FAQ

Questions, answered

Everything about setting up ReleaseNav, what each plan includes, the platforms it works with, and how your unreleased music is protected.

Getting started

What is ReleaseNav?

ReleaseNav is a release promotion workspace for independent musicians. It brings release planning, deadline tracking, AI cover art and video generation, curator pitching, press monitoring, and return reporting into one place, so you no longer need a mix of spreadsheets, calendar reminders, design tools, and separate pitch platforms. You add a release once, and ReleaseNav turns it into a dated plan with the tasks and assets that release needs.

How do I set up my first release?

Create a free account, fill in your artist profile with your name, genres and distributor, then open Create release and enter the title, artist name, release date and the curator platforms you plan to use. ReleaseNav then builds a draft timeline (distributor upload deadline, Spotify editorial pitch deadline, pre-save campaign, curator pitching window, release day and a first results review), a task list and a draft pitch for each selected platform that takes pitches.

How long does it take to get going?

Planning your first release typically takes about ten minutes. Every deadline and reminder is calculated from your release date, so there is no manual calendar setup or template configuration. Generating cover art or a video clip takes another minute or two per asset.

Do I need to be signed to a label to use ReleaseNav?

No. ReleaseNav is built specifically for independent and self-releasing artists who handle their own promotion, whether that is one single a year or a release every month. There is no label approval, no roster requirement, and no minimum catalogue size. Each release is planned individually, so the same workflow works whether you release once a year or every month.

What counts as an active release?

A release is active when it has no release date yet, or its date is within 90 days before or after today. Anything older or further ahead counts as a past release. The Free plan holds 1 active release and 5 past releases; Pro and Pro+ have no limit.

Pricing & billing

Is there a free plan?

Yes. The Free plan costs nothing and needs no payment details. It covers 1 active release and 5 past releases with timelines, checklists, deadline reminders by email, 5 AI-written pitches a month, submission logging and your press kit. Pro is 19 EUR a month and Pro+ is 39 EUR a month, adding unlimited releases and monthly AI cover art and video.

Can I switch plans at any time?

Yes. You can switch between Pro and Pro+ under Plan and billing in Account settings. The switch takes effect right away, and the price difference is adjusted for the time left in your billing period. Switching never deletes releases, pitches, submissions or generated assets. To move to Free, cancel your subscription.

What happens if I hit my AI generation limit?

Each plan includes a monthly allowance: Pro has 15 cover art images and 6 video clips, Pro+ has 45 images and 15 clips, and Free has 5 AI-written pitches. When you reach a limit, that generator pauses until your allowance renews, at the start of your next billing period on a paid plan or the next calendar month on Free. Upgrading starts a fresh allowance. Everything else keeps working, and nothing you generated is removed. Press release drafts have no monthly allowance on any plan, only a safety limit of 30 AI text requests a day, shared with pitch writing and other AI text features.

Do you offer annual billing?

No. Pro and Pro+ are billed monthly, at 19 EUR a month and 39 EUR a month. There is no contract and no cancellation fee.

How do I cancel?

Open Plan and billing in Account settings and choose Cancel subscription. There is no contract, no cancellation fee and no need to contact us. You keep Pro or Pro+ until the end of the period you already paid for, and then your account moves to the Free plan instead of being closed. Your data stays in your account.

Can I undo a cancellation?

Yes, until the paid period ends. Open Plan and billing in Account settings and choose Resume subscription. Your plan then renews as normal. After the period has ended, start a new plan from the pricing page.

Do you offer refunds?

No refunds are given for a period that is already paid. You can cancel at any time and keep Pro or Pro+ until the end of the paid period. This doesn't affect any rights you have under law.

What happens if a payment fails?

You keep your paid plan while our payment provider retries the payment. In the meantime AI cover art, video and pitch writing are paused, and the app shows a billing message. Open Manage billing under Plan and billing in Account settings to update your payment method. If the payment provider then cancels or pauses the subscription, your account moves to Free.

What happens to my deadline tracking if I cancel mid-release?

Nothing is deleted. You keep full access until the end of the period you already paid for. After that your account moves to Free: you can still open every release with its timeline and deadlines, and reminders you have scheduled are still sent by email. Paid features such as AI cover art and video, the calendar subscription, weekly press monitoring, the public press kit and video statistics pause until you upgrade again, and then resume with your data intact.

Integrations

Which platforms does ReleaseNav work with?

ReleaseNav is built around the platforms independent artists already use: Spotify editorial pitch timing, distributor deadlines such as DistroKid's, and curator platforms such as SubmitHub and Musosoup. You can connect YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Google Search Console and Analytics for your own statistics. You keep submitting on those platforms as usual, and ReleaseNav handles the planning, pitch drafting and result logging around them.

Do I need to connect my streaming or distributor account?

No. ReleaseNav calculates every deadline from your release date and the distributor in your profile, so planning, checklists and reminders work with nothing connected. Connecting YouTube, Instagram, Facebook or Google adds their statistics. Spotify stream numbers are imported from a Spotify for Artists export or typed in by you.

What does connecting a social channel do?

Connecting YouTube lets you pick videos from your channel as tracked content instead of pasting links, and their views and likes update once a day. You can also update them straight away from the Videos & reels page. Instagram and Facebook add page and account insights. Video statistics are included in Pro and Pro+. Access is read-only, and you can disconnect at any time on the Connected accounts page.

How are press mentions found?

On Pro and Pro+, ReleaseNav searches the web every week for your artist name together with each release title, and you can also search on demand. Each match is saved with its headline, link and snippet for you to review, and you get an email about new coverage unless you turn off Notify me about new press mentions under Notifications in Account settings. On every plan you can add mentions yourself. Mentions you mark as reviewed can appear on your public press kit.

Where do my streams and results come from?

From what you enter or import: placements, costs and playlist streams you log, Spotify for Artists exports you import, and pitches you record. Nothing is updated automatically unless the app says so where the number is shown, for example YouTube statistics that update once a day, Swedish radio plays checked daily, or an automatic Spotify stream count you choose to use on Pro and Pro+.

Curator platforms

Is using SubmitHub or Musosoup payola?

No. Payola means paying a station, playlist owner, or blog in exchange for a guaranteed play or post, which is against Spotify's terms. On SubmitHub you buy credits and the curator is paid for listening and giving feedback whether they say yes or no, so there is no reward for approving a weak track. On Musosoup you pay a campaign fee to be visible to curators, who can then offer free or paid coverage such as a longer review or an interview. Most submissions are declined, and how often a track is accepted varies by curator and genre, which is the opposite of pay for placement.

What should I avoid so I stay inside Spotify's rules?

Avoid anything that guarantees a playlist add, a fixed number of streams, or a specific playlist position in exchange for money, and be careful if a curator accepts your track for free and then offers to sell a higher spot or longer stay on the playlist. That is much closer to real payola and is often driven by bot streams, which can get your music removed. Paying for a curator's time and honest feedback is fine, paying for a guaranteed result is not. ReleaseNav logs what you spent and what you actually got back per platform and per playlist, which makes a service that only sells promises easy to spot.

Content generation

Which AI models are used?

ReleaseNav uses AI models from third-party providers for images, video and text, and picks one for each task behind the scenes. The terms of service list the providers. Everything runs through ReleaseNav, so you never need an API key, a separate subscription or your own AI account.

Who owns the generated cover art and video?

You generally own what you generate in ReleaseNav, including cover art, video clips, pitches and press releases, and we do not reuse your assets for other artists. AI output still carries some legal uncertainty, so review anything AI-generated before you publish it and check that it does not closely resemble existing copyrighted work.

Can I upload my own artwork instead?

Yes. You can upload your own JPG or PNG cover art on every plan and use it everywhere in the app, including on your press kit and as the source image for video generation. The app warns you when an image is not square, since most stores require a 1:1 cover. You can also replace a generated image with your own at any time.

Which video formats can I export?

Clips come in 9:16, 16:9 or 1:1, with presets for social media, YouTube Shorts and Spotify Canvas, and last 5 or 10 seconds. When the release has an uploaded audio file, it is mixed in from a start point you choose; Spotify Canvas clips are silent, as Spotify requires. You can download each clip from the Video generator page.

Can I edit AI-written pitches?

Always. Every generated pitch, press release and video concept is a draft that you can rewrite, shorten or replace before saving or sending. Pitches respect each platform's character limit and tone notes, and you can choose the language they are written in. Your edits are saved with the release.

Data & privacy

Is my unreleased music private?

Yes. Releases, uploaded audio, lyrics, pitch drafts and results are locked to your account with row-level security in the database, so no other ReleaseNav user can read them. Audio files are kept in private storage and opened only through short-lived signed links. Your audio is never published. If you make your press kit public, it lists your releases, upcoming ones included, with title, date, cover art and link.

When is anything public?

Only your press kit, and only if you switch it on (included in Pro and Pro+). The public page shows your profile, bio, photos, links, your releases and up to 5 press mentions you marked as reviewed, never your audio, private notes, submissions or costs. You can switch it off at any time and the page stops showing straight away. The calendar subscription link is private: anyone you share it with can read your deadlines.

What happens to my data if I delete a release?

Deleting a release moves it to Trash instead of erasing it, so nothing is lost by accident. Its pitches, submissions and results stay with it. Items stay in Trash until you delete your account.

How do I restore a deleted release?

Open Trash from the menu, or from a release's page, and choose Restore next to the release. It comes back with its pitches, submissions and results. On Free, a restore that would go over 1 active release or 5 past releases is blocked until you make room or upgrade.

Do you sell my data?

No. Your data is used only to run ReleaseNav for you, and it is never sold, rented, or shared with advertisers or data brokers. We do not build advertising profiles from your releases or results. Third-party services are used only where they are needed to deliver a feature, such as sending email or generating an asset.

How do I get my data out?

Open Your data in Account settings and download everything tied to your account as a data file (JSON) or a spreadsheet (CSV): profile, releases, pitches, submissions, videos and reels, campaigns, press mentions, radio plays, statistics, plan, settings and AI usage. Every file you uploaded or generated, such as audio, cover art, videos and press photos, is listed with a download link that works for 24 hours. The first section explains each part. Access tokens and payment details are left out.

How do I delete my account?

Open Your data in Account settings, choose Delete my account and type DELETE to confirm. This permanently removes your profile, releases, uploaded files, connected accounts and login, and cannot be undone, so export your data first if you want a copy. A paid plan is cancelled immediately when you delete your account: paid access ends at once and there is no refund for the current period. Our payment provider keeps its own records of your payments, as the law requires. We keep a record that the account was deleted, with its email address, for 30 days, and then delete it.

Can I change the email address on my account?

No. The email address of an existing account can't be changed in the app at the moment.

How do I change my password?

On the sign-in page, choose Forgot your password? and enter your account email. We send you a link to set a new password.

Still deciding?

Compare the plans or start free and plan your next release today.