Metadata Requirements - Artist Roles

In a release, there are several roles that can be assigned according to the function that every person, organization, or ensemble has executed during its development:

• Primary Artist. The name(s) of the principal artist(s) or band(s) who participate in the release. This is the only role strictly mandatory in every release. 

1.  
1. Using “Various Artists” as Primary Artist. When a release includes more than 3 Primary Artists, the Primary Artist at the album level should be marked as “Various Artists”. However, each artist must always be independently identified on their respective tracks. The translation of "Various Artists" is accepted, but only if it is consistent with the language of the content. 
2. When not to use “Various Artists”. It should never be used when a release has less than four primary artists; it cannot be used either at the track level or to group several featuring artists. This tag can not be used at the track level and can not be combined with other primary artists’ names. It is generally preferable to avoid the use of too many primary artists’ names at this level. Variations or abbreviations of “Various Artists” (i.e.: “V/A”, “VA”, “Various”, “Various Artist”) must be avoided. Please, do not confuse the role with “performer” or “featuring artist”.

• Performer. The singer(s) and/or the instrumentalist(s) who have participated in the recording of the release of each track. This role should be assigned to the people who interpret the music heard on each track or in the entire release. Instruments per se should never be mentioned in the metadata. Nevertheless, in jazz and classical releases, the performers can be named with their respective instruments on the cover art.

• Producer. This is the person that manages the sound recording. Frequently can be the person who leads to achieving the main concept for the production. This role can be displayed on the cover art as long as it is justified all along with the release.

• Remixer. This is the role to be assigned to the person who re-edits or adds new elements to a pre-existing recording. Its use demands that the term "Remix" is used in the version field at the track and/or album level - depending on if it is a one-track single or not. If the remixer is known, the name must be included in the version field along with the expression “Remix” (i.e.: “Flume Remix”). Please note that a remixer is not the same as the mixer of an album; in case the mixer or sound engineer must be included as a producer instead. For more information on the correct licensing of remixes, check our “Licensing requirements” block.

1.  
1. When remixing other artists' work. The creation of a remix implies the reuse of previous material whose authorship belongs to other artists, publishers or other agents. Therefore, it will be necessary to provide the corresponding licenses to use this content. Please, check the “Licensing” section of this document for further information.
2. When remixing original work. When the release is a remix from a previous original release it will not be necessary to provide the licenses to use. In addition, the new release should be distinguished from the previous one by using the term "Remix" in the version field.

• Composer. This role should be assigned to the people who have composed the music on the track or the album. In regular releases it can only be used at the track level, when the release is a single, the role must be reflected at the track and album level. Since every time more channels are requesting this role as mandatory for distributing content to their platforms we recommend adding it as much as possible, especially when the release is a cover or version from another artist, in which case its use will be completely mandatory - for more information about it, please, check the “Licensing requirements” block in this article. 

1.  
1. Composer role in Classical Music releases. Its use at track and album levels will be mandatory. Also, if there are more than four composers throughout the release, the only composer appearing at the album level must be "Various Composers" - please, limit the use of this term strictly to this genre. Check the guidelines for Classical Music in this article for further information.
2. Unknown composers. In versions of popular tracks whose author or composer is unknown or anonymous, the composer must always be “Popular”, “Unknown” or similar.

• Lyricist. The people who have made the lyrics of the track.

1.  
1. When to use the “Lyricist” role. As we said with composers, it is highly advisable to use it whenever possible since every time more channels are requesting this role as mandatory for publishing content - especially when the song is based on a literary text. In those cases, it should be assigned to the original writer of the latter.
2. When not to use the “Lyricist” role. If the song has no actual spoken words - that means instrumental tracks or with voices that sing no words. In those cases, the track must be marked as “no linguistic content” in the language field.

• Publisher. This role should be assigned to the entity that owns all distribution rights of the release. 
• Featuring. The artists who accompany the primary artist in the release. Both primaries and featuring artists compose the “Display artists”, which are the main highlighted roles at a track level.
1. Attributions. The use of this role does not imply that the featuring artist has participated as a composer, which means that its competence develops at a secondary level.
2. Conditionals. If the featuring artists appear in the cover art, they must figure at the album level. If it is single, it should be at the album and track level. The featuring artist, if displayed on the cover art, must always be accompanying the primary artist.
3. Album conditional. If there are featured artists at the album level, they must be reflected on each track. In the case of being more than one featuring artist at the album level, each featuring artist must appear in the corresponding track instead of appearing at the album level.
• With. This role has the same value as the featuring artist role. In this way, either of the roles can be chosen to go along with the primary artist. 
1. When not to use the “With” role. In popular music (non-classical), this role can not be used to add the music band of the primary artist who accompanies the recording of the release. E.g. “Glenn Miller with His Big Band”. 
• Conductor. The person who leads, commands or conducts an Orchestra, also known as the director. This role should be used exclusively in classical music releases. It is important to emphasize that the conductor is not the person who artistically directs the production. 
• Arranger. The person who has modified an original song. If their role is developed on a third-party’s composition, the track will be considered as a substantial modification of original work, for which explicit documental permission must be obtained. Please, check the “Licensing” block in this article for more information.
• Orchestra. The ensemble that participates in the recordings and/or performances (i.e.: London Symphonic Orchestra). This role should be used only in releases with Classical Music. In addition, the role of Orchestra and Primary Artist can be assigned to the same ensemble as long as the primary artist of the release is actually the orchestra.
• Actor. This role is exclusively for musical theatre music or opera music. It is used to mention the actors and actresses who have participated in the recording of a release. Their mention must be done at each track level. Please, avoid its use for references to videoclips or similar AV format.

Some other relevant information about roles

• Artist name choice. Before distributing an album, make sure that no other artists are currently using the same artist or band name (similar or identical) since this might cause conflicts in the channels and your albums may be combined under the catalogue of the other artist with a similar artist or band name, or vice-versa. If that happens, please contact our Support team. 

• Incompatible roles. All the roles can be mixed with each other as long as they make sense. However, primary and featuring artists cannot be performers - and vice versa.

• Use of special characters and particular naming. Mixed alphabets, full lowercase or capitals and special characters are generally discouraged. Our team might require social media verification in order to allow it.

• Compound artist. Two or more performers or groups in the same artist field are considered compound artists. However, artists who are generally listed together as a band (their names make the artist’s name) are not considered compound artists and can be listed together (i.e.: Simon & Garfunkel, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, etc.). If this is not the case, and there is more than one performing artist, each artist must be listed individually and assigned as primary.

• Generic artists. Generic artists such as “Chorus”, “Orchestra”, “Singer” or “Band” are not accepted under any circumstance. The use of these names might lead up to the application of our Anti-Fraud Policy. For further information, please check our “Genre” block in this article.

• Original artist name in the artist field. For karaoke, tribute, orgel, parody, covers, and other similar formats, the original artist name must be avoided as a primary. The authors of the original composition (composers and lyricists) must be included with their full legal name. Please, do not use artistic names or band names. For further information, please, check our “Licensing requirements” block in this article.

Format

• Singles. For all single format discs containing a single track, the album title and track title must be the same, as well as the information about artists roles. A release must be identified as a single when:

1.  
1. 1 track lasts from 0:30 to 29:59.
2. It contains from 1 to 3 tracks with the same title. It means, variations of the same song, no longer than 9:59 together.
3. It contains from 1 to 2 tracks with different titles. It means, up to two different songs, no longer than 9:59 together.

• EPs. A release must be identified as an EP when:
1. It has 2 tracks and at least one of them lasts longer than 10 minutes.
2. It contains 4 to 6 tracks with the same title. It means, variations of the same song.
3. It contains 3 to 6 tracks with different titles. It means that each song will be different.
4. It has a total duration from 10 to 29:59 minutes - never longer than that.
• Albums. The maximum number of tracks permitted is 500. Even so, in these cases, we recommend releases with a lower number of tracks or releases divided in different ones, in different volumes (i.e.: “Going Higher, Vol. 1”; “Going Higher, Vol. 2”; “Going Higher, Vol. 3”, etc.). A release must be identified as an album if it overcomes one of the previous points:
1. It includes 7 tracks or more. 
2. It includes any amount of tracks that are longer than 30:00 minutes together.

• Compilation. A release that contains two or more tracks that have been part of separate releases and have been previously distributed.

Genre

Genres must always match with the content presented on the tracks, except for the compilation and/or tracks that have already been assigned an ISRC and come from another release. The current genre list is available on the platform - both at the album and track level. Please, note that not all the existing genres are available; try to find the one which describes better the nature of the music given in the audio.

• Classical Music. For specific information about this genre, please, check its corresponding block in this article.

• Karaoke. When an album or a track is a karaoke or a playback, the primary genre must be “Karaoke”. The secondary genre should be the one corresponding to the song’s style.

• Soundtrack. This genre must only be used when the music is related to movies, documentaries, series, musicals, video games or any other kind of audiovisual production. If the music is only “inspired” in a video work or is not connected to any media production, the genre tag can not be “Soundtrack” but the one that is closer to the style of the song (i.e.: “New Age”, “Inspirational”, etc.). When a release is related to audiovisual content (movies, documentaries, series, musicals, video games or any other AV production) the expression "(Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)" must be placed in the title - see: “Release Title (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)”. Check some examples below:

1.  
1. “Movie (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)”
2. “TV Show (Original TV Show Soundtrack)” / “TV Show (Original Series Soundtrack)”
3. “Documentary (Original Documentary Soundtrack)”
4. “Videogame (Original Videogame Soundtrack)”

• Spoken word. The tracks of this genre must meet the following points. Please, note that not all the spoken word content is accepted by the channels:

1.  
1. Length: 3 minutes or more - excluding prologues, epilogues and justified exceptions for artistic reasons.
2. Primary artist designation: the primary artist can be the narrator, the author or the series of the narrated concept.
3. Accepted formats: poetry, tales, short stories, monologues and comedy content, spoken word music-related content, educational content and album commentaries. 
4. Forbidden formats: podcasts, audiobooks and similar typologies. 

• Generic content. Generic content is an umbrella term to tag all the content which might generally be fake. We recommend avoiding this kind of content since it could be identified as fraud-related by our team with its corresponding consequences - please, check our Anti-Fraud Policy for further information. Generally speaking, we divide it into three categories:
1. Genres. Avoid expressions in metadata, especially in artist names and albums/tracks titles, which make explicit reference to genres - see: “Rock”, “Pop”, “Trap”, “Reggaeton”, “Latin”, “Hip-hop”, “Classical”, “Lo-fi”, “Electronic” etc. 
2. Basic musical terms. Avoid the use of expressions that make reference to instruments (i.e.: “Guitar”, “Piano”, “Drums”, etc.), musical concepts or structures (i.e.: “track”, “beat”, “song”, “base”, “album”, etc.).
3. Explicit functionalities. Avoid the use of expressions that reference to explicit uses for music (i.e.: “Music for Sleeping”, “Music for Relaxation”, “Music for Yoga”, “Music for Workout”, “Music for Your Baby”, “Music for Focusing and Studying”, “Music for Your Dog”, etc.).

Explicit content

• Cover arts. Releases with images related to drugs, violence, sex or containing obscene language and insults must have the “Parental Advisory” logo on them. If the cover art is extremely explicit (pornography, racism, violence trivialization or encouragement of the use of drugs) our QC team will ask to change the cover, since the content might be forbidden by the channels. If the cover image contains the logo of “Parental Advisory”, at least one track must be flagged as explicit. Variations of the “Parental Advisory” are allowed, including alternative logos like “Restricted”. The colour or shape of it can be changed as long as it maintains the same formula. For further information about cover arts, please, check its corresponding block in this article.

• Lyrics and metadata. The “explicit lyrics” box must be checked at the track level when the title or the lyrics have explicit content - especially if they mention topics like sex, drugs, violence or contain obscene language or insults. If the explicit tracks are indicated, the album will be automatically flagged as explicit. If the album is flagged as explicit, the tracks with explicit content must be indicated. Unless the cover image is the only explicit content of the album (and the lyrics and the metadata are clean), in this case, the tracks have to be kept clean. If it is not like this, our team will mark all the tracks as “explicit”. Please, remember that instrumental songs cannot be explicit.

• Self-censorship. Self-censorship is not permitted in any of the levels, neither on the cover nor in the metadata. Artist names, track titles, and album titles must be submitted in the original form that was intended by the artist. Explicit words are automatically censored in some channels, and would appear as for example: “f**k” or “s**t”. Do not insert the asterisks in the titles.

• Hateful speech. If content is extremely violent towards a minority or vulnerable group, our QC team reserves the right to block the implied users and take down all their content.

• Nazi content. Nazi references are forbidden. This kind of content will be banned in all circumstances and channels, as it is recognized as harmful by the BPjM (Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende medien) and prohibited by German authorities or as otherwise recognized by anti-Nazi laws in any applicable jurisdiction. A release can not contain any kind of offensive symbology to a specific group of people or ethnicities, such as Nazi symbolism. If the content includes the glorification of Nazism, our QC team reserves the right to remove and block the account (with the implications that this might have) and take down all the releases.

Here, you'll find more information about how to deliver explicit content.