Action Needed — What It Means and How to Resolve It

If your release shows an Action Needed status, our team reviewed it and found one or more things that need to be fixed or confirmed before we can continue processing it. This is a normal part of the review process, and it usually only takes a few minutes to resolve. Your release stays safely in our system while you respond, and nothing is lost.

Summary: Action Needed means our team flagged specific items on your release — for example, an audio file, your artwork, or some metadata — and needs you to fix or confirm them before review can continue. Go to My Releases, open the release, and use the Respond to Review button to see exactly what’s needed and send it to us. Once everything is submitted, we review it again and you’ll get an email with the outcome.

Why did my release get this status?

Every release goes through a review before it’s approved and sent out to stores. If something doesn’t meet our requirements, we flag exactly what’s wrong and let you know, instead of simply rejecting the whole release. This gives you the chance to fix it and keep moving forward.

Common reasons a release is flagged include:

• Audio — an issue with a track’s audio file (quality, format, or content)
• Artwork — your cover art doesn’t meet our requirements
• Licensing — a Cover, Remix, or sampled track is missing its license documentation
• Metadata — a detail like the title, genre, or other release/track information needs correcting
• AI disclosure — AI-generated or AI-assisted content in your artwork or your track wasn’t disclosed, or needs clarifying
• Rights & compliance — something about ownership, territory, or rights confirmation needs to be verified

Whatever the reason, you’ll always see the specific category and a note explaining exactly what needs your attention.

How do I see what needs fixing?

1. Log in to your account and look at the left sidebar. Click Catalog to expand it, then click My Releases underneath it.
2. Find the release showing the Action Needed status and click on it to open its release detail page.
3. On the release detail page, you’ll see a red box under the track list telling you that action is needed, along with the categories of what needs attention (for example, Audio or Artwork).
4. Click the Respond to Review button in that box, or the same button near the top of the page where the Edit button normally is.

What happens on the review page?

You’ll land on a page listing every item that needs your attention. Each one shows:

• Whether it applies to a specific track (with that track’s ISRC) or to the whole release (with its UPC)
• What category the issue falls under and a short description of it
• Any note our team left explaining exactly what they need from you

Click on any item to open it. Depending on what’s needed, you’ll see one of the following:

• A file upload — a drop zone where you can drag and drop a new file or click Browse to choose one from your device. This is used for things like replacing an audio file or your artwork.
• A document upload — the same kind of drop zone, used when we need supporting paperwork such as a license or permission document.
• Details to correct — editable fields showing the current value, where you can type in the corrected information.
• A written response — a text box where you can explain or clarify something in your own words.

You can also add an additional message in the box below if you want to give us more context.

How do I submit my response?

Once you’ve added what’s needed for an item, click the Submit button. You’ll see a short animation confirming it was submitted, and then you’ll be shown the next item that still needs a response, if there is one. You can go through the items one at a time — there’s no need to finish everything in one sitting, since each item is saved and submitted on its own.

What happens after I submit?

Once you’ve submitted a response for an item, its status changes to show it’s been sent and is waiting for review. Our team checks what you sent, generally within 1–3 business days. If everything looks good, that item is approved. If something still isn’t quite right, we’ll send it back to you with a note explaining what to adjust, and you’ll be able to try again.

Once every item has been approved, your release automatically returns to its previous stage in the review process, and you don’t need to do anything else at that point.

What if I don’t see an Action Needed status but got an email about it?

If you received an email about a change needed on your release but the release detail page doesn’t show the Action Needed status or the red box, refresh the page. If it still doesn’t appear, contact our support team and let them know which release the email referred to.

What if I disagree with what was flagged?

You can use the additional message box on any item to explain your position when you submit your response. Our team reviews every submitted response individually and will take your explanation into account.