Extending Pre-Release Protection for Sound Recordings and Music Videos

To give partners more control over their pre-release catalog, YouTube has removed the previous 365-day limit on pre-release protection. You can now set release dates significantly further into the future. Your assets will remain fully protected and undiscoverable by other partners without active ownership in Studio Content Manager until that date is reached, provided the content doesn't go live through other channels.

YouTube provides pre-release protection to ensure your Art Track, Sound Recording, and Music Video assets remain hidden in YouTube's Content ID system until their official release date. Associated reference files are also protected and will remain unplayable for non-owners until the release date is reached. You can review our documentation on how to deliver assets to YouTube via spreadsheet templates or DDEX to determine where and how to provide a release date.

If an asset is delivered with a release date, we restrict partners without ownership of the asset from searching for and finding it in Studio Content Manager prior to that date. These access restrictions apply to Content ID assets. YouTube keeps music videos and Art Tracks private until the publish date and time you provide. Before their release date, these videos are only viewable by the content owner or the video managers associated with the channel.

Applying Pre-Release Protection

Studio Content Manager: The previous 1-year limit for Sound Recording release dates in the metadata editor has been removed.
DDEX Deliveries: The 365-day limit for future release dates in DDEX validation has been removed.
- For ERN 4.3X deliveries, YouTube uses the date from in the composite
  9999-06-15
- For ERN 3.8 deliveries, YouTube uses the date from in the resource composites
  9999-12-02

Best Practices

Follow these best practices to restrict access to pre-release assets, metadata like song titles or featured artist names, and their associated reference files.

Provide a release date with your assets

To apply these access restrictions, you must deliver a release date with your assets. Assets without a release date will remain searchable by all partners with Studio Content Manager access.

Update your release date if the date changes

If your release date changes, update it promptly. This ensures that YouTube has accurate information to enforce access restrictions. For example, if a song's release date is delayed by one month, submit the updated date in a new delivery.

You can check the release date under the "Releases" section of the Videos tab in Studio Content Manager. You can also find your provided release date by downloading the Asset Shares report or read more about managing and updating sound recording asset metadata here.

Share accurate identifier data with relevant partners

Other parties, such as sub-labels or publishers, may need to deliver ownership or embed a composition share to assets before their release date. We recommend sharing accurate identifier information, such as ISRCs or asset IDs, with these partners, so they can use their YouTube feeds to deliver ownership or embed composition shares using the provided ISRC or Asset ID.

Review Studio Content Manager permissions

Regularly review who has access to Studio Content Manager to ensure that only authorized users have access. Confirm that they are assigned the appropriate role, which provides access to specific features within Studio Content Manager. You can read more about access permissions here.

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