Apple Music Style Guide Violations: Tickets, Hidden Releases and Fixes
Updated 2026-10-21 · 2 sources
Short answer
Apple distinguishes fixable metadata problems from editorial hides. A formatting issue (extra text in a title, a featured artist in the wrong role, all-caps titles, an explicit word censored with asterisks) is fixed by your distributor redelivering corrected metadata. An editorial hide, for repeated submissions, misleading content or sound-alikes, can't be fixed by a redelivery or metadata update. Read which one you got before you change anything.
Editorial hides
- Apple says editorial hides, unlike tickets, can't be fixed by redelivery or a metadata update [1].
- Repeated Submissions: copies of the same content with slightly different titles or artists, rearranged track lists or near-identical compilations [1].
- Misleading: mimicking popular content, unrelated samples, search terms, using AI in a misleading manner, or trademarked names similar to popular artists. Sound-alikes and very similar covers or tributes aren't accepted [1].
- Short Tracks/Snippets: snippets or repetitious tracks used repeatedly across releases [1].
Metadata rules that trigger changes
- Additional information in titles: the standard version of a track must not carry extra information unless it's needed to identify the content [1].
- Featured artists: must use the Featuring or With role, written as lowercase "feat." or "with" in parentheses or brackets [1]. See featured artist formatting.
- Casing: no all-caps, all-lowercase or random casing; English titles use title case [1]. See capitalization rules.
- Explicit: flag explicit content with the parental advisory tag; never "(Explicit)" or "(Dirty)" in titles, and don't censor words with asterisks yourself [1].
- Generic artist names such as White Noise, Lo-Fi, Sped Up or Workout aren't accepted [1].
- Emoji are not allowed in titles, artist names or other metadata [1].
How to respond
For a metadata issue, correct the field and ask your distributor to redeliver. Then check the whole release against the same rules, since a reviewer who finds one problem will look for others. Distributors that pass on the rejection reason, such as TuneCore's Content Review team, need your reply before they re-review [2].
Examples
| Instead of | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| F**k It | Fuck It, flagged Explicit | Apple censors explicit words itself; self-censoring hurts search. |
| Lo-Fi (as artist name) | The actual artist or production name | Generic names are listed as not accepted. |
| Summer Nights 🌴 | Summer Nights | No emoji in metadata. |
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FAQ
Can I appeal an editorial hide?
Apple's guide says editorial hides can't be fixed by redelivery or a metadata update. Ask your distributor what options exist for your case.
Does Apple fix small mistakes itself?
Apple reserves the right to correct grammar, spelling and punctuation errors, but you shouldn't rely on it.
Related guides
Sources
- Apple Music Style Guide 2.4 (Apple)
- TuneCore Help: My release was flagged by TuneCore's Content Review Team
Platform rules change. Each rule above is attributed to the company or standard that published it, as checked on 2026-10-21. This guide is not legal advice.