In order to understand this article it is important to understand the following distinction between what is commonly called the "release date":

  1. The historical release date
    • This is the date that you are asked to enter when first creating your release if your release has been previously distributed 
    • This field is provided on the release metadata page — it is not the release date field that you see on the distribution options set of pages (the pages where you select which DSPs to distribute to and other options such as the territories to distribute your release to).
    • Once you distribute your release, the system will automatically update this field (if it was left blank) based on the future sale start date you pick (and if you pick ASAP it will set it to the current day's date).
    • Once it is entered/set, the historical release date field cannot be changed directly. It can only be changed in these 2 ways:
      • Redistributing the release and indicating a new future start date. In such a case the historical release date will update to the future start date only if the historical release date has not yet passed.
      • If the historical release date has already passed, the only way you will be able too change this date is by contacting our support.
  2. The future sale start date
    • This is the date that you are asked to enter in the distribution options set of pages (the pages where you select which DSPs to distribute to and other options such as the territories to distribute your release to).
    • This date can be changed by you every time you redistribute the release (see instructions below).
    • If today is January 10 and you initially set a start date of January 9, then your release will already be live. If, however, you need to push back your start date to January 20 (you want to hide your release on DSPs until January 20), you can just redistribute your release with the new start date. Note, however, that proceeding in this way can result in a longer delay until DSPs hide your release until January 20. If you need to hide your release as fast as possible, then it will likely be faster to send a takedown, then wait for the takedown to complete to redistribute your release with the new start date. 


HOW TO CHANGE THE FUTURE SALE START DATE


Simply redistribute the release. You will be prompted again to enter a start date on the distribution options page.


Note that if the release is still in delivery, you may need to pause the delivery: How to edit a Release that is still in delivery.


Here are the steps for changing the start date:

  1. Click on Assets > Music
  2. Click on the asset you'd like to edit the release date of.
  3. Select "distribution" from the menu on the sidebar (see image below)
  4. Click the big purple Distribute All button on the top right corner of your page
  5. Scroll to the bottom to find the "Release start date" field and edit it there.