How to Get Your Music on iTunes

The Secret: Digital Distributors

Apple Music and iTunes do not allow artists to upload music directly. Instead, you use a distribution service that delivers your track to Apple Music, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, and dozens of other platforms worldwide simultaneously.

What they do:

• Deliver high-quality audio files to Apple
• Collect streaming royalties and download sales
• Ensure your music meets Apple's strict metadata standards

Models vary by:

• Yearly subscription vs. per-release fee
• Royalty percentage taken (for example 0%, 9% or 15%)
• Support for Apple Digital Masters and spatial audio

Why We Use DistroKid for iTunes

After looking at all the options, we went with DistroKid. Not because it’s perfect, but because it fits a high-output workflow. Apple Music has specific delivery guidelines, and DistroKid handles them for us.

What They Do Best

• Fast delivery to Apple Music & iTunes
• Unlimited uploads (flat yearly fee)
• You keep 100% of your royalties & sales from iTunes
• Quick access to Apple Music for Artists

When to look elsewhere

• You only plan to release 1 song ever
• You want hands-on A&R or label-style marketing
• You prefer lifetime one-time payments

The Reality Check

Getting on iTunes is easy. Selling on iTunes is hard.

Uploading a song is quick. Building an audience that purchases songs or streams consistently takes time, precise positioning, branding, and aggressive marketing. Distribution is just the plumbing. Your strategy is what matters.

Ask yourself:

• Am I casually testing my songs?
• Am I building a long-term Apple Music catalog?
• Am I chasing viral traction or playlist placement?

Our advice? Start simple.

Don't overcomplicate the distribution phase. Get your music live. Claim your Apple Music for Artists profile. Learn how the system works. Then refine your strategy.

After upload, the real work begins.

How Do You Claim Your Apple Music for Artists Page?

Apple Music for Artists is Apple's dashboard for artists. It shows how your music performs across Apple Music, iTunes and Shazam, and lets you customize your artist page with a logo, a pinned release, a bio and lyrics. It reports plays, listeners, Shazams and iTunes purchases, but not earnings: Apple sends financial and royalty questions to your distributor.

• Your music must be live on Apple Music for at least five business days before you can claim the page.
• Only artists or artist managers can claim it, and you need the primary artist role on the album. Featured artists cannot claim.
• Tap Request Artist Access and paste your iTunes Store artist page link. Signing in to your distributor account speeds up verification.
• DistroKid members start from the Special Access menu, which DistroKid says takes less than a minute.

How Do iTunes Sales and Apple Music Streams Pay, and How Long Does It Take?

One release earns two ways. Apple Music streams are paid on a stream-share basis; Apple said in 2021 that a play averaged $0.01 on individual paid plans in 2020, varying by plan and country. iTunes Store downloads are one-off sales: singles default to 99 cents, and DistroKid's Musician Plus and Ultimate plans let you set your own iTunes price, though Apple can override it. DistroKid notes that download stores typically keep a share of each sale, often up to 30%.

Apple pays your distributor, which pays you. DistroKid passes on 100% of what it receives, minus banking fees and taxes, but store reports usually cover sales from about three months earlier.

On timing, DistroKid estimates releases go live on iTunes and Apple Music in 1 to 7 days, and a small share go through a manual review at Apple that adds about 1 to 2 weeks. To launch everywhere on a set date, it recommends uploading about 4 weeks ahead with a custom release date, which needs Musician Plus or Ultimate.

Can You Put AI-Generated Music on Apple Music?

Yes, with conditions. Apple has not banned AI-generated music. In an open letter in May 2026, reported by Digital Music News, Apple said AI music makes up significantly less than 1% of plays and that its Music Style Guide forbids using AI in a misleading manner.

• Disclosure. Since March 2026, labels and distributors can attach AI transparency tags to the recording, composition, artwork and music video. In August 2026 Apple told providers the tags will be required wherever AI created a material portion of the content, and that it plans to show Made With AI labels to listeners later in 2026.
• Impersonation, spam and fraud. Apple says it uses internal tools to identify AI-generated content as part of its fight against fraud, spam and artist impersonation, and it removes an AI song when most of its plays come from stream manipulation.
• Your distributor's rules. DistroKid accepts music made with AI tools if you own all the rights, copy no one's voice or identity without permission, avoid mass-generated spam and infringe no one's rights. Its upload form has AI credits for AI-generated audio, lyrics or compositions.