Broadly speaking, all tracks you might be considering distributing will fall into 5 categories:
Tracks where you or your team have made/recorded every sound
Tracks you've made using freely available (royalty free) beats, loops and instrumentals
Tracks you've made using exclusive beats, loops and instrumentals
Cover songs
Tracks where you've borrowed audio from another artist's track
Depending on the category, their eligibility for each streaming platform will differ. This guide will help you understand what is and isn't eligible, and how you can ensure your music goes to all the major streaming platforms.
1. Tracks where you or your team have made/recorded every sound
Major Streaming Platforms ✅
YouTube Music ✅
YouTube Content ID ✅
TikTok, Instagram, Facebook✅
e.g. you have recorded yourself playing guitar and singing
These tracks should be eligible for all streaming platforms and social media music libraries!
2. Tracks you've made using freely available (royalty free) beats, loops and instrumentals
Major Streaming Platforms ✅
YouTube Music ✅
YouTube Content ID ❌
TikTok, Instagram, Facebook❌
E.g. you've downloaded beats from royalty free website or YouTube or Splice etc.
These tracks can generally be distributed to the main streaming platforms and YouTube Music, but cannot be sent to services that use Fingerprinting software (Content ID, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram).
Remember to check if the creator has made these ineligible for certain platforms!
3. Tracks you've made using exclusive beats, loops and instrumentals
Major Streaming Platforms ✅
YouTube Music ✅
YouTube Content ID ✅
TikTok, Instagram, Facebook ✅
If you've bought exclusive beats, loops and instrumentals online, the seller should have made those available exclusively to you, meaning no-one else can distribute those passages of audio (and there will be no "matches" on the internet)
Make sure this is the case with the seller before buying!
4. Cover songs
Major Streaming Platforms ✅
YouTube Music ✅
YouTube Content ID ✅
TikTok, Instagram, Facebook ✅
Does your release contain a cover song? If so, you will need to obtain a mechanical license in order to distribute it, and you should credit the original songwriter and recording owner, who will be due a cut of your royalties from the cover. Otherwise you could run into some legal issues.
There are a number of companies from whom you can get a Mechanical License, including the Harry Fox Agency (HFA) and Easy Song Licensing.
Recording tips:
Just make sure not to use any of the audio from the track you're covering! You should be re-recording or producing all the sounds yourself, or it will be considered sampling (see no. 5)
You cannot distribute mashups of 2 or more songs, and should not add new lyrics verses etc. or it will no longer be considered a cover.
5. Tracks where you've borrowed audio from another artist's track (sampling)
Major Streaming Platforms ❌
YouTube Music ❌
YouTube Content ID ❌
TikTok, Instagram, Facebook❌
Sampling can be a great creative exercise, and is fine to upload directly to your social media channels or SoundCloud, but you cannot monetize a track containing someone else's audio without their permission. Therefore it cannot be distributed.
You can however obtain permission from the original recording owner with a "Master License" but these can be very expensive and very hard to get hold of!