🇺🇸 Welcome!
XJAZZ!Music was founded 10 years ago by Sebastian Studnitzky, we focus on setting up digital and physical releases, while production, design, marketing, PR, and manufacturing are covered by the artists. This way we keep the record deal lean and affordable.
You’ll receive a Google Drive folder to fill in and upload your data. Over time, all relevant codes and links will appear in a document called Label Copy. The communication between the involved parties such as manufacturer or designer will be in your hands.
Our work begins, once we’ve received all data and material — estimate minimum 3 months later your first single. Your physical product release depends on manufacturing, please note that the storage needs the products at least 4 weeks in advance. Let’s go!
We release on Fridays, at least 14 days between each single and the album.
Digital and physical release can be on the same day, or separate.
A classic digital album rollout: Single 1 → Single 2 → Album
Our distribution partner for both digital and physical products is The Orchard, including storage and shipping to several shops.
In order to complete your CD/LP production, your mastering engineer will ask for ISRC codes. To generate them we need your music, artwork and filled out Label Copy. You will find the ISRC codes in there after some time.
In order to complete your physical Artwork, your designer generates a Barcode, that has to appear on the backside of your CD or LP. The barcode includes an EAN number of your physical product, to be found in your Label Copy.
You are free to choose your designer and manufacturer/printing plant, we can recommend our partners in Berlin, we provide all logos and guidelines.
IMPORTANT: Physical products must be delivered to the distributor’s storage at least 4 weeks before release, better 5. We recommend them being printed 8 weeks in advance. If you miss this deadline, your physical release date must be postponed.
Communication with GEMA etc. stays in your hands.
We’ll do everything possible to align your release with your promo and live dates, but we need time for internal approval processes with the distributor.
🇩🇪 Willkommen!
XJAZZ!Music wurde vor 10 Jahren von Sebastian Studnitzky gegründet, wir richten digitale und physische Veröffentlichungen ein, während Produktion, Design, Marketing, PR von den Künstler:innen übernommen werden. Das hält die Kosten auf einem Minimum und lässt maximale Gestaltungsfreiheit.
Du erhältst von uns einen Google-Drive-Ordner für den Upload Deiner Daten. Mit der Zeit erscheinen alle relevanten Codes und Links in eurer Label Copy (Doc für die Metadaten).
Das Label legt los, sobald alle Daten und Materialien vollständig vorliegen – rechne mind. 3 Monate bis zur ersten Single. Das physische Releasedatum hängt von der Produktion ab, bitte beachte, dass die CD/LP mind. 4 Wochen vorab dem Lager vorliegen muss.
Die Kommunikation zwischen allen Partnern wie Presswerk und Grafiker:innen liegt bei Dir.
Wir veröffentlichen immer freitags
zwischen jeder Single und dem Album müssen mind. 14 Tage Abstand liegen, kann auch mehr.
Klassischer Digital-Release: Single 1 → Single 2 → Album.
Euer physisches Album kann am selben Tag oder nach dem digitalen Release erscheinen.
Unser Vertriebspartner für digitale und physische Produkte ist The Orchard, sie stellen uns auch Platz in ihrem Lager und verschicken Eure CD`s an Shops.
Das Design und die Hersteller eurer CD/LP könnt ihr frei wählen, wir überprüfen nur ein paar inhaltliche Details und können unsere Partner empfehlen.
Wir benötigen euer vollständiges Material sowie Zeit, um ISRC-Codes zu generieren, damit euer Master fertiggestellt und in den Druck gegeben werden kann (DDP-Datei).
Ihr kümmert euch um das Design der physischen Produkte und bekommt eine UPC/EAN Nummer von uns, um den Barcode zu generieren, der ins Artwork der CD oder LP gehört.
WICHTIG: Physische Produkte müssen spätestens 4 Wochen vor dem Release beim Distributor eintreffen, 5 Wochen wären besser. Wir empfehlen, sie 8 Wochen vorher drucken zu lassen. Bei zu spätem Eintreffen können wir das physische Release-Datum nicht garantieren, es wird dann vom Vertrieb verschoben.
Die Anmeldung der GEMA liegt beim Artist.
Von uns erhaltet ihr alle Logos und Gestaltungsrichtlinien.
Wir tun unser Bestes, um euren Release mit allen Promo- und Live-Terminen abzustimmen, benötigen jedoch die vereinbarte Zeit für die internen Abstimmungsprozesse mit dem Vertrieb.
🇺🇸 The following assets should be uploaded to your Google Drive folder:
Album tracks as WAV files (24-bit, 44.1kHz)
Artwork for album/singles in 72 dpi RGB, square format (3000 x 3000 px) as JPG (for both digital and physical releases). Please name them accordingly. All digital artworks can differ, or be the same.
Filled out Label Copy (table with titles, musicians, composers — we’ll provide a template)
Banner (1920 x 1080), video link, short English promo text for your artist page on our website.
🇩🇪 Folgende Assets benötigen wir im Google-Drive Ordner, den wir bereitstellen:
Album-Tracks als WAV-Dateien (24 bit, 44,1 kHz)
Artwork für Album und Singles in 72 dpi RGB, quadratisch (3000 × 3000 px) als JPG – für digitale und physische Veröffentlichungen. Bitte alle Dateien benennen. Die Single-Artworks können unterschiedlich oder identisch sein.
Label Copy (Vorlage wird bereitgestellt) – vollständig ausgefüllt
Banner (1920 × 1080 px), Video-Link und ein kurzer englischer Promotext für Eure Künstlerseite.
🇺🇸 Label provides:
Label code
UPC / EAN codes
ISRC codes (please inform us if you already have your own)
PO number for physical releases and address
URI number for your new Spotify Artist account
Coordination of digital and physical releases
License income accounting (earliest one year after release)
Communication via XJAZZ! Music channels (IG and Website)
Instagram collab (@xjazz__music): tag us in your release content
Website: we use your banner, promo text, and video link for your artist page
🇩🇪 Das Label stellt bereit:
Labelcode
UPC / EAN Codes
ISRC Codes (bitte informiert uns, falls ihr eigene habt)
PO Nummer für euer physische Releases und die Lieferadresse
URI Nummer für euer Spotify-Artist-Konto (muss vor dem Release beantragt werden; bitte Bearbeitungszeit einplanen). Weitere Hinweise zur Einrichtung anderer Streaming-Accounts findet ihr im FAQ.
Abrechnung der Lizenzeinnahmen (frühestens ein Jahr nach Release)
Kommunikation über Instagram: veröffentlicht euer Artwork/Promovideos und ladet uns als Collab ein (@xjazz__music)
Website: wir richten euer Artist Portfolio ein
🇺🇸 The Label Copy is our central communication and setup document. It is used collaboratively between the label and the artist to organize all information needed for the release. Over time, the label provides certain data, which the artist is responsible for sharing with relevant parties, such as the mastering engineer, manufacturer, and when shipping physical products to the warehouse.
🇩🇪 Die Label Copy ist unser zentrales Kommunikations- und Arbeitsdokument. Sie wird gemeinsam von Label und Künstler:in genutzt, um alle für den Release benötigten Informationen zu organisieren. Im Laufe der Zeit stellt das Label Daten bereit, die von euch an die jeweiligen beteiligten Parteien weitergegeben werden müssen – an den Mastering Engineer, das Presswerk etc
Please fill out the marketing infos, to be found at the end of your Label Copy. Focus tracks are a key piece of information for retailers to know what track you are aligning your marketing efforts around. They cannot be singles, please choose a different track of your album. Artists know their stories best, use quotes and creative context to help showcase your message. Here are some helpful annotations:
MARKETING HIGHLIGHTS
* = required
* Song/Album Blurb (500 characters max):
(Tell us about the process of creating this project/song, recent highlights and plans to promote it.)
* Label/Artist will be pitching directly in Spotify for Artists: Yes/No
(Let us know if the artist’s teams will be pitching in SFA directly.)
*Album/EP Street Week Focus Track = Focus Track
(The track that editors, programmers will focus on when the project is released. This is a new track that has not previously been released - Focus track should not be a single)
*Focus Track Mood:
(This should include the general mood of the track, where it fits in terms of sub genre. Examples: Chill, Energetic, Happy, Fierce, Meditative, Romantic, Sad, Sexy)
*Is The Focus Track a Cover? Yes / No
(Please include whether or not this track is a cover of another song released by another artist)
*Artist Hometown:
(Please include the city, state, and country of origin for the artist, this is not their current location)
*Currently Based:
(Please include city, state and country for the artist’s current location)
* Moods (please choose up to three): Chill, Energetic, Feel Good, Feeling Blue, Fierce, Fitness, Focus, Happy, Heartbreak, Meditative, Motivation, Party, Romance, Sad, Sexy, Sleep
(Please choose up to three of these prepopulated moods.)
*Release Timeline:
(Please include release dates for audio/video releases associated with this campaign)
Example:
'Track 1 Title' - Released as a Single & IGT April 30th
'Track 2 Title' - Released as a Single & IGT June 13th
'Track 3 Title' - Released as a Single & IGT July 25th
Album (Focus Track: ‘Track Title) August 1st
*Artist Quotes on Project/Single:
(Quote from artist on all singles and focus tracks - i.e. creative context, anecdotes, synopsis, themes, story behind making the music, inspiration)
*Album Blurb:
(Concise description/elevator pitch of the album. The “perfect” blurb should be short, relevant and selling. Ideally not more than 500 characters. Preferably, a blurb should include three different elements: A short description of the album (theme, context), background information on the artist project and previous results (what has happened before - think “CV”) and finally, information about promo & marketing activities around the new release - what happens now)
Artist History (i.e. specific narratives, international support, accolades, etc.):
(Concise description/elevator pitch of the artist and their history.)
Fans Also Like:
(Please include similar artists, or artists that their fans also follow/listen to)
TikTok Handle:
(If the artist is active on TikTok, please include their handle)
Hired Teams (Radio, PR, Marketing, Manager, Agent, etc):
(Please include names of companies/key personnel who have been hired to work this campaign. This should include names of any management, tour agencies, digital agencies, publicists hired by territory)
Example:
Publicity
US - Name @ Agency
UK - Name @ Agency
EU - Name @ Agency
AU - Name @ Agency
Radio / Club Service
AU - Name @ Agency
DE - Name @ Agency
EU - Name @ Agency
Booking Agent
US: Name @ Agency
UK: Name @ Agency
AU: Name @ Agency
Press/Publicity/Highlights:
(Please include links to recent major press hits + upcoming/confirmed major press hits)
Press Quotes:
(Recent notable press quotes around album campaign)
Radio Promotion:
(Please include any radio stats, talking points, hired teams/partners and plans)
Touring/Live:
(Please include notable tour dates and shows and highlights)
Advertising Plans & Spends:
(Please include details for any advertising spends including budgets, length of campaigns, target platforms/locations)
For digital spends, please include details for each platform below if applicable:
Spotify
Apple
TikTok
Snapchat
YT
IG/Facebook
Retail Campaign Drivers (Broken out by account)
(Please include plans such as contesting, social posting, fan engagement, experiential and any applicable activations you are using to promote the record that drive fans directly to digital and physical accounts)
Digital Sales/Streaming History:
(Please include streaming highlights and stats that show growth and or fan engagement)
Physical Sales History:
(Please include physical sales highlights and stats that show growth/demand in the market. Please include territory specific information where applicable)
Press Photo Link:
(Please include a link to the hi res press photo either by google drive or dropbox)
Link to additional assets:
(Please include links to any additional promotional assets that you may have for this campaign. This may include artist BIO, music video files, promotional assets, cover art, WAVs, Links to campaign decks and more)
🇺🇸 What are the accepted audio file specifications?
We prefer WAV (.wav) format in 24-bit and 48 kHz.
However, we support all of the formats below:
WAV (.wav) and FLAC (.flac) and Apple Lossless (.m4a)
16-bit: 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz
WAV (.wav) and FLAC (.flac)
24-bit: 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz, 192 kHz
🇩🇪 Was sind die akzeptierten Spezifikationen für Audiodateien?
Wir bevorzugen das WAV-Format (.wav) in 24 Bit und 48 kHz.
Wir unterstützen jedoch alle der folgenden Formate:
WAV (.wav) und FLAC (.flac) und Apple Lossless (.m4a)
16-Bit: 44,1 kHz, 48 kHz
WAV (.wav) und FLAC (.flac)
24-Bit: 44,1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88,2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176,4 kHz, 192 kHz
XJAZZ! Music will assign a catalogue number / cat. number to your release. You will find it in your Label Copy - it is often requested by manufacturers (if we collaborate with Handle With Care). The catalogue number does not need to appear on your artwork. All catalogue numbers start with XJM.
XJAZZ! Music vergibt für jedes Release eine Katalognummer. Ihr findet sie in eurer Label Copy - sie wird häufig von Presswerken oder Herstellern abgefragt, z.B. wenn wir mit Handle With Care zusammenarbeiten. Die Katalognummer muss nicht auf dem Artwork erscheinen. Alle Katalognummern beginnen mit XJM.
Release Formats
Album – typically preceded by 2 singles
Unrelated Single – stand-alone release, not part of an album or EP
EP – shorter collection of tracks, released all at once
CD – compact disc
LP – vinyl format
You can choose just a digital release, or digital release + physical (only cd/lp or both).
🇺🇸 Artist/Account naming (Spotify)
For new jazz projects, artists often want to combine their personal name with a new band or project name. While we understand this from a musicians perspective, streaming platforms follow strict rules based on the Apple Music Style Guide (which is mandatory for all services):
A primary artist can only be claimed as a musician OR a band/project.
Combinations of both are not accepted — such releases will be rejected.
Individual artists (e.g. John Lennon, Paul McCartney) and existing bands (The Beatles) can be claimed together. What is not possible is merging everything into one hybrid name.
Featured guests appear as such on streaming profiles.
Artwork Requirements
All primary artists and the album/single title must appear exactly as listed in the metadata.
The distributor will check this — discrepancies lead to rejection.
For physical releases the rules are more flexible, but for digital artwork consistency is mandatory.
Alternative: provide artwork without text, using only image.
🇩🇪 Künstlernamen für neue Accounts (Spotify)
Bei neuen Jazz-Projekten möchten Künstler:innen häufig ihren eigenen Namen mit einem Band- oder Projektnamen kombinieren. Wir verstehen diesen Wunsch aus musikalischer Sicht, allerdings gelten auf Streaming-Plattformen klare Vorgaben, die auf dem Apple Music Style Guide basieren (verbindlich für alle Dienste):
Primary Artists können nur als Name oder als Band/Projekt eingetragen werden.
Einzelkünstler:innen (z. B. John Lennon, Paul McCartney) und bestehende Bands (z. B. The Beatles) können nicht als Hybrid angelegt werden.
Special Guests werden auf Streaming-Profilen als „feat.“-sichtbar gemacht.
Anforderungen an das Artwork
Alle Primary Artists sowie der Album- bzw. Single-Titel müssen exakt so auf dem Artwork erscheinen, wie sie in den Metadaten angegeben sind.
Abweichungen werden nicht freigegeben.
Für physische Cover gelten etwas flexiblere Regeln, bei digitalen Artworks ist Konsistenz zwingend erforderlich.
Alternative: das Artwork kann auch ohne Text, also nur mit Bildmotiv, eingereicht werden.
🇺🇸 After we have submitted your release, you will get an URI number to claim your account. Please contact their support service if you have any questions.
You claim your account here: https://artists.spotify.com/en/claim For all questions please use their customer service: https://artists.spotify.com/home
Other streaming Services
You can set up your Apple Music account by yourself after your first single release. We recommend claiming all accounts, please reach out to their customer services in case you have questions:
🇩🇪 Nachdem wir euren Release eingereicht haben, erhaltet ihr eine URI-Nummer, mit der ihr euer Spotify-Artist-Konto beanspruchen könnt. Bei Fragen wendet euch bitte direkt an den Support-Service von Spotify.
Account-Claiming: https://artists.spotify.com/en/claim
Kundendienst: https://artists.spotify.com/home
Weitere Streaming-Dienste
Euer Apple Music-Konto könnt ihr nach der Veröffentlichung eurer ersten Single selbst einrichten. Wir empfehlen, alle Streaming-Accounts zu claimen. Bei Fragen kontaktiert bitte direkt den jeweiligen Kundendienst.
🇺🇸 With Spotify for Artists pitch tool we try to keep all our pitches in English. This is to increase the chances for a release to travel and get picked up by playlist editors around the globe. The “perfect” pitch text, aka blurb, should be short, relevant and selling. According to Spotify, a blurb can’t be more than 500 characters. Preferably, a blurb should include three different elements: A short description of the song (theme, context), background information on the artist project and previous results (what has happened before - think “CV”) and finally, information about marketing activities around the release (what happens now). Below are four examples of how a blurb could look like: Local act: Example 1 Fourth single of the year from the Swedish country-pop singer-songwriter who won "Swedish Idol" in 2010. His first solo album, Jay Smith [2010] topped Swedish music charts and was certified platinum. A second solo album, 'King Of Man' was co-produced by seven-time Swedish Grammy-winner Dan Sundquist. He has also released two albums with the band Von Benzo. Example 2 New upcoming EP from Ida Kudo, Danish/Japanese who offers equal parts of Eastern mystique and cool Scandinavian precision. Ida Kudo has previously been supported by Clash Magazine, Gaffa, Bands of Tomorrow & Jajaja as well as received airplay on P3 DK. She has also supported American rapper Caleborate in London, and played Danish festivals such as SPOT Festival and Uhørt Festival as well as most recently at Sørveiv Festival in Norway. Focus track is 'Killer'. International act with not a lot of local marketing drivers: Single from the London pop artist who formerly recorded as Loop. A preview of her second EP, which is scheduled for release in 2019. Her January 2018 single "Give 'n' Take" ["the spicy tropical pop banger you never knew you needed until now...bold, precocious pop music," Clash] has received 12M+ streams. Her May 2018 single "Love The Lie" ["one part Zara Larsson and one part Purpose-era Justin Bieber, only even more summery, somehow, and a bit more dirty, sweaty," tmrw] has received 3.5M+ streams. The video for her September 2018 single "Cut And Run" featured on Just Jared. Not enough marketing drivers really but still trying to entice curiosity: The Stockholm based producer duo A.M.Y, evolved from the shadows of the music industry. A fellowship that began late 2017 in the basement studios in Stockholm, proved itself to be of great value for both parts of the duo. Composed of Ardalan Azadi och Yaroslav Polikarpov, they started out early on producing songs for other artists, they have previously worked with world leading producers such as Martin Garrix, Nicky Romero, Kryder and Trilane. Social media campaign leading to DSPs for approx. 12k SEK in budget.
🇺🇸 UPC & EAN
UPC codes for each album or single will appear in your Label Copy. Adding a 0 upfront, you have your EAN number. The graphic designer will need it to generate a barcode for your physical product, please read the FAQ article.
🇩🇪 UPC / EAN
UPC codes erscheinen in eurer Label Copy für jedes Album / Single. Mit einer 0 vorneweg habt ihr euren EAN code. Euer Designer wird daraus den Barcode für das physische Produkt erzeugen – bitte lest dazu den entsprechenden FAQ-Artikel.
EAN codes are UPC codes with a leading "0" (0+UPC = EAN)
UPC (Universal Product Code) – 12-digit code
EAN (European Article Number) – 13-digit code
🇺🇸 Unfortunately our label currently does not have the capacity to do support promotion and pitching to media, playlists, radio or concert venues - this is managed by the artist. We are working on solutions and can recommend partners, please dont hesitate to ask.
🇩🇪 Aktuell hat unser Label keine Kapazitäten, Promotion und Pitching an Playlists, Radio, Magazine oder Veranstalter:innen zu übernehmen. Diese Aufgaben liegen in der Verantwortung der Künstler:innen. Wir arbeiten dennoch Ideen aus, wie wir Euch in Zukunft supporten können und empfehlen Partner:innen.
🇺🇸 The festival and the label are historically connected, but the XJAZZ! festival has its own booking team, so we would kindly ask you to apply there directly, if you are interested in playing.
booking@xjazz.online
🇩🇪 Das Festival und das Label sind historisch miteinander verbunden, jedoch hat das XJAZZ! Festival ein eigenes Booking-Team. Wenn ihr Interesse an einem Auftritt habt, bitten wir euch daher, euch direkt dort zu bewerben.
booking@xjazz.online