Why Is My Release Stuck in Under Review for So Long?

Every release goes through review before it’s approved and delivered to stores. Review usually takes a few days, but there are a few reasons it can take longer than expected.

What “Under Review” actually means

When your release sits in Under Review, it means our team is checking it to make sure everything meets distribution standards before it goes out to stores — things like metadata completeness, copyright information, audio quality, artwork requirements, and consistency across your release. See How Does Release Review and Approval Work? for the full breakdown of what’s being checked.

Common reasons review takes longer

Something on your release needs a closer look

If any part of your submission raises a question — inconsistent details between your track and release metadata, missing or unclear copyright information, artwork that’s borderline against store guidelines, or audio that needs a second listen — your release needs more time while the team verifies it properly.

Missing licensing documentation

If your release includes a cover song or sampled material and the required licensing document wasn’t attached, review can’t be completed until that’s resolved. See How Do Cover Song Licenses Work? for what’s required.

High submission volume

Review times can stretch during busy periods when there’s a large volume of releases in the queue ahead of yours.

Your release was flagged and needs changes

If your release is actually flagged rather than simply pending, you should have been notified with details about what needs correcting. Check your email and your dashboard — see How Do Release Status Updates Work? for where notifications appear.

What you should do

1. Open your dashboard and log in.
2. On the left-hand sidebar, find Catalog and click to expand it.
3. Click My Releases underneath it.
4. Find the release in question and tap on it to open its release details page.
5. Check the status shown there, along with any notes or flagged issues listed alongside it.

If there’s a flagged issue listed, fix it and resubmit — that’s what’s holding things up. If your release still shows as simply Under Review with nothing flagged, it’s still working its way through the queue.

When to contact support

If your release has been sitting in Under Review well beyond a few days with no flags, no notes, and no email from us explaining why, reach out to support so the team can check on it directly.

Summary: Under Review means your release is being checked against distribution standards — metadata, copyright details, audio quality, artwork, and consistency — before it’s delivered to stores. This usually takes a few days, but can run longer if something on your release needs closer verification, if required licensing documentation for a cover or sample is missing, during periods of high submission volume, or if your release was flagged and is waiting on changes from you. Check your release details page under Catalog → My Releases for any flagged issues or notes. If nothing is flagged and it’s been sitting well beyond a few days with no explanation, contact support to have it looked into.