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.

• Why was my video episode blocked?

  Episodes with music may be blocked in certain countries or regions depending on the music rightsholder.

• Why were only some countries or regions affected?

  Music licensing rules vary across countries and regions. This means a video episode may be available in one place but blocked in another.
  

• How can I unblock my video episode?

  You have a few options for what you can do to unblock a video episode. Refer to the steps above to either republish an episode or appeal a block.

  If the rightsholder fails to respond to your dispute within 9 days your content will be automatically reinstated.
  

• Will this affect my earnings in the Spotify Partner Program?

  Blocked video episodes are not eligible to earn Premium video revenue nor ad revenue on Spotify in the regions where they are blocked as they are not shown to any Spotify members. Other video episodes that are not blocked in any regions may still be eligible for earnings with the Spotify Partner Program if they qualify.

  If you have an episode blocked in certain regions it will not impact your status within the Spotify Partner Program.\

• Are there other policies that might impact my distribution?

  To keep Spotify safe, we take action on accounts that violate our Terms of Service, which includes our Community Guidelines, or the Spotify Platform Rules.

  If your show or episode is removed, we’ll send an email to the address associated with your account stating why it was removed. For more information please see our articles on show removals or proper channels for submitting music.