Why Did My Distributor Reject My Track? (2026)

You uploaded to DistroKid, TuneCore, CD Baby, Amuse or LANDR Distribution — and got a rejection or a "quality issue" warning. It's frustrating and vague. Here's what actually triggers these rejections and how to fix each one before you re-upload.

The short version

Most distribution rejections come down to a small set of technical problems, not artistic ones. In order of how often they show up:

1. Clipping / true-peak overs

2. Silence at the start or end (or a track that's too short)

3. Wrong file format or sample rate

4. Loudness far outside normal ranges

5. Suspected duplicate / AI-content flags (a newer, separate issue)

Let's take them one at a time.

1. Clipping and true-peak overs

This is the big one. If your master peaks at or above 0 dBFS — or its true peak exceeds 0 dBTP — the encoders on the way to Spotify and Apple will clip it, and automated QC flags the distortion.

The fix: a true-peak limiter with a ceiling of -1 dBTP. That headroom survives lossy encoding. If you master loud, go to -2 dBTP. Sample-peak "-0.1 dB" is *not* the same as true peak — inter-sample peaks can be more than 1 dB higher than what a normal peak meter shows, which is exactly why tracks that "look fine" still get rejected.

2. Silence, gaps and length

• Leading/trailing silence: many distributors reject long silent regions at the start or end. Trim to a clean, short fade.
• Too short: some stores require a minimum length (often ~30 seconds). A 20-second loop can be bounced.
• Dead air in the middle: long fully-silent gaps can trip automated checks.

3. Format and sample rate

Deliver what the store wants. The safe universal master is:

• WAV, 16-bit or 24-bit
• 44.1 kHz sample rate (CD standard; stores resample from here)
• Stereo, not mono-summed unless intended

Uploading a low-bitrate MP3 as your "master" is a common, avoidable rejection.

4. Loudness out of range

Distributors themselves rarely enforce a LUFS number, but extreme values are a red flag and guarantee a bad result on the platform:

• Too loud (e.g. -5 LUFS brick-walled): heavy distortion after encoding, and the platform turns it down anyway.
• Too quiet (e.g. -24 LUFS): sounds weak next to everything else.

Target roughly -14 LUFS for streaming, -16 LUFS for Apple Music, with -1 dBTP of headroom. (See our LUFS targets guide for the full table.)

5. AI-content and duplicate flags

This is newer. Some distributors now screen for AI-generated audio and for near-duplicates. Two honest points:

• Mastering does not disguise AI origin, and it shouldn't. If a distributor's policy requires you to disclose AI-generated content, disclose it. A tool that claims to "hide" that content is not something you want to rely on.
• What mastering does fix is the *technical* reason many AI tracks get bounced — the true-peak overs and harshness described above. Those are legitimate, fixable quality problems.

A pre-upload checklist

Before you submit, confirm:

• True peak at or below -1 dBTP (measured as true peak, not sample peak)
• Integrated loudness in a sane range for the target platform
• No long silence at start/end; track meets minimum length
• Correct format: WAV, 16/24-bit, 44.1 kHz
• Any AI content disclosed per the distributor's policy

How Mixee helps

Mixee measures true peak (BS.1770), integrated LUFS and loudness range in the browser, flags the exact issues above, and produces a distributor-safe master with -1 dBTP headroom by default. It also runs an explicit AI-artifact check so you know what you're dealing with — honestly, not hidden.

Check your track against distribution specs — free →