Release metadata checklist: titles, credits and rejections

Metadata is everything that travels with your music to the streaming services: titles, artists and their roles, songwriter and producer credits, genre, language, the explicit tag, release date, label, the ℗ and © lines, and the codes (ISRC and UPC). Services display this information based on what you deliver. It also decides which artist profile your music appears on, and distributors and collecting societies use it to get income to the right recording and the right rights holders.

A release can be rejected when its metadata breaks the services' style rules, for example through extra information in a title, two artists in one field, a title in capitals or a featured artist in the wrong place. This checklist goes through each field, what belongs in it and what does not, with a table of correct and incorrect examples using invented names such as Artist A and Track B.

The checklist at a glance

Check these points before you submit:

1. The title is right: spelling, accents and capitalisation, with no extra information.
2. Every version other than the original carries a version label, such as (Remix) or (Live).
3. Each artist has their own field and the correct role.
4. Artist names are spelt the same way on every release.
5. Composers, lyricists and producers are credited, with IPI numbers where you know them.
6. The primary genre and subgenre describe the music as precisely as possible.
7. Both the metadata language and the audio language are set.
8. Explicit tracks are tagged as explicit, without that word in the title.
9. The release date leaves stores and editors enough time.
10. Label, ℗ line and © line are filled in.
11. Existing ISRCs and UPCs are reused where it is the same recording or release.

Titles: write them as intended

A title is the name of the track or release and nothing else. The Apple Music Style Guide is clear on this: the standard version of a track must not carry additional information in its title unless it is needed to identify the content. In practice:

• no track numbers, years or artist names in the title;
• no additions such as Original Mix, Album Version, Exclusive, Official Music Video or Digital Single;
• no search terms, such as a genre or mood tagged on after the title;
• no emoji, and no translation next to the title;
• no generic titles such as Track 1 or Instrumental, unless that really is the name.

Watch the capitals too. Titles should not be all upper case, all lower case or randomly cased. For English titles Apple asks for title case: capitalise the main words and keep short words such as a, an, the, and, of and to in lower case, except as the first or last word. For several other languages, including French, Italian and Swedish, titles follow that language's own capitalisation rules.

Include every accent and special character the title needs, and do not hide rude words behind asterisks. Apple asks for titles in their original form and applies its own censoring where needed; a disguised title is also harder for listeners to find.

Versions: Remix, Live, Acoustic and Radio Edit

If a track exists in several versions, tell them apart with a version label in brackets after the title, or in a separate version field if your distributor offers one. The original gets no label at all: it is simply Track B.

• Remix: Track B (Remix). Apple's own examples also include the remixer's name, as in Track B (Artist D Remix). The original artist stays the primary artist and the remixer gets the remixer role.
• Live: Track B (Live). Apple also allows a longer form with venue and year.
• Acoustic: Track B (Acoustic).
• Radio Edit: Track B (Radio Edit), for a shortened version.
• Extended Mix and Instrumental: Track B (Extended Mix) and Track B (Instrumental).
• Two labels: the first in round brackets, the second in square brackets, as in Track B (Artist D Remix) [Radio Edit].
• Remaster: put the year of the remaster in the version label, as in Track B (2026 Remastered Version), and use the release date of the original.

Write version terms in full, without abbreviations, and keep the same wording across your releases. Remember that a different version, such as a remix, live version or radio edit, is a different recording with its own ISRC; a remaster, according to IFPI, generally keeps the same ISRC. The same recording on a single and later on your album keeps the same ISRC, while the album gets its own UPC. If a track has no ISRC yet, Crystal Distribution assigns one. The details are in ISRC and UPC explained.

Artists: one name per field, the same spelling everywhere

The artists you list, and their roles, decide which profile your music appears on. Spotify creates your artist profile automatically when your music is first delivered, using the name in the metadata from your label or distributor. Spotify's music metadata guidelines ask you to list each artist in a separate field and to keep the spelling consistent from one release to the next, including punctuation and abbreviations. So do not write Artist A on one release and Artist-A on the next.

• One artist per field. If Artist A and Artist C are both primary artists, each gets their own field; do not put them together in one field joined by &. An established duo or band name is a single artist.
• Featured artists in the artist field, not in the title. A guest gets the featured artist role. Apple then adds (feat. Artist C) to the title itself, and Spotify asks you not to put artist names in titles.
• The name only. No role, instrument, band, year of birth or website in the name field.
• No generic names or search terms. Spotify does not allow artist names built on search terms, such as Sleep Music or Christmas Hits, and Apple rejects generic names such as Workout, Meditation or Lo-Fi.
• A label is not an artist. Your label name belongs in the label field, not among the primary artists. Apple allows a label or studio name as the artist only for certain content, such as video game soundtracks.
• Five or more primary artists on an album? Then Apple asks for Various Artists as the album artist.

Already have a profile on Spotify or Apple Music, or share your name with another act? Tell your distributor which profile is yours, so your release does not end up on someone else's page.

Credits: songwriters, producers and IPI numbers

Credits record who did what. Spotify lists main artists, featured artists, remixers, composers, lyricists and producers as the key roles, and asks for non-performers to be credited as well as performers. Credits are visible on your track, but they also matter for money: royalties a collecting society cannot match to a creator because of missing or incomplete data sit undistributed, and if nobody claims them in time, the society decides under its own rules what happens to them.

• Credit composers and lyricists under their full names, as registered with their collecting society.
• Add the IPI number where you know it. The IPI system gives songwriters, composers and publishers a unique number; it is administered by the Swiss society SUISA under standards set by CISAC and BIEM. You usually receive one when you join a collecting society for songwriters, such as ASCAP in the US or BumaStemra in the Netherlands.
• If you do not know an IPI number, leave that field empty. Do not enter a guess or holding text such as unknown or to follow anywhere: ask the people involved for any name you are missing.
• Credit the person who produced the track, not a company or studio.
• Credits are not splits: splits record who receives which share of the income. See royalty splits with collaborators.

In Crystal Distribution you add the credits per track in the Tracks step of the release wizard, together with the audio.

Genre and language

Genre and subgenre

Genres come from a fixed list; Apple, for example, only accepts genres from its own list, whatever language your music is in. Apple asks for the most specific genre that fits and a second genre where it applies. A clearly wrong genre, such as a children's song filed as hip-hop, is not allowed. Choose the genre for this release rather than for your whole catalogue: an ambient EP by a techno producer is simply ambient. And keep genres out of titles and artist names, where they work as search terms.

Language of the title and of the vocals

There are two languages to set. The first is the metadata language: the language the titles are written in. Apple asks for it at release level, partly so that accents display correctly. The second is the audio language: what is sung or spoken in each track, set per track. For music without words Apple uses a separate code for no linguistic content (zxx).

Explicit content

Tag tracks with strong language or explicit content as explicit. Spotify then shows an E next to the track and asks you not to add it to the title yourself. Apple takes the same line: words such as Explicit, Dirty, Clean or Edited do not belong in a title.

There are three options:

• Not explicit: for tracks without explicit content.
• Explicit: for tracks with explicit lyrics.
• Clean: for an edited version of an explicit track, with the strong words removed or replaced. Apple asks you to use this tag only when an explicit version of the same track also exists.

Release date, label, ℗ line and © line

Release date. Pick a date well ahead. If you want to pitch a track to Spotify's editors, Spotify asks you to deliver your music at least seven days before the release date, so the editors have time to listen. At Crystal Distribution a member of staff reviews your release first, and how long a store then takes is up to the store, so there is no fixed live date. For a timeline, see plan your release.

If you re-release an older recording, for example as a remaster, Apple wants the date of the first release, not the date of the reissue.

Label. The label is the name you release under. Many independent artists use their own label name or their artist name. Pick one and stick to it. In Crystal Distribution an artist releases under the label Crystal Distribution, with their own name in the ℗ and © lines. For a label name of your own, you sign up as a label.

℗ line (P-line). The ℗ stands for phonogram: the rights in the sound recording. You give the year the recording was first released and the owner of the recording, for example ℗ 2026 Label D. That is usually the label, or you if you release independently and own the recording.

© line (C-line). The © covers copyright in creative work other than the recording, such as the artwork and the text that comes with a release; it is sometimes used for the composition and lyrics too. That is how the Spotify for Artists glossary puts it. An example is © 2026 Label D. Because they cover different rights, the ℗ and © lines are written separately, even when the owner is the same.

Right and wrong: examples

Common mistakes next to the correct entry (all names are invented):

How Crystal Distribution checks your metadata

You create a release in the portal with a six-step wizard: Basics (title, artists, genre), Tracks (audio and credits), Artwork, Schedule & stores (release date, countries and stores), Rights, and Check & submit. Each step shows what is still missing, and you can save as you go. See create a release.

After you submit, a member of Crystal Distribution staff reviews the metadata, rights and media before the release goes to the distribution partner. If Crystal Distribution or the partner asks for a change, your release shows the status Action needed, with the comments on the release. After the change, you submit again. If you change anything after submitting, a new version is created and you sign the rights declaration again. What each status means is explained in release status.

That review does not replace your own check: you know how your names and credits should be spelt.

Ready to prepare your release? See how distribution with Crystal Distribution works, and check your artwork against the cover art requirements too.