Chapter 35 Quiz

Closed book, dashboard closed, first pass honest. Distribution knowledge only protects you when it's loaded before you're staring at an upload form at 11 p.m. with a Friday in mind. Multiple choice first, then true/false where the justification carries the points, then short answer, then one applied scenario that is somebody's actual Tuesday. Answers hide under each Verify fold; scoring guide at the end. Standing hedge: "as of this writing" applies to every platform mechanic below — the structures are what's being tested, and the structures hold.

Section 1 — Multiple Choice (2 points each)

1. A DSP is:

A) A company that uploads music to stores on an artist's behalf B) A platform that delivers music to listeners — Spotify, Apple Music, and their kin C) The industry standard for metadata delivery D) The organization that assigns ISRC registrant codes

Verify **B.** DSP = digital service provider — the stores themselves. The company that delivers your music *to* them is the distributor; the metadata delivery standard is DDEX; ISRC registrant codes come from national agencies under IFPI's administration.

2. The primary reason independent artists must use a distributor is:

A) Legal requirements in most countries B) Distributors improve audio quality before delivery C) The major platforms take deliveries from professional suppliers rather than maintaining millions of individual artist relationships D) Distributors own the copyright to distributed music

Verify **C.** The gate exists because DSPs want few, professional, standards-compliant suppliers who validate rights, format deliveries, screen fraud, and consolidate accounting. A distributor licenses the right to distribute; it should never own your copyright.

3. An ISRC identifies:

A) A release (single, EP, or album) as a sellable product B) An artist, across all of their releases C) A specific recording, per version D) The songwriter of a composition

Verify **C.** One recording, one version, one code, for life. The product gets a UPC; the artist is identified by name-string and platform artist IDs; writers are credit fields (and [Chapter 36](../chapter-36-copyright-licensing-royalties/index.md) paperwork).

4. You release a single, then an EP containing the identical recording of that single. The correct code situation is:

A) New ISRC and new UPC for the EP's copy of the track B) Same ISRC for the recording; a new UPC for the EP as a product C) Same UPC; new ISRC D) Codes are optional for EPs

Verify **B.** The recording didn't change, so its license plate doesn't either — and that shared ISRC is exactly what lets plays and placements carry over (the waterfall's load-bearing wall). The EP is a new *product*, so it gets its own UPC.

5. Which of these requires a new ISRC?

A) Fixing a typo in the title metadata B) Adding a missing writer credit C) Printing an instrumental version of the track D) Re-uploading the same master through a new distributor

Verify **C.** New audio, new code — the per-version rule. Metadata corrections don't change the recording; moving distributors should *keep* the ISRC precisely so the platforms recognize the same recording.

6. Featured artists belong:

A) Typed into the title field as "(feat. X)" B) In the dedicated featured-artist role field, letting the distributor format per store C) In the writer-credit field D) Nowhere — features are informal

Verify **B.** Store style guides disagree on *rendering*, so the distributor formats from the role field. Hand-typing it into the title breaks formatting across stores and can break the featured artist's page mapping. (The writer field is a separate question: it lists whoever *wrote*, which may or may not include the featured performer.)

7. The writer-credit field in an upload form:

A) Legally establishes each writer's ownership percentage B) Is optional decoration C) Is a public credit that feeds credit systems but establishes no ownership split D) Replaces the need for copyright registration

Verify **C.** It's a claim, not a contract. Percentages live on the split sheet ([Chapter 36](../chapter-36-copyright-licensing-royalties/index.md)), and the field pays nobody by itself — but its *accuracy* is required, in legal names.

8. The genre tag's actual function is:

A) Self-expression — it should describe how the music feels to you B) Routing — it steers editorial pitching, browse shelving, and cold-start recommendations C) Purely cosmetic; platforms ignore it D) Determining the royalty rate

Verify **B.** It's steering data. The chapter's method: check how the reference tracks your single honestly sits between are categorized, and tag there — where your listeners live, not where your identity points.

9. Editorial playlist pitching, as of this writing, generally requires:

A) The track to have at least 1,000 streams B) A paid promotional budget C) The track to be delivered and pitched before release day, via a claimed artist profile D) A label relationship

Verify **C.** Pitch portals accept unreleased tracks only and live inside the claimed artist-services profiles — two of the main reasons day-of uploads structurally forfeit the front door.

10. A pre-save:

A) Guarantees playlist placement B) Pre-authorizes the platform to add the track to a listener's library at release C) Reserves the artist name on a platform D) Pays royalties in advance

Verify **B.** It's the streaming pre-order: at midnight, the track lands in pre-savers' libraries, converting warm interest into the day-one saves/adds density the discovery systems read as a quality signal.

11. The industry's global release day, standardized in 2015, is:

A) Monday B) Tuesday C) Friday D) The first of each month

Verify **C.** Friday — replacing the old regional patchwork (Tuesdays in the US). The platform rhythms synchronized around it; the chapter's doctrine is default-Friday, deviate on purpose.

12. Under the pro-rata pool model, the "per-stream rate" is:

A) Set annually by each platform and published in a rate card B) An output of each month's pool-divided-by-total-streams arithmetic, varying by market, tier, and month C) Fixed by law D) The same across all platforms

Verify **B.** No rate card exists. Revenue pools divide by total eligible streams; quoted per-stream figures are back-calculated averages — folklore with a kernel of arithmetic.

13. Your distributor pays you:

A) Everything your song earns from streaming B) The recording-side royalties only — composition-side money flows through different pipes C) Composition royalties only D) A fixed fee per stream

Verify **B.** The distributor handles the master/recording pipe. The song's writers are owed separate composition-side money that arrives only via the registrations [Chapter 36](../chapter-36-copyright-licensing-royalties/index.md) covers — the pipe that fails silently if ignored.

14. A "day-of" upload most critically forfeits:

A) Audio quality, because rush deliveries are transcoded worse B) The ability to ever pitch that artist's future music C) Pre-release capabilities: editorial pitching, the pre-save window, follower-feed seeding, and QA time D) Nothing — release timing is purely aesthetic

Verify **C.** The system's biggest levers exist only before release day, and essentially none can be retrofitted afterward. Audio quality is untouched; future releases pitch fine — this release just arrives with the lights already on.

15. Artificial streams ("buy 10,000 plays" services) typically result in:

A) Faster playlist consideration B) Detection, stripped numbers, withheld royalties, and possible takedown of the release or account C) A warning email with no consequences D) Higher per-stream rates

Verify **B.** Platforms and distributors detect artificial streaming and penalize it — and the penalties pass through to you, not the bot farm. One-word policy: never.

Section 2 — True/False, Justify (3 points each: 1 for the call, 2 for the why)

16. Spotify offers a direct upload button for independent artists.

Verify **False.** No major DSP takes direct artist uploads as of this writing — one briefly tested it in 2018–2019 and shut the program down. Supply flows through distributors, which is why choosing one is the first real decision of a release.

17. An instrumental version can share the main version's ISRC since it's the same song.

Verify **False.** Same *song*, different *recording* — the audio differs, so the per-version rule applies: its own ISRC. Sharing a code corrupts the play-and-payment tally for both versions.

18. Pre-saved streams are weighted extra by recommendation algorithms.

Verify **False** (and the misconception matters). Pre-saves aren't a multiplier; their value is mechanical and temporal — library adds land at midnight, concentrating genuine day-one engagement density into the window where discovery systems are watching. Same listeners, same love, tighter signal.

19. If your release goes live with a misspelled credit, the only fix is taking it down and re-uploading.

Verify **False.** Metadata *corrections* — unlike audio changes — can typically be delivered post-release through your distributor; stores update as they re-ingest. (New audio, by contrast, means a new delivery and, if the sound changed, a new ISRC.)

20. Restricting your release to certain territories is primarily a marketing strategy.

Verify **False.** Territory restrictions are usually a *rights* problem — a sample or license with borders ([Chapter 36](../chapter-36-copyright-licensing-royalties/index.md) territory). Default is worldwide; deviating for "strategy" mostly buys you nothing but smaller pools.

Section 3 — Short Answer (5 points each)

21. Explain the pro-rata pool model in three sentences a non-musician would follow, then give one structural reason your own statement's computed per-stream figure won't match a friend's.

Verify Each month, in each market and tier, the platform pools the revenue, keeps its share, and divides the rest by *every* eligible stream that month; your payout is that pool times your fraction of total streams, paid through your distributor. So the "rate" is an output that moves with total revenue and total volume. Statements differ because listening splits differently across countries and free-vs-paid tiers — different pools, different arithmetic, before the distributors' different tolls even enter.

22. Name the four gates of Week -4 in the release runway, and state what each one makes possible later.

Verify (1) Upload accepted with final audio/metadata — starts distributor review and store propagation with margin for QA. (2) Release date locked 4+ weeks out on a Friday — creates the runway everything else needs. (3) Editorial pitch submitted — possible only pre-release, via claimed profiles; opens the platform-curated front door. (4) Pre-save link generated — converts a month of warm interest into day-one library adds.

23. Your collaborator sang the hook and co-wrote the lyric. Walk through every place she must appear in the release paperwork this chapter, and name what's deliberately deferred to Chapter 36.

Verify Featured-artist role field (performance credit; affects display and her artist-page mapping — coordinate her exact name string); writer-credit field in her *legal name* (composition credit, required accuracy). Deferred: the ownership percentages — the split sheet — plus the registrations that turn her writer credit into collected composition-side money.

24. Why does the chapter call artist profiles "storefronts," and what's the T4 method for improving yours?

Verify The profile is where a curious stranger lands ten seconds after the music interests them — and the pitch tools live inside the claimed profile, so it's operational, not cosmetic. Method: audit three reference artists one rung up in your lane (bio, thumbnail-scale art, catalog presentation, links) exactly the way you audited their mixes; the gap is the to-do list.

Section 4 — Applied Scenario (10 points)

25. Your friend Mara texts you Monday night: "Single's done!!! Uploading tonight, releasing Friday 🎉 Also it's me singing on my producer friend's beat — we're both 'artists' on it I guess? — and I typed the title as 'Undertow (feat. Mara) [prod. KOLD]'. My artist name search shows some inactive country singer also called Mara. Genre I put 'Singer/Songwriter' because it's honest. Anything I should check?" Triage her release: identify every problem, classify each as move-the-date, fix-the-field, or fine-as-is, and prescribe the order of operations for her week.

Verify Strong answers find: (1) **Friday is four days out** — move-the-date. Day-of-adjacent release forfeits pitch, pre-save, follower seeding, and QA; nothing else she fixes matters as much as rescheduling 4+ weeks out. (2) **Title field is a triple violation** — fix-the-field: "(feat. Mara)" belongs in the featured-artist role field (and if she's a primary artist, in the primary-artist fields — she and the producer need to agree on primary vs. featured *now*), "[prod. KOLD]" goes in the producer credit field, and the title becomes "Undertow." (3) **Artist-name collision** — fix-the-field/process: with an existing "Mara" on the stores, she must explicitly request a new artist page or correct mapping at upload, then claim her profile immediately; she should also consider distinguishing her name before release one, while it's free. (4) **Writer credits unmentioned** — fix-the-field: she and the producer both go in, legal names; and they should write the split sheet before release ([Chapter 36](../chapter-36-copyright-licensing-royalties/index.md) preview). (5) **Genre** — probably fine-as-is *if* her reference tracks shelve there; the check is the reference-playlist test, not honesty-of-identity. Order of operations: move the date first (it restores every capability), then artist mapping and name decision, then title/credit fields, then pitch + pre-save on the new runway, profiles claimed this week. Full marks require catching that the date is the load-bearing fix and that the credit/split conversation happens *before* money exists.

Scoring

Section Points available
Multiple choice (15 × 2) 30
True/False + justification (5 × 3) 15
Short answer (4 × 5) 20
Applied scenario 10
Total 75

65–75: Your plumbing license is earned — build the C4 calendar and schedule with confidence. 52–64: Solid frame; re-read whichever leaked — usually the codes (ISRC/UPC anatomy) or the two pipes. 38–51: Re-read "The Metadata That Matters" and the timeline doctrine before touching an upload form; the form will gladly accept your mistakes. Below 38: One more full pass, then the quiz again — cheaper than learning any of this from a live release.