Skip to main content
UMW provides a dedicated sandbox environment so you can build and validate your integration before going live. The sandbox runs against fully isolated infrastructure with pre-seeded test data, simulated store connections, and no real royalty calculations or payout processing. Any actions you take in sandbox — including release submissions, delivery triggers, and financial reporting calls — have no effect on production systems or real earnings.

​
Sandbox vs. Production

Use the table below to understand the key differences between the two environments before you begin development.

​
Getting Sandbox Access

1

Request access through the Partner Portal

Log in to the UMW Partner Portal and submit a sandbox access request. Your organization must have an approved partner account to proceed.
2

Receive sandbox credentials

Once your request is approved, you will receive a dedicated sandbox API key. This key is scoped exclusively to the sandbox environment and cannot be used against production endpoints.
3

Configure your environment

Update your integration’s base URL to https://sandbox-api.umwrecordingsinc.com and substitute your sandbox API key wherever you reference credentials. Keep sandbox and production configuration in separate environment profiles to prevent accidental cross-environment requests.

​
Test Data

The sandbox environment includes a set of pre-seeded resources you can use immediately without any additional setup.
  • Stores and territories — A representative set of simulated digital stores and territory configurations is available out of the box, mirroring the structure of UMW’s live distribution network.
  • Test releases — Sample releases are pre-populated to help you explore catalog and metadata endpoints without needing to create your own records first.
  • Test ISRC codes — When you need to reference or register ISRCs in sandbox, use codes that follow the pattern QZ-AA1-24-XXXXX. These codes are reserved for testing purposes and will never collide with registered production ISRCs.
  • Financial figures — All royalty statements, earnings reports, and financial data in the sandbox are entirely synthetic. No values reflect actual market rates or real-world transactions.

​
Validation and Certification

UMW requires all partners to pass a certification checklist before your integration is approved for the production environment. Completing the certification process in sandbox ensures your implementation meets platform standards and handles edge cases correctly. The certification checklist covers the following areas:
  • Authentication flow — Verify that your integration handles credential expiry, token refresh, and error responses gracefully.
  • Release submission — Confirm that metadata payloads conform to UMW’s schema requirements and pass validation.
  • Delivery workflow — Walk through the full delivery lifecycle, from submission to simulated store acknowledgment.
  • Webhook handling — Demonstrate that your endpoint correctly receives, verifies, and acknowledges UMW event notifications.
Test your error handling thoroughly in sandbox before submitting for certification. Specifically, exercise scenarios that return 400 Bad Request (malformed input), 422 Unprocessable Entity (validation failures), and 409 Conflict (duplicate submission attempts) to confirm your integration responds appropriately in each case.
Use idempotency keys in your sandbox tests exactly as you would in production. Pass a unique Idempotency-Key header on every mutating request (POST, PUT, PATCH) to verify that your integration handles duplicate request scenarios safely. Building this habit in sandbox prevents costly duplicate submissions once you go live.

​
Sandbox Limitations

Not all platform features are enabled in the sandbox environment by default. Capabilities such as DDEX delivery and bulk payout requests require explicit enablement on your sandbox account before you can test them. If you need access to these features for certification purposes, contact UMW Partner Support with your sandbox account identifier and the specific features you require.