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Your distributor rejected your song for "AI": how to appeal in 3 steps

You recorded the song yourself and they still rejected it. Before replying to the email, you need external signed evidence. This tutorial solves it in 3 steps.

First: identify your case (30 seconds)

Case A — Fully human

No AI tool (Suno, Udio, ElevenLabs). The classifier got it wrong. → Follow the 3 steps below.

Case B — Partial AI (mastering, one stem, ChatGPT lyrics, etc.)

Re-upload with the "AI-assisted" checkbox marked in the form. Resolves in 24-72h, no appeal needed.

Case C — Fully AI (generated with Suno, Udio…)

CD Baby always rejects. TuneCore accepts if you declare. DistroKid is the most permissive. Denying it gets your account banned.

The rest of the tutorial is for Case A.

The 3 steps

1Analyze your song

Go to distroshield.com/lookup. Paste the Spotify link or upload the file. In under a minute you get a verdict (human / uncertain / likely AI), a probability score, and a per-segment breakdown (start, middle, end).

2Download the signed PDF certificate

The credit pack ($5 for 10 analyses, credits never expire) gets you the signed certificate with score, model version, and timestamp. That PDF is the evidence that turns "trust me, it's human" into "here's the proof."

3Send the appeal with the template

Reply to the rejection email (or the appeals channel they pointed you to) with the certificate attached. Use the template below. Typical response: 3-7 business days.

Start with step 1:

Analyze my song →

Email template (copy and adapt)

Subject: Review request — Track [ID] — evidence attached Hi [DISTRIBUTOR] team, I received the rejection notice for track "[TITLE]" (ID [ID]) on [DATE] flagging suspected AI-generated content. The song is 100% human: [1 SENTENCE — where I recorded it, what I used]. No AI generation tool touched the final audio. I understand your classifier may have triggered on [1 SENTENCE — e.g., heavy autotune on the vocal / synthetic VSTs in the instrumental / reverb-heavy mix]. Attached is an independent analysis by DistroShield. The signed certificate includes the verdict, score, and per-window breakdown. Verdict: human, [SCORE]% confidence. Please reconsider with this evidence. I can send stems or the recording session if needed. Thanks, [YOUR NAME] [YOUR ACCOUNT EMAIL]

Rules: don't attack their system aggressively, don't threaten to switch distributors, offer stems at the end.

More distributors tighten review every month, and false positives keep rising. Having the certificate on hand is no longer optional.

Analyze now →