YOU SHOULD ALREADY HAVE

• The completed One-Song Release Package.
• No unresolved Red rights, metadata, artwork or master issue.
• A clear reason to release this song now.

THE DECISION

What release date, distributor and platform scope give this song enough runway to be delivered, checked, pitched and supported without unnecessary delay?

IMPORT BEFORE PLANNING

• Release objective: use the current positioning/identity record as the starting point rather than inventing a new reason for the song.
• Rights/admin: bring forward actual songwriter, publishing, neighbouring-rights and registration notes that already apply.
• Infrastructure: record existing distributor account, artist-profile destinations, creator site/community and owned-audience systems that can support this release.
• Constraints: preserve known budget, time, access or campaign limitations instead of planning as if they do not exist.

DO THE WORK

1. Choose the distributor you will actually use and confirm its current AI-content, delivery and pricing rules before submission.
2. Set a target release date. When a coordinated release matters, JR uses roughly four weeks of runway as the practical operating target where possible—not because every platform requires four weeks, but because delivery, mapping, pitching and correction take time.
3. If circumstances require a shorter runway, document which opportunities you may lose and proceed deliberately rather than pretending the same plan still applies.
4. Choose the stores/platforms that serve the release objective. Do not distribute everywhere merely to make the list look professional.
5. Schedule only the songwriter, publishing, neighbouring-rights or royalty-registration actions that genuinely apply, reusing existing accounts and records where valid.
6. Confirm the release objective from PACKAGE or document the material reason it changed.
7. Name the primary success evidence you want to collect during the first 90 days.
8. Freeze the calendar once submission begins unless a documented Red issue requires a change.

ROUTE & FOUNDATION

Back to 8 · One-Song Release Package — repair the source package there if planning exposes a package-level problem.

DEPLOY Hub — return to the full phase overview without abandoning the canonical route.

Free · AI Music Release Compliance Checklist 2026 — rights, disclosure and pre-release foundation.

Free Label-Ready Resources — supporting foundation for creators who need to repair an earlier readiness gap.

JR SUPPORT

AI Music Release Strategy 2026 — broad release-to-owned-audience overview.

Music Registration & Royalty Collection in 2026 — use only for accounts/registrations that apply to your rights and territory.

SAVE THIS

Create the Release Deployment Plan: package/version reference, imported release objective, distributor, target release date, submission target date, platform scope, primary 90-day evidence goal, applicable registration/admin items, existing infrastructure to reuse and any known timing compromise.

DO NOT ADVANCE IF

• You have no confirmed release date or distributor.
• The date leaves too little time for a critical platform opportunity you say is part of the strategy.
• You are using a distributor whose current AI or rights rules you have not checked.
• The release objective is simply “get streams.”
• The deployment plan contradicts the approved package or rights evidence without a documented reason.

READY TO CONTINUE WHEN

The release has a controlled date, distributor, scope and operating reason, and the imported evidence still matches the exact release.

NEXT

Submit from the package—not from memory.