Term | Definition |
|---|---|
Advertisement Track | Full or partial songs that contain additional audio meant to advertise the album, individual songs, or other content. |
Album | A collection of tracks. |
Beats | Recorded elements of a track that anyone can typically license, rent, purchase, borrow, or even use for free. While most beats have non-exclusive license agreements, they can also be exclusive. |
Closed Caption Music Video | A music video that includes on-screen text displaying spoken dialogue, sound effects, and other audio cues to make the content accessible to deaf or hard-of-hearing users. |
Collective | A performing group of musicians with shared creative control and, at times, a rotating roster of band members. For example, this may include a supergroup or group of artists all signed to the same label, performing under their unique collective name. |
Compilation | A collection of tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, that can be from one artist or multiple artists. |
Composer | A composer writes music for instruments to play. |
Content | A song, album, music video, or ringtone. |
Cover (song) | A new recording of a song that was previously recorded by someone other than the original artist. |
DJ Mix | An album containing multiple tracks overlaid or otherwise mixed together for continuous play. |
Featuring/With | Special guest(s) with a significant contribution but not significant enough to warrant the “Primary” role. Note: The “Featuring” and “With” roles should only be used once per artist for each song/album (that is, an artist shouldn’t have the “Featuring” and “With” roles on the same song). |
Genre | Category of music. |
Instrumental | Music that is performed only by instruments with no vocals or lyrics. |
Karaoke | An instrumental version of a song with lead vocals removed or reduced. |
Live | A recording capturing a performance, usually performed before an audience. It might retain natural venue acoustics and audience sounds like applause typical of an event. |
Lyric Video | A music video that displays the song’s lyrics on screen in sync with the audio. |
Lyricist | Lyricists only write lyrics. |
Musical | Any performance where the actors sing in character. A musical can be a stage show (Hamilton), a motion picture (The Greatest Showman), a television show (High School Musical), or all of the above (The Rocky Horror Picture Show). Musical is a subgenre of soundtracks, but should be a Primary genre when appropriate. |
Music Video | A unique video for a song. |
Native Field | The native language field for album or track metadata, such as a title or artist name. |
Non-Performing | Contributors that are not heard on content, such as Producer, Remixer, Engineer/Master Engineer, Composer, Songwriter, and so on. |
Non-Standard Music Video | Music-related content that includes interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, or making-of clips showcasing the artist or creation process of a song or album. |
Official Music Video | The primary, official visual representation of a song. |
Original Recording | The original version of a song as performed by the orignal artist. |
Original Release Date | Date when the album, track, or music video was first released. |
O.S.T. | Original Soundtrack. |
Parental Advisory | Content may be inappropriate for children. |
Performer | Any artist, group, or instrumentalist that can be heard on an album, song, or music video. |
Primary | The main performing artist/band. |
Recording | A recorded performance of a musical composition, either as audio (a song) or music video. |
Remix | A remix consists of an entire song that is already available in its original form and structure, with elements that have been changed or eliminated, with permission from the rights holders. Additional production elements can also be added. The song is changed, but the foundation remains the same. |
Re-recording | A new version of an existing song, performed by the original artist, to create an updated or different rendition. |
Ringtone | A standalone audio recording to be used as a ringtone for iPhone. |
Sample | A sample is only a part of an existing track. For example, “Mo Money Mo Problems” famously includes the intro from the Diana Ross hit “I’m Coming Out,” but it does not use or rearrange the entire song. It uses the vocals and guitar. |
Score | The instrumental music on a soundtrack. A score can have one or more tracks on an album. Score is a subgenre of soundtracks but should be the Primary genre when appropriate. |
Self-titled | An album or track where the title is the artist’s name. |
Snippet | A portion of a longer piece of audio purposely edited into smaller segments. |
Soloist | Artist or instrumentalist that performs a featured part of a song (that is, a solo). |
Song | An audio recording. |
Songwriter | A songwriter can compose the music and/or lyrics. |
Soundtrack | A collection of audio recordings used in another media. It can be used in a motion picture, television show, stage performance, internet stream, or video game. It can also be music made to accompany a book or graphic novel. A soundtrack can be part instrumental score, part songs with vocals, and a musical. |
Stem | A section of a track. Playing all of the stems together would produce an entire song. A stem can be the vocals, drums, bass, or any other part of the song. A sample or beat can also be stems. |
Title | The name of a song, album, music video, or ringtone as it appears on Apple Music and iTunes Store. |
Title Version | Used to differentiate from the original content title or to add information needed to identify the content. Examples: Live, Radio Edit, and Bonus Track Version. |
Track | A song or music video. |
Tribute | An album where an artist or musical group performs songs in the sound and style of the orignal artist or group. |
Track Audio Language | The language of the vocals. |
Vertical Music Video | A music video shot or formatted in a tall, portrait orientation, typically optimized for mobile viewing. |
Visualizer Music Video | A music video featuring animated or abstract visuals that move in sync with the music. |