Language-specific guidelines can be found in Europe, Russia, Central Asia, and South Asia Language Guidelines and Asia-Pacific Language Guidelines sections of the guide. Here are some key considerations for languages and localization usage:
1.6. Metadata Language. To ensure that accents appear correctly on Apple Music and iTunes, the appropriate language must be set in the metadata at the album level. Language codes must match the language of the metadata, not the audio.
1.7. Track Audio Language. The appropriate audio language must be set in the metadata at the track level. Language code(s) must match the language spoken or sung in the audio. Nonlinguistic content must be flagged ‘zxx’.
1.8. Localizations. Localizations enhance the discoverability of your content. Provide Artist and Title metadata in the primary language you’ve chosen for your content. Accurate localizations should be provided for all languages you have available, unless you want the metadata to appear in the primary language in all territories.
Here are two examples of localized metadata for Hebrew- and Arabic-language albums:
Field Name | Hebrew | English |
|---|---|---|
Album Title | מרוץ החיים | Merotz Hachaim |
Album Artist | שרית חדד | Sarit Hadad |
Track Title | הגוֹרל הטוב | Hagoral Hatov |
Track Artist | שרית חדד | Sarit Hadad |
Track Title | אהבה בתיכי | Ahava Betochi |
Track Artist | שרית חדד | Sarit Hadad |
Field Name | Arabic | English |
|---|---|---|
Album Title | على فين | Ala Fain |
Album Artist | ايمن معروف | Ayman Maarouf |
Track Title | حبيبي ارجعلي | Habeebi Ergaali |
Track Artist | ايمن معروف | Ayman Maarouf |
1.9. Side-by-Side Translations. Do not use side-by-side translations in metadata. Use only one language in each entry or localization.
1.10. Emoji. Do not use emoji in titles, artist names, lyrics, or other metadata.