What NORTH is and how distribution works

What this guide covers

A complete overview of how NORTH moves a release from your workspace to stores and keeps reporting connected afterward.

NORTH keeps your catalog, delivery, reporting, royalties, and workspace access connected. Small setup choices made early — especially names, email addresses, artist identities, and workspace type — affect the rest of the workflow.

Before you start

• Use an email address you actively monitor.
• Confirm whether you are operating as an artist or label.
• Have the exact artist and label names you intend to use on releases.
• Keep your login private; invite teammates separately instead of sharing credentials.

Step by step

1. 01

   Create your NORTH account and complete onboarding for an artist or label workspace.

2. 02

   Build a release with final audio, artwork, metadata, contributors, stores, and a release date.

3. 03

   Submit the release to NORTH for automated checks and human review.

4. 04

   After approval, confirm royalty splits and complete any email-based accounting steps that apply to the release.

5. 05

   Follow delivery status until stores confirm the release, then use NORTH for analytics, statements, splits, and catalog management.

Check your work

• You are in the intended workspace.
• Your artist or label identity is spelled correctly.
• Your account email is accessible.
• You can reach Releases, Artists, Labels, Analytics, Royalties, and Settings as permitted.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Creating duplicate artist identities for the same artist.
• Using a shared login instead of team access.
• Starting a release before final files and credits are ready.
• Entering placeholder metadata that later becomes difficult to correct.

What happens next

Once the workspace is ready, create a release draft and keep the same artist, label, and contributor identities throughout the catalog.

If the result on screen does not match what this guide describes, stop before creating duplicate catalog records or repeating a financial action. Use the visible status and error information when contacting NORTH support.