A lot of Good Songs have failed to achieve success because of minor mistakes like Errors in their Meta Data or absence of same .Artistes are also losing out on huge chunks of royalties due to this . A lot of Recording Artistes overlook this very important aspect of their songs and bear heavy consequences for it later .

We will quickly examine what meta Data is , Types of Meta Data , The importance of Meta Data and salient features that should be in your song’s meta data.


What is Meta Data ?

Meta Data as it pertains to Music can simply be defined as information about your song that is available stored and made available digitally worldwide . Meta Data is simply all the IMPORTANT information/data about your Song/Songs .

So when you hear the word “ Meta Data “ as an artiste or songwriter or creative involved in Music,the first question that should come to mind is“ All the important and basic information an investor or listener should Know about my songs !!


Types of Meta Data

There are Three Major Types of Meta Data Every Song should Possess

1) Descriptive Meta Data
2) Ownership/ Performing Rights Meta Data
3) Recommendation Meta Data.

We will examine each of the types briefly



The first Type of Meta Data is Descriptive Meta Data

Descriptive meta tags are related to the descriptive text tags of a song like song title , Release date , Performing artiste . genre etc

Every time someone needs to organize or present the music in some way, descriptive metadata is used.Every time someone needs to organize, sort, or present the music in some way, descriptive metadata is used. For example, its used to identify the song on the radio or to build an artist page on Spotify, etc.

The Second Type of Meta Data is Ownership/Performing Rights Meta Data .

This Meta Data deals with the creative persons involved in the song . The Writer , performing artiste , Producer, Engineers and other persons involved in the song are accounted for in this meta data .Ownership meta data is made to ensure everyone involved in the song creation process gets appropriate credit and is duly remunerated .

It is especially important to determine the share of royalties that gets to each creative involved in a song

The third type of meta data is Recommendation Meta Tags.

Recommendation Meta Tags – like the name implies are recommendations or addendums that helps listeners find your music on digital platforms .Genre , Sub Genres , Song Mood , Scores, Comments and other algorithms used ..



Why is Meta Data Important to Your songs and Career

1. Metadata ensures your singles and releases are ready for distribution on digital platforms

2. Meta Data ensures you get all the royalties you are entitled to from streaming platforms . Without proper meta data …You are losing out on a chunk of royalties entitled to you.

3. Meta Data allows your songs to be easily discovered by algorithms on music platforms . The platforms picks up this data to bring your songs before the interested audience .

4. Meta Data allows potential collaborators & investors to find the correct information about you & contact you for potential collaborations and investments.

5. Meta Data ensures you are rightly attributed as the owner of your songs on online platforms and that another brand or entity is not enjoying the moral rights off your creative work


What should be contained in your Meta Data ?

This is another salient thing all artistes should note and the majority of errors in meta data is because artistes/labels do not add the proper tags .

We will examine the top tags that should be in your meta data

1) Artiste Name : [/b]The Legal name of the artiste and Stage name should be contained in here e.g Ayomide Fashakin (DBruce ) . This tag is very important and should be in this order (N) (SN) to aid discovery and royalties sharing.

It’s also important not to combine artist names when you feature an artiste . If you have someone else on the song, please make use of the “ featuring “ tag in the meta data to indicate two different artistes e.g Peruzzi ft Davido instead of Peruzzi Davido or Peruzzi and Davido .

2) [b]Featured Artiste – if any , Their name and their stage names should be in the meta data .

3) Track Title – Endeavor to name the track on the meta data as it appears on the album and all other merchandise or platforms . Don’t add apostrophe or symbols that are not the actual track title e.g Joro should Joro and not “ JORO” on your meta data .

4) Track No – The track no on your album , EP or compilation . Whether it’s track 4 or 5 or 6 .

5) Genre – what’s the genre of your Song ? . This is very important forplaylists and DSP algorithms. Don’t tag an Afrobeats track under hip hop and don’t tag RnB track under Reggae .Know your genre of music . And don’t tag under weird music genres of your own .

We know you are the creator of emoafrobeat , ReggaeBlues and Afroragga but please for the sake of your meta data and your Song success , tag your music under the available , recognized and appropriate genres of music we have in this current dispensation .

6) Composer – The people involved in writing the lyrics of the song . They must be duly credited . Full name and stage /Song writing name .

7) Music Producer – The Music producer (s) of the song must be duly credited in the meta data . Full name and stage name too.

8 ) Explicit Content : indicate whether the track contains explicit content that should not be heard by kids or radio censored lines .

9) Lyrics Language – The language of the lyrics used on the song . English , Yoruba , French etc . If two or more languages are used , state same .

10) Lyrics publisher : The music publisher representing the lyricist/lyrics contributor .

11) Composition Owner: The owner of the composition rights

12) Year of Release: The year the track was released and made available for the public

13) Master Recording Owner: the owner of the sound recording

14) BPM : Beats per minute to determine the tempo of the song .

15) Contact Info : Indicate your social media handles so fans and potential record labels or collaborators can follow up and contact you if need be

16) Artwork : Please make use of a professional and well designed artwork. Your artwork is your number one selling point . Make sure the artwork contains your artiste name , song Title and social media handles. You may add record producer , label name and any other details you deem fit .

17) Lyrics : Ensure the correctly written lyrics to your song are provided in your meta data. This can help when users are trying to find your songs online or when you are trying to get on playlists .

18) ISRC Code — is a fixed point of reference when the recording is used across different services, across borders, or under different licensing deals”. It is also known as the International Standard Recording Code and is assigned to a track that is available for commercial release .


19) ISWC code– stands for International Standard Work Code. This code is assigned to the composition in the sound recordings and music video recordings I.e the music and lyrics. It is usually assigned upon registration to members by Performance rights Society .

20) Groupings – This pertains to the ownership of rights on the song and the percentage due to each individual owner .



Tips to Maximizing Meta Data for Artiste Growth

Here are some tip to maximize the use of meta data for your career growth and to ensure that your metadata doesn’t cause any issues with your release and in getting your royalties .

1. Triple-check your spelling and formatting

Make sure to always spell your track and artist names correctly and exactly the same way each time.Your spelling and formatting must be consistent on every song you release . Don’t put “ AdeyLOVA” as artiste on one song and put “ Adeylova” as artiste on another song . Ensure you are consistent with the format and style of artiste name you use .

Even if you need to enter names multiple times, never abbreviate them or add extra punctuation.

It’s also important not to combine artist names when you feature an artiste . If you have someone else on the song, please make use of the “ featuring “ tag in the meta data to indicate two different artistes e.g Peruzzi ft Davido instead of Peruzzi Davido or Peruzzi and Davido .

2. Enter the correct release language

The release language field indicates the language and character set of your release I.e the language you are writing the meta data in .

Even if the language of the lyrics is different, use this field to enter the language of the metadata you’ve been filling in so it can be read and reflected correctly

3. Don’t try to manipulate the system

Metadata that doesn’t give meaningful information isn’t useful and doesn’t contribute positively to the quality of your release on streaming services.

Don’t misrepresent information about your genre or subgenre for effect. This only makes listeners (and algorithms) confused! Don’t add artistes that didn’t feature on your song to your meta data just because you want to generate clout .

4. Follow instructions of the Digital Streaming Platforms

Each streaming platforms has its own rules . Some may say that they don’t tolerate URLs, social media handles or excessive text in album artwork, please follow and abide by them. Fill in all required columns by the platforms and avoid anything they instruct or advice you to avoid .

. If you want your content to be presented alongside the top names in music while your songs is on their platforms , you must respect their rules to the fullest .

CONCLUSION

Meta Data is an all important aspect of music releases that should never be taken with levity by labels , publishers and independent artistes . It is fundamental to income generation and overall career growth of an artiste . Therefore , artiste should ensure that they make conscious efforts to maximize the impact of accurate meta data on their revenue and career as creatives .


Source : https://olaoluwaidowu.org/blog/2021/11/23/why-meta-data-is-important-to-the-success-of-your-songs-and-career-a-thread/

Cc lalasticlala, Dominique

Music meta data

Cc lalasticlala, Dominique

cc lalasticlala