My video episode was blocked

If your video episode includes music owned by another rightsholder, the rightsholder may block the episode for viewers in certain countries or regions on Spotify. If you host an RSS feed on Spotify for Creators, your episode will be removed from your RSS feed upon being blocked.

You’ll receive an email to the email address associated with your Spotify account if your video episode has been blocked in any regions.

Note: If you think an episode is blocked and don’t see an email in your inbox, be sure to check your spam folder and blocked contacts.

Managing a blocked episode

We understand that these rightsholder decisions can have a negative impact on your show’s distribution. You have a few options for what you can do next if your video episode is blocked by a rightsholder:

  • Remove the music and republish your episode. Remove music from a blocked episode and then republish your episode. Your video will no longer be blocked after you republish the episode.
  • Appeal. You’ll need to follow the appeal link included in the email notification sent in order to correctly appeal a block affecting a video episode. Your appeal will be reviewed by the rightsholder within 7 days and you will be notified of a decision through email.
    • Note: Abuse of the appeals process may result in restrictions on submitting future appeals. Spotify does not manage the decisions for appeals from rightsholder specific blocks.

Any episode that is unblocked will be made available across all Spotify surfaces. Unblocked episodes appear in the same place in your Episodes list (depending on how you use season and episode numbers).

Republishing an episode

To republish a blocked episode:

  1. Log in to creators.spotify.com
  2. Go to Episodes and find the blocked episode.
  3. Select the three dots menu, then click Revert to draft.
  4. Click Upload new file and upload a version without the blocked music.
  5. Click Publish.

Our automated systems will check to see if you removed the identified music and unblock your episode within 48 hours. If any music remains, it may be blocked again.

Submitting an appeal

If your episode was blocked, you’ll have an email with an appeals link for each episode blocked sent to the email associated with your Spotify account. If you think an episode is blocked and don’t see an email in your inbox, be sure to check your spam folder and blocked contacts.

In the email notifying you that an episode was blocked, you’ll see a link to submit an appeal. If you believe you either have the right to distribute this music on Spotify, are subject to a copyright exception (such as fair use), or believe this block was made in error, you may submit an appeal to the rightsholder. The rightsholder will review your appeal based on the information you provide within 7 days and notify you of their decision. If the rightsholder fails to respond to your appeal within 7 days, your appeal will be considered approved and your content will be reinstated.

Learn more about copyright here.

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