How streaming services decide which artist page a song lands on

31 · 2026-08-29 · 13 min read · Español

Two things decide which artist page a song lands on, in that order: the artist identifier your distributor put in the delivery, and the artist name sitting beside that identifier. When the identifier is there and it matches, the name barely matters. When it is missing, the name is all there is. Both stores publish how this works — in documentation written for distributors, which is why the version that reaches artists is a paraphrase of a paraphrase.

• A store matches a release to an artist page using the artist identifier the distributor delivered. With no identifier, the artist name is the entire match.
• Spotify’s is a proprietary artist ID: a value your distributor creates and assigns, sent inside a namespace registered to that distributor.
• Spotify states that proprietary IDs collect content together when the IDs match, and that they will not separate out content when the IDs differ.
• Two identifiers belong to the artist rather than to a distributor — a Spotify Artist URI, which names one specific page, and an ISNI, which Spotify accepts and uses for grouping.
• Apple assigns the Artist Apple ID itself, after the initial delivery, and strongly recommends that every package be delivered with it.

How does a streaming service decide which artist page a song belongs to?

The store matches the delivery to a page using the artist identifier the distributor sent. With no identifier in the delivery, the artist name is the entire match.

Apple describes its half in one line of provider documentation: “After delivering your music to Apple Music and the iTunes Store, we create an artist page so fans and listeners can interact with all of your artist’s releases.” Created. Not found, not searched for — created, unless something in the package points at a page that already exists.

Spotify’s provider guide opens by admitting the problem before it describes the fix: “There are millions of artists on Spotify, many using the same name. Identifying the correct artist behind all the tracks and albums in our catalog can be a challenge. At many times, a track or album is connected to the wrong artist page.”

That is a store’s own account of the failure, published for the companies that cause it. A delivery with no identifier hands that machinery a name and nothing else. Homer’s cyclops shouted for help, told the neighbours it was Nobody, and the neighbours went home.

If a release of yours is already sitting on somebody else’s page, that is a repair with two filers and its own order of operations. This piece is about the delivery that has not gone out yet.

What is an artist identifier, and whose is it?

A proprietary artist ID is a unique identifier that a music provider creates and assigns to an artist, inside a namespace registered to that provider.

That is Spotify’s own definition, and it adds the distinction that matters: “It’s not the same as the third party identifiers used on databases such as MusicBrainz and Discogs. It’s an identifier you can use to reference your artists specifically.” You, in that sentence, is the distributor. The document is addressed to them.

The artist-facing version of the same fact is one clause long. Spotify’s page for artists whose music got mixed up says distributors “let you deliver music with a specified artist ID to help prevent your music getting mixed up in the future.” That is true, and it is the whole of what an artist is handed. The thing it summarises is the document quoted above.

The ID travels inside the delivery itself. On ERN 3.8.2 and earlier it sits in the DisplayArtist element; on ERN 4.3 it sits in PartyList; and either way Spotify’s examples carry a second value beside it, the sending company’s DPID. A DPID, in DDEX’s own words, “uniquely identifies each sender and recipient of a DDEX formatted message.”

Read that pairing twice, because it is the whole piece. The value identifying you is only meaningful inside the namespace of the company that sent it. It is not your identifier. It is their identifier for you.

What does a proprietary artist ID actually do?

Proprietary IDs collect content together when the IDs match, and Spotify states plainly that they will not separate out content when the IDs differ.

The sentence is worth having in full, because nothing written for artists says it: “Proprietary Artist IDs are important because they’re an effective way to group artists’ music. It’s also important to note that proprietary IDs collect content together when the IDs match, but they won’t separate out content when the IDs differ.”

A magnet, then. It can gather your catalogue and it cannot give any of it back.

And the identifier is not the only thing being read. Spotify is precise about the test: “If the ID and artist name for the new content matches with an existing album or track we’ve received from you, we will add it to the same artist page.” The ID and the name. Send a flawless identifier under a name spelled a new way and you have handed the matcher two answers — which is why the one-exact-spelling rule survives the identifier instead of being replaced by it.

Is there an identifier that is actually yours?

Two: a Spotify Artist URI, which names one specific artist page, and an ISNI, which Spotify accepts and uses as a grouping identifier.

The URI is the one Spotify tells artists about. “Give them your artist URL or URI to make sure your music lands on the right profile” — them being your distributor. It is spotify:artist: followed by the same string that ends your profile URL, and it points at one page and no other.

The caveat lives in the provider documentation rather than the artist documentation, and it is one clause long: “If you’re eligible, it’s possible to specify a specific artist page using a Spotify Artist URI.” Spotify does not publish what makes a provider eligible. Ask your distributor whether they can send it, and treat their answer as the fact, because it is the only one available.

The ISNI is the one worth understanding, and Spotify explains it by saying what it is not: “an ISNI (International Standard Name Identifier) isn’t considered a proprietary Artist ID since it’s not created and assigned by a music provider. However, we can receive ISNIs and we’ll use them as a grouping identifier similar to proprietary artist IDs.”

Not created by a provider. That is the disqualification in Spotify’s sentence and it is the entire reason to want one: an identifier a company did not issue is an identifier that company cannot keep.

What happens to all of this when you change distributor?

A new distributor creates its own proprietary ID in its own namespace, so nothing you delivered under the old one matches it.

Set the two published sentences side by side. Matching IDs group content. Differing IDs do not separate content. So the new company’s identifier does not tear your catalogue in half — it arrives with nothing to attach to, and the grouping that had been doing the work simply stops doing it.

What happens after that is not published. Whether the old grouping holds on the name alone, decays, or gets swept up in one of the catalogue clean-ups Spotify says it runs, neither store has written down, so this piece does not model it.

Which leaves the part that is actually yours to act on. Two years of clean deliveries under a value that was never yours, and on the morning you leave, nothing breaks. Nothing is rejected. Nothing is flagged, and no email arrives. You are just quietly screwed in a new namespace, and the first sign of it is a release sitting somewhere you did not put it.

The correction route exists and it is blunt: Spotify says a previously sent proprietary artist ID is fixed by redelivering the product. Each one. So ask the new distributor about the URI before the first delivery is built, not after the fifth.

How does Apple Music decide, and how is it different?

Apple assigns the Artist Apple ID itself after the initial delivery, and strongly recommends that every package be delivered with it.

Apple’s model is the mirror image of Spotify’s. “An Artist Apple ID is a unique numerical identifier that gets assigned to an artist after the initial delivery” — assigned by Apple, not minted by whoever delivered. Apple’s recommendation is unusually plain for provider documentation: “Using the Artist Apple ID ensures the release will land on the correct page and reduces the need for additional support tickets,” and, separately, “we strongly recommend using Artist Apple IDs when preparing your delivery.”

One identifier, issued by the store, the same number for every company that delivers you. An Artist Apple ID can be looked up in iTunes Connect or through Apple’s artist API, which is the practical difference: Spotify’s proprietary ID is private to the company that made it, and Apple’s is not. Apple adds one restriction worth knowing before a catalogue moves — an artist “cannot be claimed by multiple release providers.”

Claiming the page yourself is a separate act with its own conditions. Content must be live on Apple Music for at least five business days, you need the primary artist role on the album, and a featured artist cannot claim the account at all — which is one more consequence riding on a credit decision somebody made months before delivery.

Can you refuse a release that lands on your page?

On Spotify, yes, where Artist Profile Protection is switched on: a release delivered without a valid artist key goes to an approvals queue.

“Artist Profile Protection (APP) is an optional feature in Spotify for Artists (S4A) that gives artists more control over which releases appear on their profile.” Switched on, it inverts the default this whole piece has been describing. The delivery stops deciding on its own.

The mechanism is a key. Spotify issues one to the artist, the artist hands it to distributors they trust, and a release delivered carrying a valid key is marked pre-approved and goes live without review. A release delivered without one lands in the artist’s Approvals tab, with up to 28 days after release to accept or decline it. “If they take no action on a release that needs approval by the release date, it will not list them as an artist.”

One active key at a time, and refreshing it invalidates the old one immediately — which is the point of it, and also the sentence to remember before rotating a key in the middle of a campaign. New releases trigger it, and so does adding a new artist to an existing release; date changes, track reordering and metadata updates on an already-approved pair do not.

Spotify describes the feature as opt-in and in beta with limited availability, so this is what exists rather than what everyone has. It is also the only mechanism on this page where the thing being held is held by the artist.

What do you send, and to whom?

Send your Spotify artist URI and your Artist Apple ID to your distributor before the delivery is built, and confirm that both reached the delivery.

• Copy your Spotify artist URI once and keep it where you keep the rest of the paperwork. Not in a support thread you will not be able to find in March.
• Ask, in writing, whether your distributor sends a Spotify Artist URI and an Artist Apple ID with the delivery. “We have it on file” is a different answer from “it goes in the XML,” and only one of them is the answer to the question.
• Ask what proprietary artist ID they assign you, and write it down. You cannot use it anywhere else. You will want it the first time you have to argue about a page.
• If you have an ISNI, give them that too. It is the only identifier on this page that changing companies cannot take away from you.
• Before you switch distributors, work this list with the new one on the first delivery rather than the fifth.
• Then sweep the catalogue rather than the release — whatever put one song on the wrong page rarely did it once.

FAQ

My distributor says they sent my artist ID. Why did the release still land on the wrong page?

Because a proprietary artist ID groups new content against content Spotify has already received from that same provider under that same ID and the same artist name. A first delivery, a changed name, or a delivery from a different provider gives the match nothing to attach to.

Does the ISRC or the UPC decide which artist page a song lands on?

No. An ISRC identifies a recording and a UPC identifies a release, and neither is an artist-level identifier. Which artist page a release lands on is decided by the artist identifier in the delivery and the artist name beside it.

Do I need an ISNI?

Spotify states that it can receive ISNIs and will use them as a grouping identifier similar to proprietary artist IDs. Neither store read for this page states that an ISNI is required, so this page does not say that it is.

Where does an artist identifier actually sit in a delivery?

In the DDEX message your distributor sends. Spotify documents it in the DisplayArtist element on ERN 3.8.2 and earlier, and in the PartyList element on ERN 4.3, carried in a namespace named by the provider’s own DDEX Party Identifier.

Sources

• Spotify Provider Support, Proprietary Artist ID Delivery Guide v1 — the whole mechanism, first-party: millions of artists sharing names and content landing on the wrong page; the definition of a proprietary artist ID; that the ID and the artist name are matched together against content already received from the same provider; that matching IDs collect content and differing IDs do not separate it; the DisplayArtist and PartyList examples with the provider’s DPID; the Spotify Artist URI eligibility clause; that an ISNI is not a proprietary ID but is received and used for grouping; and that a wrong ID is corrected by redelivering the product.
• Spotify Provider Support, Artist Profile Protection — the opt-in feature, the artist key, pre-approval on delivery, the Approvals tab and its window, that inaction by the release date means the artist is not listed, what triggers a new approval and what does not, and that the feature is in beta with limited availability.
• Spotify for Artists, Finding your artist, track, and release links — the URI format against the URL format, and the instruction to give the artist link or URI to a distributor so music lands on the right profile.
• Spotify for Artists, Music mixed up with another artist — that distributors let music be delivered with a specified artist ID to prevent mix-ups, which is the artist-facing half of the provider guide above.
• Apple Music Provider Support, Artist pages — that a page is created after delivery; what an Artist Apple ID is; that delivering with it ensures the release lands on the correct page; that iTunes Connect assigns every artist a unique Apple ID; the lookup routes; and that an artist cannot be claimed by multiple release providers.
• Apple Music Provider Support, Digital packaging for music — that the Artist Apple ID is assigned after the initial delivery, that Apple uses them to create artist pages, and the recommendation to use them when preparing a delivery.
• Apple Music for Artists, Claim your artist page — five business days live before a page can be claimed, the primary-artist requirement, and that a featured artist cannot claim the account.
• DDEX Knowledge Base, DDEX Party Identifier (DPID) — that a DPID uniquely identifies each sender and recipient of a DDEX formatted message, and that companies which do not exchange messages themselves may still be allocated one through a technical service provider.

Store documentation changes without notice and is quoted here as of the date at the top of this piece; the linked pages are the living documents, and every one of them was read on that date. Two things this piece deliberately does not say: what makes a provider eligible to send a Spotify Artist URI, and what a change of provider does to an existing grouping. Neither is published anywhere either store writes, and a plausible answer to either would be a guess wearing a citation.

Keeping the register

Every identifier on this page belongs to somebody, and exactly one of them belongs to you. CatalogTracker holds an ISNI on the party it identifies — beside the IPI, the PRO and a MusicBrainz ID — rather than in a note attached to whichever release you last opened, and its import path brings an ISNI back from MusicBrainz where there is one to find. It delivers nothing to any store and checks nobody’s rules. It only means the answer lives somewhere other than an email thread. In development for iPhone.