Music Metadata Explained

Find out more about the metadata that is required for each track released by the music industry – and the codes employed to identify individual recordings and songs, and the people involved in creating them.

#01: Metadata is a crucial component of the music rights business

Whenever recordings are released, it is vital that a set of data its collated and delivered alongside the track when it is provided to digital platforms. At least some of this data also needs to be provided to key music industry databases, and especially the databases managed by the music industry’s collecting societies.

This includes data that:

> uniquely identifies the recording and the song contained in the recording.

> identifies all the individual people and companies involved in creating, recording, producing, releasing and publishing the music.

> provides other useful information like genre, language, release date and so on.

Different data serves different purposes – it might:

> allow digital platforms to effectively store, present and recommend tracks, ensuring users of those platforms can easily find the music they want to listen to.

> allow digital platforms to properly credit artists, musicians, songwriters, composers, studio producers and audio engineers, which is useful information for music fans, and also respects the moral right of attribution in copyright law.

> identify who owns the copyright in any one recording or song – and who needs to be paid whenever that recording or song is used.

The music industry has systems and standards for collating and delivering this data to digital platforms, collecting societies and elsewhere. The systems are still evolving and are not perfect – meaning not all data is delivered as standard.

Getting data right often involves various different stakeholders, which can be a challenge. But getting it wrong can result in tracks being rejected or incorrectly labelled by streaming services; in music-makers not being properly credited; and in music-makers and their business partners not being properly paid.

#02: Collaborators need to identify what copyrights have been created, and agree ownership and royalty rights

Some of the key categories of music metadata relate to music rights – identifying copyrights, and the creators, owners and beneficiaries of those rights.

For this data to be accurate, it’s vital that whenever music is created, the people and companies involved are clear on what copyrights now exist, who owns them, and who needs to be paid whenever those copyrights are exploited.

There are several things to remember here:

There are two sets of music rights – the song rights and the recording rights – and separate data is required for each copyright.

We need to know who owns each copyright. Copyrights can be co-owned and with song rights that is very common – when music-makers collaborate on writing a song they co-own the copyright. Collaborators need to agree how the copyright will be split in percentage terms and document what is agreed.

Songwriters may allow a music publisher to control and even own elements of their copyrights, this needs to be documented in the data. But we need to know who the writers are too, because whenever money flows through collecting society PRS at least 50% of the money will still be paid directly to the songwriter.

With recording rights it is more common for there to be a single copyright owner – either a record label or the main artist – but the copyright owner may share future income with other collaborators such as guest artists and studio producers. These royalty rights need to be agreed and documented.

Where the main artist owns the copyright in a recording, they will usually ally with a label or distributor to manage and monetise the recording. A label may also work with a distributor. We should know what labels and distributors are involved.

When recorded music is broadcast or played in public, every performer on the record is due equitable remuneration oblivious of who is the copyright owner and who has negotiated a royalty right. So we need to know the identity of every performer who appears on the track, including session musicians.

In the ideal world, all the required information will be captured for each recording and each song, and will be included in the metadata for each track that is released.

Different databases store different data, but ideally all of this data should be available for each track, at least to the label, artist and their management team.

So for each track we should know…

> The specific recording and song copyright.

> Who owns each copyright with the co-ownership splits if relevant.

> The individuals who wrote the song.

> All the performers who appear on the recording.

> Any labels, distributors or publishers with an interest in the track.

#03: There are identifiers for works and releases

Every recording and song has a title, but lots of recordings and songs have the same title. So the music industry uses codes to uniquely identify each work.

The International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) uniquely identifies every recording. It is allocated by the label or distributor that first releases each track.

Self-releasing artists can allocate their own ISRCs – to do this they need to contact their local ISRC agent, which in the UK is PPL. However, many artists get their distributor to allocate the ISRC, which is fine, but they should keep a record of each ISRC issued, and continue using those ISRCs if they move distributor.

The ISRC should be provided whenever a recording is delivered to a digital platform and should be logged alongside other information about the recording with the record industry’s collecting societies – so, in the UK, that is PPL.

The International Standard Work Code (ISWC) uniquely identifies every song or composition. It is allocated when a songwriter or music publisher first logs a new song with a song rights collecting society – so, in the UK, that would be PRS.

Where writers work with publishers, the publishers would usually log the work and get the ISWC. Where there are no publishers involved, writers need to do this themselves via their collecting society’s online portal.

Some publishers can actually get an ISWC allocated before a work is logged with any collecting societies by using a scheme called the ISWC Allocation Service.

When a recording is delivered to any streaming services or logged with any database, ideally the ISWC of the song contained in the recording will also be provided. This is not yet industry standard but is best practice.

Each release also needs a Universal Product Code (UPC) – which is basically the bar code that would appear on a physical release.

The UPC identifies the release rather than individual recordings and songs. So, an album with ten tracks has a single UPC, but each of the tracks would also have an ISRC to identify the recording and an ISWC to identify the song.

UPCs are not music industry-specific codes and are issued by GS1 organisations in each country. Artists rely on labels or distributors to get a UPC for each release, while some indie labels will also get UPCs from their distributor.

#04: There are identifiers for creators and performers

Obviously ever music-maker has a legal name, and possibly one or more performer names. However, names are not unique to any one person. So the music industry also uses codes to identify each person involved in making music.

The International Performer Number (IPN) uniquely identifies any performer who appears on a recording. A performer is allocated an IPN when they first join a performer collecting society – so, in the UK, that is PPL.

Whenever a new recording is logged with a collecting society, any performers who appear on it should be identified using their IPN.

The Interested Party Information (IPI) code (sometimes also called a CAE code) uniquely identifies any songwriter who wrote a song. IPIs are also used to identify any music publishers involved in monetising a song.

Writers and publishers are allocated an IPI when they first join a song rights collecting society – so, in the UK, that would be PRS.

When a new song is logged with a collecting society, anyone involved in writing, publishing or administrating the work should be identified using their IPIs.

The International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI) is a code for identifying creators of any kind of creative work, so it’s not music industry specific. However, it is slowly being used more frequently to identify creators in music.

ISNIs are issued by approved registration agencies. Music companies that issue ISNIs include Sound Credit and Luminate Artist Match.

Music-makers should get themselves an ISNI and provide it to their business partners, and whenever they are filling out a form that requests it.

#05: You should provide as much metadata as possible

In addition to the codes that identify works and individuals, whenever an artist or label delivers music to a streaming service they will be asked to provide a range of other metadata. Self-releasing artists provide this information via their distributor.

A global organisation called DDEX sets standards for both what data should be provided with each new track and how it should be provided. Some data is optional and some is compulsory. The more data provided the better.

The standards and rules around music metadata are constantly evolving as the way music is consumed evolves, and as streaming platforms evolve their services.

For example, data requirements have changed as services honed recommendation systems, added video content, started interacting with voice-activated speakers, and introduced policies around how they deal with and label AI-generated music.