Apple gives you ten days. Deezer will still take a pitch after release.

If you plan a release week around Spotify's seven-day rule alone, you will be late for Apple and confused by Deezer. The three published deadlines do not line up.

Apple: ten days, or seven for scraps

Apple's documentation asks you to "pitch at least 10 days in advance of release for full consideration", and says pitches at least seven days ahead are accepted only "for late adds". The pitch form asks for content details and a promotion plan: campaign moments, release schedule, focus tracks and key media moments.

Access is gated by role rather than by size. Apple states that any Apple Music Connect user with an Admin or Marketing Manager role can use the Pitch tool. Apple also advises restraint on genre tags: less is more.

Deezer: seven days, and a two-week grace period

Deezer asks for both the pitch and the music seven days before release, and pitches cannot be edited in the final 24 hours. Unusually, it keeps accepting pitches up to 14 days after the release date, so a record that came out last week is not automatically past help.

The catch is access. Deezer's own help page states plainly that "Artists and managers cannot directly access the Pitching Tool" — it is available to label and provider accounts only. If you are self-released, your distributor is the route, and whether they will pitch for you is a question worth asking before you sign up.

The working calendar

Set your internal deadline at Apple's: get everything delivered and pitched twelve days out, and the other two look after themselves.