How to Correct a Cover Song Released With the Wrong Songwriter or Publisher Credits

Wrong songwriter or publisher credits on a distributed cover song are fixed by submitting a metadata correction through your distributor, not by deleting and re-uploading the track. The original-work information tied to a cover is what triggers mechanical licensing and royalty routing to the correct songwriter, so an error there needs to be corrected at the source rather than patched after the fact. In most cases the fix does not require taking the song offline.

This matters more for covers than for original songs because a cover carries two sets of credits at once: the performing artist delivering the recording, and the songwriter and publisher who wrote the underlying composition. Mixing these two up, or matching the song to the wrong edition of a frequently-covered title, is one of the more common data errors in cover song distribution.

Why do songwriter and publisher credits end up wrong on a cover song?

The error almost always traces back to how the original work was identified during submission, not to anything wrong with the recording itself. A handful of patterns account for most cases:

Title collisions. Common song titles like “Yesterday,” “Hallelujah,” or “Fire” have been written multiple times by different songwriters. If the licensing match pulls the wrong version, the credited writer will be incorrect even though your recording is fine.
Incomplete original-work details at submission. If the original songwriter name was entered with a typo, a stage name instead of a legal name, or without the correct publisher, the credit that gets attached downstream inherits that mistake.
Medleys or interpolations. A cover that blends two songs, or interpolates a melody from another work, needs each contributing writer credited separately. Submitting it as a single work with one writer is a frequent source of disputes later.
Public domain misclassification. Older songs are sometimes assumed to be public domain when a specific arrangement or translation is still under copyright, leading to a missing or wrong publisher credit.

How do you know your cover song has the wrong credits?

The clearest signal is a rights holder inquiry, a royalty statement showing an unfamiliar writer split, or a platform listing that doesn’t match what you submitted. Spotify, Apple Music, and other platforms display writer and publisher metadata inconsistently, so the most reliable way to check is against what you originally entered during submission, not against what’s showing on a storefront page.

If you’re not sure, compare your song’s listed original songwriter against a performance rights organization database (ASCAP, BMI, or similar) using the exact title and, if possible, the original recording artist. That cross-check takes a few minutes and resolves most title-collision cases before they turn into a dispute.

What’s the actual process for correcting the credits?

The correction happens at the distributor level, since that’s where the original-work match that drives licensing and royalty routing lives. The general sequence looks like this:

Identify the correct songwriter and publisher. Confirm the legal (not stage) name of the writer and the correct publisher of record, ideally sourced from a PRO database or the original label’s credits.
Submit a metadata correction request. Most distributors, including Globex Music, let you update original-work details on an already-live release without a full takedown and re-upload.
Allow time for the correction to propagate. Platforms don’t update instantly; corrected metadata typically needs to work its way through the distributor’s delivery pipeline to each store, which can take anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks depending on the platform.
Verify the fix on each major platform. Spot-check Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music once the update has had time to propagate, since store-side display can lag even after the correction is accepted upstream.

None of this requires you to take the song down, which is the detail most artists get wrong first. Pulling a correctly-performed cover offline over a metadata issue resets your streaming history and review clock for no reason — the recording isn’t the problem, the data attached to it is.

Does fixing the credits affect royalties already paid out?

A correction updates routing going forward; it does not retroactively redistribute royalties that have already been paid out under the old credit. This is a standard limitation across the distribution industry, not something specific to any one platform or service. It’s another reason to catch credit errors early — the earlier a fix is submitted, the smaller the window of royalties affected by the wrong metadata.

This is also why double-checking original songwriter and publisher details before submitting a cover is worth the extra two minutes it takes. A fast review process is only an advantage if what goes into it is accurate; speed doesn’t compensate for a mismatched writer credit.

How does this fit into the cost of distributing a cover song?

Correcting metadata is normally a no-cost update included as part of your distribution, which is worth factoring into how you evaluate a distributor’s pricing. Globex Music distributes a cover single for $1 with no annual fee, automatic mechanical licensing included, and royalty payouts starting from $10 — a structure where getting the original-work details right from the start costs nothing extra, and fixing them later doesn’t trigger a new release fee either.

Compare that to a subscription model: DistroKid runs $44.99 a year, TuneCore charges a $24.99 base fee plus per-cover licensing costs and a 20% commission on social platform revenue, and CD Baby charges $9.95 per single plus a 9% royalty commission that continues indefinitely. None of those figures are about how metadata corrections are handled specifically, but they illustrate a broader point: the more a distributor charges upfront and on an ongoing basis, the more a credit error costs you in time and friction to untangle, simply because there’s more invoice and subscription overhead layered around the release.

How to avoid the problem on your next cover release

Enter the original songwriter’s legal name and correct publisher before submission, not the performing artist’s name or a guess at the writer. If the title is common, search it against a PRO database first to confirm you’ve identified the right version of the song. For medleys or interpolations, list every contributing writer rather than defaulting to one. These three checks take a few minutes and prevent the vast majority of credit corrections after the fact.