You’re not here to make one release. You’re here to run an operation — whether that’s a label with a growing roster, a management company handling multiple artists, or a one-person shop doing everything for the artists you represent.
melabel is built for exactly that. This path gets your workspace set up for multi-artist operations: team access, your first project running, releases in the queue, and the data view you actually need to manage a business, not just a career.
Step 1: Understand how the workspace is structured
Before you build anything, spend five minutes on how melabel organizes work. The four feature areas map directly to what you do — Planning, Distribution, Promotion, and Workspace. Once you see how they connect, everything else makes sense.
→ How the workspace is organized — The full breakdown of what lives where and why.
One thing to know upfront: some features — roster management, advanced analytics, multi-artist access controls — require a Pro+ or Label plan. You’ll see [Pro+] and [Label] badges throughout these docs wherever that applies.
Step 2: Set up your team
A label or management operation involves more than one person. Before you do anything else, get your access structure right. melabel lets you assign roles so each team member sees exactly what they need — and nothing they don’t.
→ Inviting your team — Add your core team members with the right roles. Managers, A&R, marketing, finance — each role controls what they can view and edit.
→ Team roles and permissions — The full breakdown of what each role can access.
→ Inviting external collaborators — For producers, engineers, session musicians, or anyone outside your core team who needs access to a specific project without touching the rest of your workspace.
Step 3: Add your first artist and project
The roster is where your operation starts. Each artist in melabel gets their own workspace within yours — their releases, files, contracts, and analytics all scoped to them, but visible to you across the full picture.
→ Adding an artist to your roster — Set up the artist profile, link their catalog, and get their workspace ready.
→ Creating your first project — Projects are how you plan and track a release cycle. Create one for your first artist, assign the timeline, and add your team. This is where the work actually gets coordinated.
Step 4: Upload a release
Once your first artist and project are in place, get their first release into the system. This is the most thorough part of the docs — distribution is high-stakes and the checklist matters.
→ Preparing your release (checklist) — Cover art specs, audio requirements, metadata — everything that gets a release approved on the first submission.
Then when you’re ready:
→ Uploading your music → Setting release details → Choosing DSPs and territories
One important thing before you distribute: royalty splits. If you’re distributing on behalf of an artist, you need to set the revenue split between your label and the artist before the release goes out. melabel handles this inside the release flow.
Step 5: Set up your analytics view
You’re not managing one artist — you need to see everything at once. melabel’s analytics layer is built for exactly that: streaming performance, revenue tracking, and audience data across your entire roster in one view.
→ Analytics overview → Roster-level reporting — The cross-artist view that shows you how the whole operation is performing, not just one release.
Step 6: Build your first campaign
Releases don’t promote themselves. For each artist and release, melabel lets you build a full rollout campaign — tying together the calendar, social posts, Smart Links, and outreach into one coordinated plan.
→ Campaigns overview → Connecting a campaign to a release date
Step 7: Meet Tansen
Tansen is melabel’s AI, and it’s built into the workspace wherever you’re working. For a label or management operation, it’s especially useful for the high-volume work: drafting artist contracts, writing release descriptions across a roster, building campaign copy, and answering operational questions fast.
→ What Tansen can help with → Drafting contracts with Tansen
Where to go from here
Once your first artist’s release is out and your team is set up, the rest of the platform opens up at your own pace. A few areas worth exploring next:
- Files — one place for stems, masters, artwork, and session files, organized by artist and release
- Contracts — store, manage, and track every agreement across your roster
- Finance — pull revenue statements, track splits, and understand what every artist is earning
You’re running a business. melabel is built to run it with you.