How To Upload Music To Apple Music

No. As an independent artist or label, you cannot upload your music directly to Apple Music.

There are tangible reasons why most streaming platforms don’t allow musicians to upload their music to their services without a distributor.

Put simply, music distributors act as intermediaries between artists and streaming platforms. They handle the technical, legal, and administrative aspects of getting your music online to make sure your tracks meet platform requirements and comply with copyright and metadata standards.

Moreover, royalties can only be collected from music that has been delivered through an official distributor like iMusician. Once your music is confirmed to be eligible for monetization, it's registered properly and tracked for royalty reporting. Your payouts are then sent from the platforms to us, and from us to you.

There’s no separate process to get music on iTunes. By uploading your music through a digital distributor like iMusician, your releases automatically go live on both Apple Music and the iTunes Store, so you don’t need to submit your music separately to either platform.

Apple Music is a subscription-based streaming service that lets you listen to millions of songs online and offline, create playlists, and discover new music.

iTunes is an online store where you can purchase and download individual songs or albums to own permanently. While Apple Music requires a subscription to access its full library, iTunes allows you to buy music without any ongoing fees.

Apple Music is ideal for casual listeners (although not only), whereas iTunes is perfect for DJs and those who like to own their music permanently.

In 2025, Apple Music pays around $0.01 per stream on average, although payouts can vary depending on factors like your distributor’s terms and where your listeners are located.

At that rate, you'd need roughly:

• 100 streams to earn $1

• 1,000 streams to earn $10

• 10,000 streams to earn $100

Broadly speaking, artists can expect to make $1 from 100 streams, $10 from 1,000 streams, and $100 from 10,000 streams.

How much artists make on Apple Music depends on a few factors, including the number of streams they generate, where their listeners are located, the terms of their distributor, and how well they promote their music.

Although streaming platforms generally don’t lead to high payouts for artists with smaller streaming numbers and primarily benefit those with large fan bases, Apple Music is known for its slightly higher average per-stream rates. For example, Apple Music pays more than platforms like Spotify, but still less than platforms like Tidal.

What this means is that your income will depend on whether you release consistently, invest time and thought into your promotional efforts, and use tools like Apple Music for Artists strategically.

Additionally, choosing the right distributor with fair terms will allow you to retain more of your income. With us, you keep 100% of your royalties. And since we’re Swiss, we don’t withhold 30% of your music revenue in taxes, which is especially beneficial for musicians outside the US who would otherwise need to complete complex forms to receive their full earnings.

It usually takes one to three days to approve your Apple Music for Artists profile request, although in some cases it can take up to a week. To avoid delays, make sure your artist name, release info, and other data are accurate and consistent.

There’s no separate upload process for Shazam, meaning that all you have to do is release your tracks on major streaming platforms like Apple Music. Since Shazam is owned by Apple, it pulls its music database from this and other services.

Once you’ve uploaded your music through an official distributor, it will automatically be added to Shazam’s database and become identifiable by Shazam.

To get lyrics on Apple Music, you’ll need to submit them through your music distributor or a lyrics delivery service like Musixmatch or LyricFind. These platforms partner with streaming services, including Apple Music, to display synced and unsynced lyrics alongside your tracks. Once submitted and approved, your lyrics will show up in the Apple Music app when fans listen to your songs.

If you're new to iMusician and require guidance on selecting a plan or starting with us, simply reach out to us via our Community. Our moderators and members are here to address your questions quickly. Learn more about how to get in touch.

No. With iMusician, you won't encounter any hidden fees down the line. You keep 100% of your earnings from over 200 streaming and download shops, and 80% from social media platforms like YouTube and Instagram. Since we’re Swiss, we also don’t keep any withholding taxes.