Before you submit a music video, it is important that you understand how to properly format your audio, video, and much more. We’ve prepared this checklist that serves as a “Best Practices” to help you understand of the proper specifications in order to proceed. You can only have a music video processed if you have paid the fee of $95. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us by creating a ticket.
To read more about VEVO, click here.
To read more about Video Distribution, click here.
If you need help, please feel free to contact us.
Before you begin doing any submission, it is important that you know that we can only accept original video content and thus, your video can’t contain third-party content that you do not own. Here are the basic requirements to distribute your video
In terms of the content of your music video, there are some DON’Ts as well. Please read this important list of items to not include in your music video.
Now that you’ve understood the idea of originality in terms of music video distribution, the next step is to properly encode your video and audio for distribution to our partners. This is one of the most important steps so please take a moment to read through all and, if all of the below is complicated or if you need any assistance terms of your own encoding efforts, feel free to contact us.
The higher the quality your submission the higher the quality the encode delivered to the iTunes and other partners. If your music video doesn’t meet all minimum specs, it will be delayed for delivery until the video is corrected. Please make sure your video meets guideline before moving forward.
Format: AAC
Channels: Stereo
Sample Rate: 44.100 KHZ
Bit Rate: 320 kbps CBR
Compression Type: ProRes – Preferred for HD or H.264 – Also Acceptable
File Format: .mov (ProRes) or .mp4 (H.264)
Dimensions: At least 1280×720 (1920×1080 Preferred for HD)
Frame Rate: Native (No less than 23.98 FPS)
Bit Rate: Unrestricted (at least 150 mb/s is Preferred for HD, If H.264 at least 50mb/s)
The video must be de-interlaced and be set up for multi-pass encoding
NO frame re-ordering in your encoding settings
The size of your video will be a large file due to the recommended bit rate and video format (H.264/ProRes).
Please export all encodes using Compressor or Quicktime.
If your video file is:
Under 2GB – send to us using Wetransfer.com (Step 5)
Over 2GB+ – send us a Dropbox or Google Drive download link (Step 5)
For VEVO and other partners, they do require some image assets and additional information in order to properly complete a profile for the artist that is featured on the music video. In addition, it is important that you also label your filename correctly to avoid delays.
Artistname_VideoTitle_Version.mov
Example: LittleRed_Maryhadalittlelamb_Clean.mov
No spaces and/or special characters allowed (: ! # , @ $ % ? “ ‘)
Only English and Numbers Language alphabet
(No other languages with accent marks or unique characters to be listed for the file name wise ie. Russian, Asian, or Arabic letters)
Now that you’ve got all that squared away, Step 4 is the delivery process.
If you require assistance or design services here, we can assist! Create a ticket to request a design quote using an Artist PR photo.
Your PR photo and banner image must be formatted as follows.
Artist Banner Image/Graphic: 2560 x 1440 px or 2560 x 423 px is recommended for a new YouTube Vevo channel in this size. The template is found here. Please read through all of the instructions and ensure your art is centered. ** see blended mockup **
Samples Below
Now that you’ve gotten everything out of the way in terms of preparation, it’s time to deliver your video. First, begin by preparing a zip file that has all of the contents below.
Artist Banner Image/Graphic: 2560 x 1440 px or 2560 x 423 px is recommended for a new YouTube Vevo channel in this size. The template is found here. Please read through all of the instructions and ensure your art is centered. ** see blended mockup **
To deliver your music video you first need to use a program to deliver your music video to us. You can use: WeTransfer.com, Drop Box, or Google Drive. You will simply need to upload to one of those providers and once that is complete, you can proceed to our video submission form and include the link of your video. Once that is done, you are done! We realize these are a lot of steps and preparation but doing the steps on this guide will reduce the time that it takes to deliver your music to some of the most important providers in the world!
If your video file is:
Under 2GB – send to us using Wetransfer.com that will come up after you pay the fee ( Free to use to send files up to 2GB )
Over 2GB+ – Omit using Wetransfer.com and send us a Dropbox or Google Drive download link to video@symdistro.com
We often get asked if we can deliver music videos in other languages. In regards to the video content itself, all video partners except Amazon Video accept music videos that are performed in another language. In regards to how the titles themselves are displayed on each video platform, please see the below:
We can distribute music videos with their native language titles intact to VEVO, Tidal, iTunes, and Noiseporn. For Amazon Video delivery, we only deliver to US and UK, and if the video is NOT in English, we would need a closed caption file provided to us ( .srt or .scc ) in all English in order to deliver to Amazon Video. The title would also need to use English characters for Amazon Video delivery.
We can distribute music videos with their native language titles intact to all Plus platforms.
We recommend during the video submission process that you let us know in the special comments section how you would want your video title displayed if it is in another language.
Upon clicking the button, you will be redirected to video submission form.
Once you submit the form you will be redirected to PayPal to pay the fee.
If you do not have PayPal, you may choose to pay with a credit card.