Migrating Your Catalog to Revelator

Modified on Tue, 30 Jun at 4:05 PM

This article outlines what you need to prepare before migrating your catalog to Revelator. Our Distribution team handles the migration for you — this checklist simply ensures we have everything in place to get started quickly and cleanly.

Before you begin

Every Revelator account (and child account) that catalog will be delivered into must exist in Revelator before we can begin. This is a hard pre-requisite.
You can prepare all other deliverables in parallel — but the account mapping (item 2 below) depends on accounts being in place first.
If you are unsure which accounts you need or how to set up child accounts, contact your Revelator representative or Support.

What you need to provide

Please collect the following deliverables before contacting Support. Most can be prepared in parallel.

1. Your catalog data source

Provide your catalog in one of the following formats:

DDEX (recommended)

DDEX is the most efficient and accurate way to migrate your catalog — it bundles metadata, audio, and artwork together. Place your DDEX packages in a location we can access (SFTP, AWS/S3, Dropbox, Google Drive, or a shared link), and we will import them. Contact Support for our SFTP credentials, then coordinate with your previous distributor to open a feed to Revelator.

Spreadsheet

If DDEX is not available, send a spreadsheet containing at a minimum:

UPCs
Release names
ISRCs
Track names
Direct download URLs for audio and artwork files

Media file requirementsWhichever source you use, all media files must meet these standards:

Audio: WAV or FLAC, 16-bit, 44.1 kHz minimum
Artwork: JPG or PNG, minimum 1400 x 1400 px (3000 x 3000 px recommended), square format

2. Account mapping (UPC to PayeeID)

A completed UPC-to-PayeeID mapping tells us which release belongs in which account. Use the template below — make a copy so you can edit it.

Download the UPC to PayeeID template

Finding your Enterprise or Payee ID Go to Clients in Revelator Pro, select the relevant client, and click See Info. This will show the Enterprise ID and Payee ID for that account.

3. Metadata export (optional, but strongly recommended for large catalogs)

A metadata export covering any data point not already captured in your catalog data source — for example, contributor credits, composer and publisher details, territorial restrictions, non-default pricing, or future release dates. For large catalogs, this significantly reduces the number of flagged items during review and speeds up the overall ingestion.

Metadata fields to preserve during migration

Keeping certain fields consistent between your old and new distribution is what allows your releases to retain their playlist placements, stream counts, and chart history.

Your onboarding manager will advise you on this in detail, but as a general reference, the fields below are the ones that matter most.

For tracks

ISRC
Audio
Track length
Title
Title version
Artists
Lyrics language
Parental advisory

For releases

UPC
Track count
Metadata language

Additional metadata to flag

Territorial restrictions
Non-default pricing
Future release dates (if applicable)

Delivery history

Provide a delivery history export from your previous distributor showing:

UPC
DSP name
Whether each release is currently live

Note Most distributors can provide this export on request or from within your dashboard. This helps us avoid duplicates and conflicting deliveries.

UGC DSP eligibility

Some DSPs — including Facebook, Lickd, Snap, TikTok, and YouTube Content ID — are special services that do not authorise all sound recordings. Before migrating, review this article on unauthorised content for UGC DSPs and the Relevance for Distribution section of this article on Track Origin and Track Properties.

If you are using Revelator's deals to distribute to UGC platforms, you will need to tag each track with the correct Track Origin and Track Properties. We can provide a spreadsheet template for batch tagging if needed.

If you are switching from your own UGC deals to Revelator's deals, you must also provide:

Ineligible content report (Meta/Facebook)
Invalid reference report (YouTube)
Violative content report (TikTok)

Warning Failure to comply with UGC policies may result in your account being blocked from distributing to those DSPs.

Migration checklist

Use this to confirm you have everything ready before contacting Support.

Deliverable	Required
All Revelator accounts (and child accounts) created	Always
Catalog data source ready (DDEX location or spreadsheet)	Always
Media files meet format requirements (WAV/FLAC, JPG/PNG)	Always
UPC to PayeeID mapping completed	Always
Delivery history export provided	Always
Metadata export prepared	Optional (recommended for large catalogs)
UGC track tagging completed (Track Origin and Track Properties)	If using Revelator's UGC deals
UGC content reports submitted (Meta, YouTube, TikTok)	If switching from your own UGC deals

Need help with the migration process?
For detailed migration planning, per-DSP procedures, and scenario-specific guidance, contact Support — we will walk you through it.