Before you begin....

Please read all of the steps and specifications before submitting your video

Please note holiday content cut-off guidelines HERE

The Video Distribution application will be unavailable from December 20, 2024, through January 2, 2025.

The cut-off to submit music videos in 2024 will be December 20, 2024, at 6PM EST.

Before you submit a music video, it is important that you understand how to properly format your audio, video, and much more. We’ve prepared this checklist that serves as a “Best Practices” check-list to help you understand our specifications. Once you’ve read this checklist, complete the submission form and process your payment so we can start distributing your video! You can only have a music video processed if you have paid the fee of $95 and/or, the additional fee for distribution to the “PLUS” partners. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us by creating a ticket.

Returning Customer? If you are familiar with the process, click here to begin!

Important Notes:

  • Please watch the video to the right and read the guide below in its entirety
  • Submit video 3+ WEEKS BEFORE your “go-live date”
  • VEVO artist photo, banners, links, etc., can be updated with a ticket request.
  • There is no VEVO login access per user.
  • Videos will not be sent to VEVO if the video has already been released on another Youtube channel.

Learn more about Vevo
To read more about Video Distribution, click here.
If you need help, please feel free to contact us.

Ready to begin? Click Step 1 below!

STEP 1 : Ensure your music is original and doesn't have third party material

Before you begin doing any submission, it is important that you know that we can only accept original video content and thus, your video can’t contain third-party content that you do not own. Here are the basic requirements to distribute your video

  • Must contain 100% original material (audio and visual).
  • Must be professionally produced or have some production quality.
  • Only officially produced music videos accepted (album art, track, lyric videos* are not accepted by all partners )
  • Cannot contain excessive or full frontal nudity, explicit drug use or graphic violence.
  • Cannot contain the release cover artwork.
  • Your video cannot exceed 10 minutes.
  • No logo or MTV style credits in the corners of the video
  • *Lyric music videos with lyrics stylized into a produced video are accepted. Other lyric videos that fall under the following styles: karaoke, static text over graphics or stock elements or just have the lyrics on the lower third of the video will be rejected. 

 

 

In terms of the content of your music video, there are some DON’Ts as well. Please read this important list of items to not include in your music video.

  • All videos need to only show the music video itself with no on screen distractions
  • NO URLs, hashtags, social handles, dates, shoutouts, or other promotional text on the screen.
  • NO burn in logos in the corners of screens throughout the video.
  • NO front / ending slates, title, or end cards in the video (white text on black screen).
  • NO MTV style credits in corner of the video.
  • NO still image or a blank screen in video, videos need to have active pixels.
  • End credits cannot be longer than 3 seconds TOTAL.
Daft punk - buy now itunes.

STEP 2 : Properly encode your video and audio with these specifications

Now that you’ve understood the idea of originality in terms of music video distribution, the next step is to properly encode your video and audio for distribution to our partners. This is one of the most important steps so please take a moment to read through all and, if all of the below is complicated or if you need any assistance terms of your own encoding efforts, feel free to contact us.

The higher the quality your submission the higher the quality the encode delivered to the iTunes and other partners. If your music video doesn’t meet all minimum specs, it will be delayed for delivery until the video is corrected. Please make sure your video meets guideline before moving forward.

TECHNICAL SPECS (AUDIO)

Format: AAC
Channels: Stereo
Sample Rate: 44.100 kHz for HD, 48 kHz for 4K
Bit Rate: 320 kbps CBR

TECHNICAL SPECS (VIDEO)

Compression Type: ProRes – Preferred for HD or H.264 – Also Acceptable
File Format: .mov (ProRes) or .mp4 (H.264)
Dimensions: 1920×1080 preferred for HD, and 3840 x 2160 or 4096 x 2160 preferred for 4K 
Frame Rate: Native (No less than 23.98 FPS)
Bit Rate: Unrestricted (at least 150 mb/s is Preferred for HD, If H.264 at least 50mb/s) and (at least 400 mb/s is Preferred for 4K, If H.264 at least 250mb/s)

The video must be de-interlaced and be set up for multi-pass encoding
NO frame re-ordering in your encoding settings
Do not include front or end slates, title or end cards, etc.

The size of your video WILL be a large file due to the recommended bit rate and video format (H.264/ProRes).

Please export all encodes using Compressor or Quicktime.

If your video file is:

Under 2GB – send to us using Wetransfer.com (Step 5)

Over 2GB+ – send us a Dropbox or Google Drive download link (Step 5)

STEP 3 : Prep your delivery (Filename and Image Assets)

For VEVO and other partners, they do require some image assets and additional information in order to properly complete a profile for the artist that is featured on the music video. In addition, it is important that you also label your filename correctly to avoid delays.

File Labeling (Your file must be labeled as per below)

Artistname_VideoTitle_Version.mov
Example: LittleRed_Maryhadalittlelamb_Clean.mov
No spaces and/or special characters allowed (: ! # , @ $ % ? “ ‘)
Only English and Numbers Language alphabet
(No other languages with accent marks or unique characters to be listed for the file name wise ie. Russian, Asian, or Arabic letters)

Now that you’ve got all that squared away, Step 4 is the delivery process.

PR Photo and Banner submission

Your PR photo and banner image must be formatted as follows.

  • Artist PR photo (it cannot be a logo or graphic, at least 2400px x 2400px at 72dpi, centered and some space from the edges ) for VEVO Youtube channel creation * VEVO will use this photo for your artist profile on all VEVO platforms.

  • Artist Banner Image/Graphic: 2560 x 1440 px or 2560 x 423 px is recommended for a new YouTube Vevo channel in this size. The template is found here. Please read through all of the instructions and ensure your art is centered. ** see blended mockup **

Samples Below

artnotes
Cathy paris - print & run services vol 1.

Almost done! Please proceed to the next step!

STEP 4: Upload + Deliver your music video!

To deliver your music video you first need to use a program to deliver your music video to us. You can use: WeTransfer.com, Drop Box, or Google Drive. You will simply need to upload to one of those providers and once that is complete, you can proceed to our video submission form and include the link of your video. Once that is done, you are done! We realize these are a lot of steps and preparation but doing the steps on this guide will reduce the time that it takes to deliver your music to some of the most important providers in the world!

If your video file is:

Under 2GB – send to us using Wetransfer.com that will come up after you pay the fee ( Free to use to send files up to 2GB )

Over 2GB+ – Omit using Wetransfer.com and send us a Dropbox or Google Drive download link to video@symdistro.com

We often get asked if we can deliver music videos in other languages. In regards to the video content itself, all of our video partners accept music videos that are performed in another language. In regards to how the titles themselves are displayed on each video platform, please see the below:

For example:
English Title: “Forever a cat”
Native Russian Language Title: “Навсегда кот”
Russian title using English characters: “Navsegda kot“

Ready to begin the video distribution process?

Upon clicking the button, you will be redirected to video submission form.
Once you submit the form you will be redirected to PayPal to pay the fee.

If you do not have PayPal, you may choose to pay with a credit card.
Need help? Check out our instructional video and step by step process

I'M READY, LET'S DO IT!