Metadata, writers, and contributors
How to enter release titles, versions, artist roles, writer credits, and ownership so stores display and pay your music correctly.
Metadata is how stores identify, display, credit, and pay for your music. Enter what is true of this exact recording, not what you wish it said. Promotional wording in a metadata field is a common reason a release comes back.
Titles and versions
| Field | Put this in it | Not this |
|---|---|---|
| Release title | The album or single name | The artist name, or "(Official)" |
| Track title | The song name only | "feat. X", or "Radio Edit" |
| Version | "Radio Edit", "Live", "Remix", "Acoustic" | Anything already in the title |
| Featured artists | The featured artist credit field | The title |
Keep titles, versions, artist names, and language consistent between the release and every track on it. A mismatch between the two is caught at review.
Mark explicit content honestly. Stores audit this, and a track labeled clean that is not can get the release removed rather than relabeled.
Use the original release date only when the recording was genuinely released before. Backdating a new recording to look established misrepresents the catalog.
ISRC and UPC
Reuse an existing ISRC or UPC only when it identifies the same recording or release and you are entitled to use it. A new mix, a new master, or a re-recording is a new recording and needs its own ISRC. If you have none, leave the field blank and one is assigned.
Artist roles
Roles change how stores display and attribute the release, so they are not interchangeable:
- Primary artist carries the release. It appears on the artist page and drives attribution.
- Featured artist is credited alongside, and appears on that artist's page too when mapped.
- Producer, writer, remixer, and performer roles credit the work without claiming the release.
Adding a well-known artist in a role they did not perform is not a promotion tactic. It is a metadata claim that stores can act on.
Writers and contributors
Use real legal names wherever the form asks for a credit name. Publishing and royalty systems match on legal names, and a stage name in a writer field can break a payment further down the chain.
Enter every relevant writer and contributor before you submit. Do not merge several people into one credit, do not substitute a band name where a person is required, and do not add a role someone did not perform.
Ownership
State the copyright owner, the sound-recording owner, the label, and any licensing that applies.
If you do not control those rights, stop before submitting and resolve permission first. Correcting an ownership claim after delivery is far harder than getting it right now. See Copyright and content rights.
Common questions
Where does "feat." go? In the featured artist field, never in the track title. Stores build the display name from the fields.
My track has two primary artists. That is fine when both genuinely carry the release. Both need mapped profiles, or the release only attaches to one artist page.
Can I change metadata after release? Some fields can be corrected and redelivered, others cannot, and stores apply changes on their own schedule. Treat submission as the moment it matters.