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How-to

Keeping Your Streams: A Step-by-Step Metadata Guide for Spotify and SoundCloud

Two concrete walkthroughs for re-uploading music without losing what you've already built.

By Jianda Monique

If you're moving your catalog to a new distributor — or just re-uploading a track for any reason — the risk isn't the upload itself. It's ending up with a second, disconnected listing that starts back at zero streams, with none of your existing playlist placements or algorithm history attached to it. The fix in both cases below is the same idea: match your metadata exactly, and reuse the identifiers the platform already has on file for that recording.

💿 Step-by-step: keeping your streams on Spotify

To keep your existing streams, playlist placements, and algorithm data, your new upload has to match your previous metadata exactly.

  1. Log in to your chosen music distributor (for example DistroKid, TuneCore, or Songtradr).
  2. Start a new release and select the "Single" or "Album" format.
  3. Fill out the metadata exactly as it was originally published:
    • Match the track title perfectly, including capitalization and punctuation.
    • Match the artist name exactly as it appears on Spotify.
  4. Upload the audio file using the exact same format, bit rate, and length as the original file.
  5. Locate the ISRC field on the track details page.
  6. Select the manual option — usually phrased as "Already have an ISRC code?" or "Input your own ISRC."
  7. Paste your original ISRC code into the field.
  8. Submit the release and allow 3 to 5 business days for Spotify to process and link the data.

☁️ Step-by-step: registering ISRCs on SoundCloud

SoundCloud allows direct uploads, but you have to manually add the ISRC into the track's backend settings yourself.

  1. Log in to your SoundCloud account on a desktop browser.
  2. Click "Upload" in the top navigation bar and select your audio file.
  3. Navigate to the Metadata tab in the upload window, located next to the "Basic Info" tab.
  4. Scroll down to the field labeled ISRC.
  5. Paste your ISRC code into the box.
  6. Fill out the remaining fields, including the track title, artist name, and release date.
  7. Click "Save" to finalize the upload and anchor the code to the file.
The one thing that matters most

Your ISRC code is what tells a platform "this is the same recording" instead of "this is a new one." Find it before you start, keep it somewhere of your own, and reuse it every time — that's what connects a re-upload to the streams and placements you've already earned.

If you're doing this as part of a larger move off a specific platform rather than a one-off re-upload, our step-by-step Songtradr migration guide walks through the fuller process, including what to back up first. And if you'd rather keep track of your ISRC/UPC codes and release history in one place as you go, that's exactly what the catalog tool is for.