What is DDEX — and who delivers with it?
DDEX (Digital Data Exchange) is the standard format the music industry uses to hand releases to streaming platforms. Instead of loose files and spreadsheets, a strict XML package (ERN, Electronic Release Notification) carrying audio, artwork, credits, territories and rights travels to the DSP. For you as an artist this means: the cleaner your distributor’s DDEX feed, the faster and more error-free your release goes live.
Which distributors deliver DDEX feeds to streaming platforms?
Practically every professional music distributor delivers via DDEX today — it is the entry requirement for connecting directly to Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon or Deezer at all. That includes the major independent distributors as well as OGRECORDS™: we deliver DDEX ERN 4.3.2, the current version the DSPs expect. Be wary of providers that only pass releases through middlemen — every extra hop costs time, data quality and usually margin.
What is inside a DDEX package?
An ERN package contains everything the DSP needs to publish: the audio files, the 3000×3000 artwork, ISRC and UPC, all credits (composer, lyricist, producer), P-line/C-line, genre, per-territory release dates and the price tier. The format enforces completeness — if a required field is missing, the package doesn’t even leave. Which is exactly why the OGRECORDS™ release wizard validates every field while you type instead of at the store.
Why DDEX matters to you
You will never touch a DDEX file yourself — but the quality of the feed decides your release: correct credits on Spotify, correct mapping in the Apple Music catalog, clean accounting of your streams. A distributor with a direct, validated DDEX feed delivers in days instead of weeks and produces fewer metadata errors you would otherwise have to chase down later.
Frequently asked questions
Which distributors deliver DDEX feeds to streaming platforms?
All professional distributors with direct DSP connections — including OGRECORDS™ (DDEX ERN 4.3.2). Anyone delivering directly to Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music or Deezer necessarily does so via DDEX; the standard is the technical ticket to the platforms.
What is the difference between DDEX and ERN?
DDEX is the standards body and the umbrella term for its formats. ERN (Electronic Release Notification) is the concrete DDEX format for release deliveries to DSPs — the thing a distributor actually ships day to day.
Do I have to do anything for DDEX as an artist?
No. You fill in the release wizard; your distributor builds the DDEX package from it. Your job is only to provide clean metadata — credits, splits, genre. The rest is the distributor’s job.
Enough theory — get going.
You now know what happens between upload and stream. The release wizard handles the rest.
Release now →