Common Questions

Answering your most frequently asked questions in music meta data — for artists, musicians, and organizations.

What is music metadata?

This is a question we get asked a lot!

At the most basic level, music metadata is all the specific detail associated with a song, including:

  • title

  • artist

  • composers

  • producers

  • record labels

  • publishers

  • genre (such as pop, rock, rap, etc.)

It doesn’t stop there, though. We prefer to consider metadata more broadly because lyrics, creative tags, fan data, performance and usage data, royalties, and financial data are all critical elements in the handling of your musical assets.

Why is music metadata important?

High-quality metadata is essential in the competitive, technology-driven music industry of today.

When listeners search services (such as Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud, etc.), track metadata helps them find what they are looking for. It also helps the algorithms categorize music and make appropriate suggestions based on consumer activity.

Not only does it help make music discoverable, metadata helps to identify the contributors and rights owners for recordings and musical works. With accurate credits, any royalties generated can be properly routed to the correct rights owners.

How is music metadata used?

The music industry uses metadata in a wide variety of ways, such as:

  • Helping consumers to discover music on platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music

  • Making algorithmic recommendations

  • Identifying demographic (age, location, etc.) information about fans

  • Ensuring accurate credits

  • Collection and distribution of royalty payments

  • Determining the value of musical catalogs

  • Helping music supervisors identify songs for licensing opportunities

  • Tracking live, broadcast, and other musical performances

  • Assessing trends for marketing, branding, and advertising

  • Analyzing industry dynamics

What happens if metadata is incomplete?

When it comes to collection and distribution of royalties, accurate and complete metadata is essential for making sure that the right people get paid. Inaccurate or missing metadata can lead to delays in royalty payments while the correct rights owners are confirmed.

If the rights owners can’t be identified, the royalties are considered “unmatched” and will be held until they are claimed by the appropriate party. There are millions of dollars in unmatched music royalties waiting to be paid out. Our goal is to make sure that doesn’t happen to you!

Who is responsible for providing and managing metadata?

Typically, metadata is provided by the creators or rights holders of the music, such as artists, labels, and publishers. It may also fall to their artist or business management representatives. It is essential that the various parties responsible for the metadata are working with consistent and accurate information. When a correction or update is made to the data, it should be made at the source to ensure the data remains correct on all platforms where it may appear.

How does metadata affect music discovery and promotion?

Metadata plays a big part in how much is categorized and found by consumers on streaming platforms (such as Spotify). It impacts searchability, playlist placements, and recommendations, aiding in the promotion of the music.

As well as helping consumers find what they are looking for, metadata supports music supervisors and other industry professionals to find music for licensing opportunities. Often, they may be searching for a specific piece of music - for example from a particular genre or release year. Precise metadata assists with discovery and may increase the chances of a licensing placement.

Does the music industry have any standard identifiers?

There aren’t many metadata standards used consistently across the industry, but there are a few identifiers that you should be familiar with.

  • International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI) is used to uniquely identify persons and organizations involved in creative activities, as well as public personas of both, such as pseudonyms, stage names, record labels or publishing imprints.

  • Interested Party Information (IPI) is the unique international identifier for songwriters and music publishers.

  • International Performer Number (IPN) is used to identify performers and music producers.

  • International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) is a unique and permanent identifier assigned to sound recordings and music videos.

  • International Standard Musical Work Code (ISWC) is used to uniquely identify a musical work and link it to the associated core metadata including the title, songwriters’ names, and their IPI numbers.