DDEX distribution

Checking a release before it goes out

Before a release leaves Aden, we check the files you actually uploaded, not just the metadata.

What gets checked

• Your master: format, sample rate, bit depth, channel count and length. Stores need a lossless WAV or FLAC at 44.1 kHz or higher, 16-bit minimum (24-bit recommended).
• Your cover art: size, squareness, colour mode and transparency. Aim for 3000×3000px, perfectly square, RGB, with no transparent layer.
• Your metadata: ISRC, UPC, release date, primary artist, and composition and master splits each adding up to 100%.

Anything that would get the release rejected by a store is shown as an error you need to fix. Anything that would merely hurt quality, a mono master, artwork smaller than recommended, is shown as a warning you can proceed past.

You can check against the specific stores you're targeting, since their requirements differ: Apple Music wants 3000×3000px artwork where others accept less.

Publishing to SoundCloud

If your team has connected SoundCloud, making a track public in Aden also uploads it to that SoundCloud account. There is no extra setting: connecting the account is what turns it on.

It only happens for a track that is ready to be released or already released, and that has both an audio file and a cover. If the release date is still ahead, the track goes up private and SoundCloud makes it public on the day, so the audio is already processed and waiting.

Making the track private and public again does not upload it twice. Aden reuses the SoundCloud track it already created.