The delivery checklist: masters, stems, credits and metadata

A song is not delivered when the master is done. It is delivered when someone who was not in the room can release it, license it and pay everyone on it without sending you a single question. This checklist is the set of things that makes that possible.

Requirements vary by label and distributor. Treat this as the baseline and add whatever your recipient specifies. Where they give you a spec sheet, their sheet wins.

1. The master

• The approved file. The exact master that was signed off, not a re-export. Compare checksums if you can; a SHA-256 match means it is the same file byte for byte.
• Format. WAV or AIFF, uncompressed. 24-bit is the common delivery depth. Sample rate as mastered (44.1, 48, 88.2 or 96 kHz); don’t upsample for delivery.
• Length and edges. Clean start, no clicks, tail not cut off. Leave the fade as mastered. Check the first and last second at high volume on headphones.
• Loudness and peaks. Note integrated loudness (LUFS) and true peak (dBTP). Some recipients have limits; most want to know the numbers, not have you change them.
• Variants. Clean or explicit, instrumental, acapella, TV mix (instrumental plus backing vocals), radio edit. Same master number, same start point, same length unless the edit is the point.
• Spatial audio, if contracted: the ADM BWF file and a binaural reference, delivered as the recipient specifies.

2. Stems

• Printed from the approved mix, at the same sample rate and bit depth as the master.
• Same length, same start. Every stem starts at zero and runs the full length of the song, including silence. Dropped into a session together, they recreate the mix.
• Named clearly. Song, version, stem: Hayati Mix 20 - Lead Vocal.wav.
• A sensible set. Usually: lead vocal, backing vocals, drums, bass or 808, music (everything else), and effects if they are significant. Sync and remix requests may ask for more detail.
• Master bus processing. Say whether stems include it. If they do, the summed stems will sound like the master; if not, they won’t.
• Originals, not separations. If any stem was generated by separation software rather than printed from the session, label it as such.

3. Credits

• Performers with their instrument or role: vocals, guitar, keys, programming.
• Producers and co-producers, mixing and mastering engineers, recording engineers and studios.
• Writers with legal names, the split each holds, their PRO (performing rights organisation) and IPI number where known.
• Publishers for each writer’s share, with their own IPI where known.
• Splits add up to 100% for the composition. Check twice; this is the most common error and the most expensive one.
• Featured artist billing written exactly as it should appear on streaming services.

4. Metadata

• Title and version title (e.g. “Radio Edit”) exactly as they should appear.
• ISRC for each recording and each variant that is a separate recording. Your distributor or label can issue them if you don’t have a prefix.
• ISWC for the composition, if registered.
• UPC/EAN for the release (assigned at release level, not per track).
• Explicit flag, language, genre, BPM and key.
• Release date and territories, if you control them.
• (P) and (C) lines: who owns the recording and the artwork.

5. Lyrics and artwork

• Lyrics as plain text, matching the final vocal. Remove section labels if the recipient asks for clean lyrics. Timed lyrics (LRC) if requested.
• Artwork at the recipient’s spec: commonly 3000 × 3000 px, RGB, JPEG or PNG, no URLs or pricing on the image.

6. Before you press send

• Listen to the master once more, start to finish, on something other than your monitors.
• Open every file you are sending. Zero-byte and truncated exports happen.
• Put checksums in the delivery notes so the recipient can verify what arrived.
• Send one package, once. Five emails with “one more file” is how the wrong stem ends up in a sync.
• Keep a copy of exactly what you sent, together with the date and the recipient. When a question comes back in eight months, you will want it.

Keep it with the song

The single best habit is to keep all of this beside the song itself rather than in an email thread: the approved master, its variants, stems, credits, lyrics and metadata in one place, named consistently. Then delivery is an export, not an archaeology project.