FAQs

Upstream is a music and video content and distribution company offering streamlined audio & video distribution for indie artists and labels. We help develop up and coming acts into successful profit earning partners, and assist growing artists to increase their audience and monetization opportunities. Upstream provides analytics and content management tools, as well as premium services including custom promotion and marketing campaigns to further nurture artists and reach new fans.

Upstream membership is through invitation only. You can contact us HERE with requested information to see if you are a fit for Upstream’s distribution and services partnership.

Upstream takes a standard distribution fee of 20% per release, paying the content owner 80%. With our more select clients we partner with custom royalty splits depending on our scope of investment and support for the artist. Streaming platform payments are received 30 to 90 days after streams are calculated, with some platforms like VEVO taking 5 months to be paid out. Once received by Upstream, client royalties are paid out to your dashboard account and transferred to your bank account automatically in the middle of each month. A minimum account balance of $35 is required to initiate payout.

Once you have claimed your Upstream account via email invite, Upstream will request VEVO to create a new artist channel. After the channel has been created, you may upload your video file and metadata, and schedule your release by choosing Vevo as a premium destination. Note your channel will still need to be merged with your OAC if you have one, and we’ll be able to request that merge for you.

Videos are delivered to VEVO channels (the back end team connects during ingestion if 'Deliver to Premium Partners' is selected or VEVO is manually selected during Create Release).

All DSPs go live at 12am midnight on the release date in each territory (so in the UK at midnight local time, in the US at midnight local, etc).

Under “My Account”, select the “Payout Settings” tab, where you can enter your payout info only after your account has accrued the $35 minimum to initiate the payout option.

The video description is available in the upload flow immediately after you choose your DSP destinations on the Create Release page. Scroll down to the lower section of the page, where the initial default video title and copyright info is listed in the description box. You may edit directly in that box.

Yes, after uploading the music or video file, when selecting "Finish Upload", the content is then saved in your dashboard, which is essentially a draft. In order to then distribute the content, you'll need to build and schedule the album or video release for said content.