diff --git a/packages/artifact/src/internal/upload/blob-upload.ts b/packages/artifact/src/internal/upload/blob-upload.ts
index bc045c09..b244861a 100644
--- a/packages/artifact/src/internal/upload/blob-upload.ts
+++ b/packages/artifact/src/internal/upload/blob-upload.ts
@@ -60,20 +60,16 @@ export async function uploadZipToBlobStorage(
   core.info(`is the upload stream readable? ${uploadStream.readable}`)
   core.info(`is the upload stream writable? ${uploadStream.writable}`)
   core.info(`are we exceeding the max concurrency? ${maxConcurrency}`)
-  // is the blob client ready?
-  core.info(`blob client props: ${blockBlobClient.url}`)
   try {
     core.info(
       '1 Even more beginning upload of artifact content to blob storage'
     )
-    await blockBlobClient
-      .uploadStream(uploadStream, bufferSize, maxConcurrency, options)
-      .catch(error => {
-        core.info(`Upload stream error: ${error}`)
-      })
-      .then(response => {
-        core.info(`Upload stream response: ${response}`)
-      })
+    await blockBlobClient.uploadStream(
+      uploadStream,
+      bufferSize,
+      maxConcurrency,
+      options
+    )
     core.info(
       '2 Even more beginning upload of artifact content to blob storage'
     )
diff --git a/packages/artifact/src/internal/upload/upload-artifact.ts b/packages/artifact/src/internal/upload/upload-artifact.ts
index 30b6978c..1e0c9d09 100644
--- a/packages/artifact/src/internal/upload/upload-artifact.ts
+++ b/packages/artifact/src/internal/upload/upload-artifact.ts
@@ -75,7 +75,10 @@ export async function uploadArtifact(
       return uploadZipToBlobStorage(
         createArtifactResp.signedUploadUrl,
         zipUploadStream
-      )
+      ).catch(err => {
+        core.error(`Error uploading artifact: ${err}`)
+        throw err
+      })
     })
     .then(async uploadResult => {
       const finalizeArtifactReq: FinalizeArtifactRequest = {
diff --git a/packages/artifact/src/internal/upload/zip.ts b/packages/artifact/src/internal/upload/zip.ts
index e4966858..8bcc09c2 100644
--- a/packages/artifact/src/internal/upload/zip.ts
+++ b/packages/artifact/src/internal/upload/zip.ts
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ export async function createZipUploadStream(
     `Creating Artifact archive with compressionLevel: ${compressionLevel}`
   )
   const zlibOptions = {
-    zlib: {level: compressionLevel, bufferSize: getUploadChunkSize()}
+    zlib: {level: DEFAULT_COMPRESSION_LEVEL, bufferSize: getUploadChunkSize()}
   }
   const zip = new ZipStream.default(zlibOptions)
   // register callbacks for various events during the zip lifecycle