How subpublishing works
Subpublishing lets one organisation (the original publisher) share part of its catalogue with another organisation (the agent, also called the subpublisher) so the agent can present and sell it in its own branded catalogue. Both sides manage the relationship from Subpublish in the sidebar.
Agent or subpublisher?
The admin says Agent. The API and technical documentation say subpublisher. They mean the same organisation.
The two sides
| You are… | You see… | You do… |
|---|---|---|
| The original publisher (you own the labels, releases and audio) | Subpublish → Outgoing | Send releases to your agents and watch them get accepted and published |
| The agent (you receive a catalogue) | Subpublish → Incoming | Accept releases into your library, review them, then publish them to your client site |
An organisation can be both, under different agreements, and will see both Incoming and Outgoing.
What an agreement grants
Everything is governed by a publishing agreement between exactly two organisations. It says:
- which of the original publisher’s labels are covered;
- whether new releases are delivered automatically or wait to be sent by hand;
- which codes (ISRC, ISWC, UPC and so on) the agent may write back onto the original recordings;
- which text fields (titles, descriptions, teaser) the agent may override in its own copy;
- whether the agent’s tag mapping rules run when a release is accepted, and what happens to unmapped tags;
- publisher share overrides that apply in the agent’s context.
Agreements are created and edited by Cadenzabox staff. Ask [email protected] to set one up.
What the agent actually receives
The original publisher keeps ownership of the release and its recordings, including the audio, artwork, codes and composers. When the agent accepts a release, Mercury creates an album and tracks inside the agent’s organisation that mirror it. See Releases and recordings for the difference.
In the admin, the agent can change tags, groups and the published state of its copies. Everything else on the album and track forms is read only for the agent. Any text or code overrides the agreement permits are applied through a metadata CSV reimport, not the forms.
The life of a release
Each release covered by an agreement has its own status. The same status is shown with slightly different words on each side.
| Status | Original publisher sees | Agent sees | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waiting to be sent | Unsent | (not shown) | The release exists but has not been offered to the agent. Only applies when automatic delivery is off. |
| Delivered | Sent | Received | The agent has been offered the release and needs to accept it. |
| Accepting / publishing | spinner badge | spinner badge | A background job is copying or publishing. Refresh the page to see the result. |
| Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | The album and tracks now exist, unpublished, in the agent’s library. |
| Published | Accepted tab, badge PUBLISHED | Published | The album and tracks are live on the agent’s client site. |
| Rejected | Revoked | Rejected | The agent declined the release. There is no button for this in the admin; it can only be done through the API. |
Emails
Two notification types cover subpublishing, both configured under Notification settings in the Subpublishing section:
- New albums received tells an agent that an original publisher has sent releases.
- Albums accepted tells an original publisher that an agent has accepted releases.
Each can be sent as it happens (Each) or as an hourly, daily, weekday, weekly or monthly digest. Nothing is sent when a release is published or rejected.
Things to know
Sending needs complete assets
A release will not leave Unsent until every recording has its audio and the artwork has finished processing. The admin tells you which releases were held back and why.
Deleting an agreement deletes the agent's copies
Deleting a publishing agreement removes the agent’s albums and tracks for that catalogue, along with any tags and groups the agent added to them. Deactivating an agreement (switching Active off) hides everything from both sides’ lists but leaves already published albums live.
- Codes the agent writes back through a permitted CSV reimport change the original publisher’s recording, and therefore everyone’s copy.
- Auto-deliver only affects releases created after it is switched on. Use Send all for releases already waiting in Unsent.