WaverateYour music, on the record.
The Waverate artist program will let independent artists release music straight to Waverate: a verified profile, your cover pressed onto a vinyl, synced lyrics, and listeners who find you by genre. Keep your distributor and every other platform. It's non-exclusive.
The program isn't live yet. Apply now and we'll invite a small group of founding artists first.
Built for how people hear you on Waverate.
Waverate is where listeners rate music on a 0.25-step scale and compare taste with friends. The artist program puts your releases right inside that.
- Full songs and previews
- Indie subscribers hear your full songs in Waverate's player. Everyone else hears a 30-second preview, with a path to the full song.
- Your cover, pressed to vinyl
- Upload your artwork and Waverate makes the vinyl and label for the player, in a disc color you pick.
- Lyrics with a sync tool
- Paste lyrics or an .lrc file, then tap along to the song to sync them line by line. Listeners can follow along and share lyric cards.
- Verified Artist badge
- Verified artists get the badge and a listing in Discover, where listeners browse by genre.
- Made to be shared
- Every song gets a share page with a preview, plus story cards for Instagram and TikTok, and listeners can send it to friends in the app.
- A studio with real numbers
- See plays started and qualified plays per track in the Artist Studio on the web, alongside your releases, artwork and lyrics.
From upload to live.
Everything will happen in the Artist Studio on the web, signed in with your Avlory account. The Studio opens when the program launches; we'll post here when it does. Founding artists we invite from early-access applications get in first.
Create your artist profile
Your artist name, 1 to 3 genres, where you're from and a short bio.
Create a release
Title, release date, territories and tracks. Each track needs an ISRC, and master and composition splits that add up to 100%.
Upload your audio
WAV, FLAC or MP3, up to 250 MB a track. Uploads are checked for duplicates and against a copyright fingerprint service.
Add artwork, lyrics and a rights proof
Rights proof can be a distributor statement, ISRC registrant confirmation, label authorization, or your own attestation with source files for music that isn't released elsewhere.
Submit for verification
We check rights, catalogue matches and upload patterns. Approved artists get the Verified badge and their tracks go live.
Plays that mean something.
- Counted on the server
- A play counts after 30 seconds of actual listening. Skipping ahead doesn't earn time, and previews never count.
- No self-streaming
- Plays from your own accounts don't count, and per-listener daily and monthly caps limit repeat plays.
- Fraud review
- Looping, coordinated plays and device or network clusters are flagged for review. You'll see the category of anything held.
Only these qualified plays count toward artist pay. How artists get paid
Your rules, and ours.
- Non-exclusive
- Keep your distributor and release everywhere else too.
- Upload only what you control
- You confirm you own or control the rights and declare everyone's splits.
- Declare AI use
- Tell us if a track is AI-assisted or AI-generated.
- Copyright claims are handled properly
- DMCA notices take down only the tracks they name. You can file a counter-notice, and a repeat-infringer policy applies.
How artists get paid.
60% of Indie-tier net receipts goes to music rightsholders, split by what each listener actually plays. During the founding period, Verified Artists who meet the published threshold may receive a capped monthly minimum, paid from Waverate's own share, so it never reduces what other artists earn.
Where one Indie subscription goes
- $6.99Indie price, per month
- $5.94after app store fees (net receipts)
- $3.5660% to the artists that listener plays
Based on a 15% app store fee. When the fee is lower, artists get 60% of the larger amount.
- Your fans fund you
- Each subscriber's share is divided only among the verified artists they play. If a fan gives you 20% of their plays in a month, you get 20% of their share: about $0.71 from that one fan. If a subscriber plays no Waverate artists in a month, their share goes into that month's pool and is split across all verified artists by qualified plays.
- A founding-period minimum
- While the program is new, Verified Artists who clear a published monthly threshold can receive a minimum. Top-ups come out of Waverate's share of revenue it has actually received, are capped, and never reduce any other artist's pay.
- Artist Growth Pool
- Free listeners count too. One third of what the free tier earns after hosting goes to an Artist Growth Pool, shared across fraud-cleared engagement with verified artists.
- Every number shown
- There's no fixed per-stream rate. Each month we publish the pool, the eligible plays and the rate that results, and your statement shows estimated, held, finalized and paid amounts.
- Paid through Stripe
- You verify your identity and add a bank with Stripe, and Waverate never sees your bank details. Payments go out after each month closes, with a $10 minimum that rolls over. PennySphere payouts are coming later.
- Verified listening only
- Pay follows qualified plays from verified listeners. Suspicious plays are held for review, never moved to another artist.
This is our payout plan, and it's under review. Details may change before payouts begin, and we'll publish the final terms first. Play counts are tracked from the day the program opens.
Listeners find you in Discover.
Discover lists verified Waverate artists by genre, with sorting by latest release, new to Waverate, most songs or A–Z. It's linked from the app's Home screen and the Search start screen.
Artist questions
When does the program open?
It's coming soon. We'll update this page and open the Artist Studio when it launches. Before then, we're inviting a small group of founding artists: apply for early access.
Does it cost anything to release music?
There's no fee to upload or to get verified.
Do I need a distributor?
No. You'll need ISRCs for your tracks and a rights proof. If your music isn't released anywhere else, you can attest ownership and back it with your source files.
Who hears the full song?
Listeners on the Waverate Indie plan ($6.99/month, also coming soon) hear full songs. Everyone else hears a 30-second preview.
How will I get paid for plays?
Under our plan, which is under review, 60% of Indie-tier net receipts goes to rightsholders, split by what each listener plays. During the founding period, Verified Artists who meet a published threshold may get a monthly minimum, paid from Waverate's own share rather than other artists' pay. If a subscriber plays no Waverate artists in a month, their share is split across all verified artists by qualified plays. Payouts go through Stripe. Final terms are published before payouts begin. See the breakdown.
Are Apple Music and Spotify still part of Waverate?
Yes. Listeners still search and rate the Apple Music catalogue, hear 30-second previews and can open songs in Spotify. Artist program releases sit alongside that.
Questions about the program? Contact us.