The creation of a takes two paths: that of the and that of the . Often, these can be very different, happening at different times with different , companies, and organizations involved, such as:
To track plays and identify who is entitled to be paid for the use of the musical work, the appropriate and must be generated and entered into the . Typically, this happens by the musical work with the appropriate and providing additional metadata to . For example:
Title
Songwriter and music publisher names
numbers
Other data requested by CMOs and distributors
To track plays of a sound recording and identify who is entitled to be paid, the appropriate metadata and identifiers must be generated and entered into the music industry ecosystem, typically by registering the sound recording with the appropriate CMO and providing additional metadata to distributors. For example:
Title
Performer and record label names
Splits
Other data requested by CMOs and distributors
Explore our pages on Metadata and Identifiers to learn more.
Who is responsible for getting this into the music ecosystem will depend on your situation, whether you have a record label or music publisher involved or work independently and directly with a distributor. Explore our our pages on Responsibilities to learn more.
Whatever your situation is, you should always ensure the job gets done. After all, it’s your work, credits, and money at stake. Keep reading to learn more.
Video credit: Tiffany Orvet, Dilun Riad Edmon, Daniel Hjellum, Tim Ljungstedt, David Lebna, Artu Kontkanen, Tobias Leo Nordquist, Ponny Höijer, William Engström, Parapix