Best Practices for Metadata When Releasing Music Worldwide

Metadata is the information attached to your recordings that tells platforms, royalty collection systems, and listeners everything they need to know about your music — who made it, when it was released, who wrote it, what genre it is, and crucially, who owns the rights. When metadata is accurate and complete, everything downstream works correctly: your music appears under the right name, royalties are attributed to the right people, and algorithmic recommendation systems have reliable data to work with. When metadata is wrong, the consequences range from mild (a typo in your artist name on Spotify) to severe (royalties attributed to the wrong party and never recovered).

Identification Codes: ISRC, UPC, and ISWC

These three codes form the identification backbone of music distribution. Each serves a distinct purpose.

ISRC — International Standard Recording Code

An ISRC is a 12-character code that uniquely identifies a specific sound recording. Every track you release needs its own ISRC. ISRCs are used by all DSPs and royalty collection systems to link streams, downloads, and licensed uses back to a specific recording — and therefore to its rights holders. If your ISRC is missing, platforms cannot accurately attribute royalties for that recording.

ISRCs should be assigned once and never changed. If you re-release a track through a different distributor, carry over the original ISRC — do not generate a new one. Duplicate ISRCs for the same recording create royalty attribution conflicts that are extremely difficult to resolve. Your distributor should assign ISRCs automatically if you do not already hold them. You can also register as an ISRC issuer directly through your territory's national ISRC agency.

UPC / EAN — Universal Product Code / European Article Number

A UPC or EAN identifies a release (album, EP, or single) as a product — the equivalent of a barcode on a physical item. Every release needs one. Like ISRCs, these should be assigned by your distributor and consistent across all platforms. Do not use a new UPC for the same release on different platforms.

ISWC — International Standard Musical Work Code

An ISWC identifies the underlying musical composition, not the recording. It is used by PROs and publishers for royalty management on the publishing side. ISWCs are assigned through a composer's national PRO. They are distinct from ISRCs — one composition (ISWC) can have many recordings (each with its own ISRC).

Critical Metadata Fields

Beyond identification codes, every release has a set of text metadata fields that must be completed accurately. Here is the complete checklist with the specific rules for each:

Artist Names

Primary artist: Enter your name exactly as you want it to appear on every platform. Capitalisation, punctuation, and spacing must be consistent across all releases — inconsistency splits your streaming profile, creating multiple artist pages instead of a unified one. If you are releasing under an alias for the first time, decide on the exact spelling now.

Featured artists: Use the exact format your distributor requires for featuring credits — typically "Artist A feat. Artist B" in the metadata field, or separate fields for primary and featured artists. Incorrect featuring credits are one of the most common sources of royalty attribution errors in collaborative releases.

Track and Release Titles

Titles should match exactly what you want on platform, including capitalisation. Common errors: using all-caps titles (typically rejected), including "(Official Audio)" or similar qualifiers in the track title (reserved for YouTube descriptions, not metadata), or using special characters that some platforms cannot render.

Genre and Sub-Genre

Genre tags influence algorithmic recommendation significantly. Platforms use genre metadata as one input to listener profiling and playlist generation. Select the most accurate primary genre, and use the sub-genre field to be more specific. Avoid selecting "Pop" as a catch-all when a more accurate genre exists — incorrect genre tagging reduces the effectiveness of algorithmic recommendation.

Language

Specify the language of the lyrics, not your nationality. A Vietnamese artist releasing an English-language track should specify English. Platforms use language metadata for localisation and for determining eligibility for language-specific editorial playlists.

Explicit Content Flag

If your track contains explicit language, mark it explicitly. Platforms will eventually catch and flag it themselves, and a retroactive explicit flag after release can affect playlist eligibility. Always be accurate at submission.

Songwriter and Composer Credits

Publisher and songwriter credits are required for accurate royalty attribution on the publishing side. Include all co-writers and their percentage splits. If you used any interpolations or samples, the original composition rights holders must also be credited here — incorrect or missing credits can cause royalty disputes and platform takedowns.

How Metadata Errors Affect Royalties

The connection between metadata and royalty accuracy runs through your ISRC. When a DSP reports streams back to your distributor (via DDEX DSR reporting — see our DDEX explainer), each stream is attributed to an ISRC. If your ISRC is missing or incorrect, those streams may be reported as unmatched and the associated royalties may never be paid. If your artist name metadata is inconsistent, PROs trying to match performance royalties to your registration may fail to attribute them. These are not theoretical risks — they represent real, ongoing royalty leakage that is very difficult to remediate retrospectively.