Music Metadata: What is it?
Often overlooked but extremely important for getting discovered in music libraries – music metadata. So, what exactly is metadata? Data about data, or in other words – information about information. Metadata is the data that accompanies your songs and albums within the digital music world. It is imperative to fill this information out properly for digital music distribution. Additionally, there are a few giant reasons why you should have complete and correct metadata for all of your music online.
Most noteworthy, metadata helps build a bridge between your tracks and listeners. For over twenty years there has been a lot of talk about the important of music metadata. This determines how searchable your music is in a perpetual universe of songs. This is what we refer to as discoverability. Spelling your song titles and artist name correctly for each song is especially important for digital music distribution. However, that basic information is only going to help people find you that already know who you are. Furthermore, for content creators or listeners that are searching for specific feels, genres, or sounds – your metadata may connect them to your catalog!
Music Metadata: How to Use It
Now that you have a basic understanding of what music metadata is – let’s look at different ways to use it and what the parameters are. Metadata includes genre, sub-genres, descriptors, similar artists, tempo, and plenty of information about each song. Digital music distribution platforms are becoming more vigilant about the quality of metadata they receive from artists, labels, and distributors. Most noteworthy, accurate metadata improves their platforms from a user standpoint and it also helps services minimize licensing litigation in the future.
Providing as much information within the MP3 via ID3 tags increases the discoverability of your music. Check out the file properties for one of your songs and you will see all the information you can add. If digital music distribution platforms are to be looked at as music search engines – you want to give them as many keywords as possible. Spend some time looking at the parameters and put some thought into how to maximize your use of metadata.