Unreleased Material Policy
What Legless Records means by unreleased
Label Workflow
Release Process
What Legless Records does, what the label does not do, artist naming, timelines, promotion, assets, and communication expectations.
Beatport, Spotify & Apple
Artist Profiles & DSPs
How artist pages are created, what artists need to do after release, and how duplicate-name/profile issues are handled.
Rights & Permissions
Remixes, Covers & Licensing
The difference between a remix and a cover version, and what permissions must be in place before submitting either.
Submission Rules
Unreleased Material Policy
What Legless Records means by unreleased material, what disqualifies a submission, and what artists must confirm before sending music.
Legless Records accepts unreleased material only.
This is one of the most important parts of our submission policy.
If a track has already been distributed, publicly released, or is already tied to an existing release identity, it will usually not be suitable for submission.
What Legless Records means by unreleased
For the purposes of submission, unreleased generally means:
- not previously uploaded to a distributor
- not released publicly on SoundCloud or YouTube
- not previously released publicly on DSPs or stores
- not already tied to an existing release campaign
- not already carrying an existing release identity that conflicts with a new label release
In simple terms:
if the track has already been sent out into the world in an official release context, it is not unreleased.
Previous distributor delivery
If a track has already been uploaded through services such as DistroKid, TuneCore, CD Baby, Amuse, or similar, it should not be submitted to Legless Records as unreleased material.
This applies even if:
- the artist later removed the track
- the release did not perform well
- the artist now wants to relaunch it differently
- the track is no longer visible in some stores
If it has already gone through distribution, it is not considered a fresh unreleased submission.
Public release history
If a track has already been released publicly on platforms such as:
- Spotify
- Beatport
- Apple Music
- SoundCloud
- YouTube
- Bandcamp
- any other public platform
then it should not be submitted as unreleased material.
Even if the track was only live for a short period, it may still no longer count as unreleased.
ISRC codes and release identity
If an ISRC has already been assigned to a track, that does not automatically prove bad intent, but it is a clear sign that the release history needs to be checked carefully.
Artists are responsible for knowing whether:
- an ISRC has already been assigned
- the track has already been distributed in any form
- the track has already been released publicly anywhere
If you do not know the release history of your own track, do not assume that it is safe to submit it as unreleased.
Distributor history: what matters and what does not
An artist may have used a distributor in the past for unrelated music.
That fact alone does not disqualify them.
What matters is whether the specific track being submitted has already been distributed or released.
In simple terms:
- prior distributor use for other tracks is not automatically a problem
- prior distribution of the track being submitted is a problem
What artists must confirm before submission
Artists submitting music to Legless Records must be able to confirm that:
- the specific track being submitted has not already been delivered to a distributor
- the specific track being submitted has not already been released publicly
- the release information being supplied is accurate
- they are authorised to submit the material
If an artist provides false or misleading information about release history, the submission may be rejected and future submissions may also be refused.
If the track is a cover, remix, edit, or derivative version
If the track is not fully original, the artist must also make sure the relevant rights and permissions are already in place before submission.
This includes cases involving:
- cover versions
- remixes
- edits
- derivative adaptations
If the rights position is unclear, do not submit the track until that has been resolved properly.
Final note
Legless Records is always happy to hear strong new music.
But if a track is not genuinely unreleased, or if the rights position is unclear, it should not be submitted as a normal unreleased demo.