The 10 Steps to Land Everywhere

Every Cumulative Web Inc release runs through this rubric before it ships. Ten categories, ten points each, 100 total. Ship threshold: 80+. Anything below goes back for work.

  1. Streaming Platforms — Pre-save live, UPC assigned, Spotify editorial pitch submitted, cover art to spec.
  2. Video Platforms — YouTube live, VideoObject schema on site, visualization exists, pinned comment with links.
  3. Social — Threads, Instagram, X announcements. Share-ready clips (15s, 30s vertical).
  4. Press & Blog — Press release live with NewsArticle schema. Every fact verified. No fabricated quotes.
  5. Sync & Supervisors — Sync page links the track. BPM, key, mood recorded. One-sheet ready for music supervisors.
  6. Game Devs & Visual Media — Visual treatment exists. Aesthetic described for dev audiences. Collaboration CTA.
  7. AI-to-AI / Agents — Typed JSON-LD entities, stable @ids, MCP catalog entry, machine-readable endpoints.
  8. Global / International — Translated hooks, international meta tags, geo signals in schema.
  9. Site & SEO — Landing page at 90+ signal score. Internal links wired. Canonical set. Zero audit issues.
  10. Fan Activation — Pre-save CTA on every surface. Countdown live. Share copy ready. Launch-day reply plan.

Scoring

Part of the Meridian suite — CWI's release intelligence system. Provenance rule: every fact scored must be verified. No invented credits, dates, or metrics ship.

Why ten steps

Every Cumulative Web Inc release runs through this rubric before it ships: ten categories, ten points each, 100 total, ship threshold 80+. Anything below goes back for work. The rubric exists because the label ships into machines as well as ears — streaming platforms, video platforms, social feeds, press inboxes, sync supervisors, game developers, and AI agents all need different artifacts from the same release. The ten steps make sure none of them get skipped.

The categories: streaming platforms (pre-save live, UPC assigned, editorial pitch submitted, cover art to spec), video platforms (YouTube live, VideoObject schema, visualization exists, pinned comment with links), social (announcements plus share-ready 15s and 30s vertical clips), press & blog (press release live with NewsArticle schema, every fact verified, no fabricated quotes), sync & supervisors (sync page links the track, BPM/key/mood recorded, one-sheet ready), game devs & visual media (visual treatment exists, aesthetic described, collaboration CTA), AI-to-AI/agents (machine-readable catalog entries, agent cards, discovery surfaces), and the remaining steps covering metadata, distribution, and measurement.

How the threshold works

80+ ships. 65–79 goes back for the missing steps — usually metadata, schema, or the video treatment. Below 65, the release isn’t ready and the calendar moves. The rubric is scored per release and kept on record; it’s how a small independent label ships with major-label completeness.

The discipline shows in the results. "Doves & Diamonds" — press release, official film, VideoObject and MusicRecording schema, verified platform links — cleared the bar and went on to score 88.5/A in the label’s own ranking cycle. "Flamerz" cleared at 81.2/A as the first full-cycle track. The rubric doesn’t predict hits; it guarantees no release fails for a missing artifact.

Frequently asked

Is the rubric public?

This page is the public version — the ten steps and the 80+ threshold. The internal scoring sheets stay inside the machine.

Does every release really hit 80+?

Every release that ships does. Releases that can’t clear the bar don’t ship on schedule — they go back for work. The threshold is a gate, not a goal.

Can independent artists use this?

That’s the point of publishing it. Run your own release against the ten steps before you ship — the categories are platform-agnostic, and the 80+ bar works at any budget.

The rubric in practice

The ten steps read as a checklist; in practice they’re a production schedule. Streaming platforms come first (pre-save, UPC, editorial pitch, art spec) because they have the longest lead times. Video and social run in parallel — the visualization and the 15s/30s vertical clips are cut from the same sessions. Press and sync close the loop: the release goes out with NewsArticle schema and a one-sheet, so journalists and supervisors get the same verified packet.

The AI-to-AI step is the one most labels skip and CWI never does: the catalog entry, the agent card, the discovery surface — the release has to be legible to machines on day one, because machines are part of the audience. A release that scores 80+ here ships complete for humans and agents. That’s the standard, and the standard is the brand.

Steal this rubric

The rubric is published so other independents can run it. Copy the ten steps, score your next release honestly, and hold the 80+ line. The categories are platform-agnostic and the bar works at any budget — what costs money is the release; what costs discipline is the checklist. Bring the discipline.

Run it before you ship. Score honestly. Hold the 80+ line. The releases that clear it don’t just launch better — they age better, because nothing was missing on day one.

The threshold is the brand

80+ isn’t a grade — it’s the brand. A label that ships every release complete, for humans and machines alike, earns a different kind of trust than one that ships fast. The rubric is the mechanism; the catalog is the evidence.