The first time you arrive we ask one thing: your **artist name**. What happens next depends on whether we already work with you.

## I'm new

Choose **New here**. We create a fresh artist for you, so that when a track is ready you can send us your first release.

## Already releasing

Choose **Already releasing** and enter the exact name your music comes out under. Our team reviews the request and links your existing catalogue, royalties and releases to your account. You get access as soon as we confirm the match.

## Why existing artists are reviewed

To protect everyone, we never link an existing artist automatically from a typed name. A person confirms it first. That is why an existing artist may show as pending for a short time after you claim it, and stays hidden until we have royalty data or an accepted release to attach.

## What you will be offered

For every release you send us, if our team accepts it you receive a contract: distribution, publishing, or both. Both is our default. See [Distribution vs publishing](https://artists-docs.fatstep.com/hc/fatstep-for-artists/articles/distribution-vs-publishing) for what each one means.

## Related

- [Setting up your artist profile](https://artists-docs.fatstep.com/hc/fatstep-for-artists/articles/artist-profile-setup)
- [How a release moves from draft to live](https://artists-docs.fatstep.com/hc/fatstep-for-artists/articles/release-pipeline)