page, click the dropdown menu next to the release you want to remove and select Takedown.
Certainly, MonoTapes can assist with your upcoming major release. Get in touch with MonoTapes.
If you release a cover, remix or song that uses samples, you’ll probably need permission from the original copyright holder.
You can usually get this by purchasing a license before releasing your music. If you don’t have the necessary license, we won’t be able to release your music.
Here’s a quick overview of music licensing, but we’d recommend also reading this article on music licensing and copyright.
Cover songs
No license is required to release cover songs to streaming platforms, but you’ll need a Mechanical License for download stores. The mechanical license you need may also vary from country to country.
Remixes
If you’re remixing someone else’s track, you’ll need a Master License. Master Licenses can be a little trickier to get compared to Mechanical licenses. You may have to find, contact and negotiate with the rights holder directly.
Samples
You’ll need to get hold of both a Master and Mechanical License in order to legally use a sample of someone else’s song in your track.
We aren’t able to provide an exact timeframe for how long your release will take to be fully approved, but we’ll review things as quickly as possible. 🤝
To help us pass your release as smoothly and as quickly as possible, make sure you follow all of the metadata, artwork and title guidelines laid out by your chosen stores.
if you’re in urgent need of assistance regarding an upcoming release, please reach out to support@monotapes.in
To find your Spotify URL, just head to your Spotify Artist Profile and click the 3 dots next to your artist name.
From here, you can click Share and Copy link to artist. This’ll give you a long link like the image below. Your Spotify URL will be made up of spotify:artist: andthe numbers shown.
For example, spotify:artist:4rDcfb3TEWyx0BKdzKG24I is the Spotify URL for this specific artist link.
If you need any help finding your music’s Spotify URL or a URL of a song which isn’t released yet, give us an email at support@monotapes.in and we’ll help you out.
Active user – Any user who has an account with Monotapes Digital with valid plan (NOT EXPIRED, either trial or any other plan which still have validity)
Inactive user – Any user who has an account with Monotapes but it is not valid/expired.
Monotapes WILL REMOVE the account once it is inactive for more than 90 days in our record. Monotapes CAN’T REACTIVATE any account if it is not activated after 90 days of its expiry date. (User can create new account anytime)
Artwork “Takedown” can be done by active user itself in Monotapes Digital Dashboard.
For inactive users Monotapes will send “Takedown” request to streaming stores after 90 days of Expiration of any plan.
Anyone on behalf of Music/Production Company or band or individual can create a Label, make sure that the name you choose should be legally own by you and any claim or Legal aspects in future Monotapes will not be liable for any claim, loss or damage belongs to your name/property.
Label name can be change anytime only before making any song release. After one release of song Label name will freeze and cannot be change.
While MonoTapes encourages creative freedom, disapprovals often stem from artwork challenges on specific streaming platforms.
Below you will find rules and the most common mistakes, so you can avoid them:
Main Rules
- High-quality image and text. For example: make it clear enough to be shown on a TV screen.
- Own the rights to the image you use as artwork©.And if you don’t, be on the safe side and ask the person that owns the image if it’s OK for you to use it. Keep their approval in writing.
- Use the same texton the artwork that is on the release.
Quality Rules
Quality issues are very common, images can’t be blurry or pixelated. Down below you will find the rules when it comes to artwork quality and how you can prevent them:
- No Blurry or pixelated images – The image and text on the artwork can’t be blurry or pixelated. If you make an image bigger to fit our size requirements (that are between 3000×3000 pixels and 6000×6000 pixels) there is a big chance that it might take a toll on the quality. Which in conclusion is a really bad idea.
The same rule goes for text, as pixels might show in the edge of the letters. You should also beware of the qualities of any logos, ensuring that they stay nice and crisp (for example The ‘’Explicit/Parental Advisory’’ logo).
- Misalignments– The image has been moved within the actual cover art leaving a border (of any color) on one or two sides (basically the image doesn’t really fit).
- Cropped images– Don’t add a rectangle/square to increase the total size of the artwork, (the image has been left with only part of the artist’s head)
- Rotated images – If the image in the artwork is clearly on its side or upside down (like a vertical horizon) it won’t be approved
- Copyright Always have permission to use an image if it is not made by you. Be careful using random images from the internet but if you do, make sure they are either free to use or get permission from the copyright owner.
- Images of famous artists Do not use other famous artists on the artwork as that can be seen as misleading and people would assume that the famous artist used, would appear on the album.
Image, logos, and advertising in artwork Rules
Another common mistake is that people use logos not owned by them or do advertisement on the artwork. Down below you will find the rules when it comes to Image, logos, and advertising in artwork:
- Social media handles or other contact information are not allowed on the artwork.
- You can’t Copyrighted images without permission.
- You can’t put famous logos or brand names.
- You can’t put TAD Watermark or “Made with Album Art” on the artwork.
- You can’t put Barcodes or images of existing physical products like LPs or CDs.
- Don’t use the Parental Advisory/Explicit Content logo on the cover unless one of the tracks is marked as explicit.
- The “Restricted logo” is solely used for R rated movies, not music.
Text on artwork rules
The only text allowed on the cover art is the text that is included in the release information. Below you will find a list of kind of text is allowed to put on the cover art:
- The name of the main artist (Correctly spelt)
- The release title (Correctly spelled)
- The label name (Correctly spelled)
- The featuring artist(s) (as long as it is clear who is the primary artist and who is the featuring artist, For example, The featured artist(s) name can’t be bigger than the main artist, correctly spelled)
–BUT you can have artwork with only the featured artist’s name only if it states that it is a featuring artist as well.
- The producer’s name (ONLY if the person is added as a contributor, correctly spelled)
- If the cover art is made by a professional and you really want to credit them, you can mention the creator of the artwork (for example “designed by …”).
In conclusion: The spelling on the artwork and the spelling in the release information must be exactly the same
Format (Rules)
The cover art needs to be a perfect square and have a size of at least 3000×3000 pixels and max 6000×6000 pixels. The file format needs to be in .png or .jpeg (not .tiff).
What the artwork can NOT include:
- No websites or social media handles.
- No references to physical packaging like a CD logo, nor to a digital product.
- No brands nor advertising.
- No images from other copyright holders are allowed without written permission.
- No year nor dates
- No store names nor special offers.
- No barcodes.
- No tilted or cropped images.
And lastly…
Pay attention to the quality of your picture – your song really deserves to be marketed together with a high-resolution picture.
The more pixels the better and an absolute minimum is 3000 x 3000 pixels.
Your cover art is still an important part of presenting yourself as an artist. Even though the industry has changed over the years and we’ve gone from the fold-out vinyl to the small digital icon of today the cover art is the first thing people see.
Take some time and think about how you want to portray yourself as an artist. Match the art with the kind of music you’re delivering and put in the effort to make sure it’s something you’re proud of.
There are plenty of good websites for making your own professional looking artwork and you’ll find them if searching for “make album art”.
The cover art is important – go the extra mile! It matters!