Data
Dictionary

International Standard Recording Code. A 12-character alphanumeric identifier that uniquely identifies a specific sound recording. The first two characters are the country code, followed by 3-character registrant code, 2-digit year, and 5-digit designation code.

Stores:SpotifyApple MusicAMAmazon MusicTidalDeezerYouTube Music

Universal Product Code / European Article Number. A 13-digit barcode identifying a release. The 13th digit is a check digit calculated from the preceding 12 digits using the GS1 modulo-10 algorithm.

Stores:SpotifyApple MusicAMAmazon MusicTidalDeezerYouTube Music

International Standard Musical Work Code. Identifies a musical composition (as distinct from a recording). Required for songwriter royalty collection. Format: T followed by 9 digits and a check digit.

Stores:Apple MusicTidalDeezer

International Standard Name Identifier. A 16-digit identifier disambiguating contributors. Recommended for all artist and songwriter credits to prevent identity confusion when multiple artists share the same name.

Stores:SpotifyApple MusicAMAmazon Music

A label-assigned catalog number for the release. Not required by stores but displayed on some artist pages and used for internal label tracking.

Stores:SpotifyApple MusicDeezer

The official title of the release. Must contain only the artistic name of the release — no SEO descriptors, marketing copy, or search-intent phrases. Standard title case capitalization for the release's language.

Stores:SpotifyApple MusicAMAmazon MusicTidalDeezerYouTube Music

The official title of an individual track. Must match exactly across the audio file, artwork, and metadata. Parenthetical descriptors allowed only for legitimate version info: (Remix), (Acoustic), (Live), (Radio Edit).

Stores:SpotifyApple MusicAMAmazon MusicTidalDeezerYouTube Music

An optional secondary title field. Used for subtitle or volume information (e.g., 'Vol. 2'). Not a place for marketing copy or mood descriptors.

Stores:Apple MusicDeezer

A separate field for version information. Some stores prefer version info here rather than in parentheses in the main title. Acceptable values: Remix, Acoustic, Live, Radio Edit, Extended Mix.

Stores:SpotifyApple MusicTidal

All text fields must be encoded in UTF-8. Non-UTF-8 encodings (Latin-1, Windows-1252) cause mojibake on international stores — diacritics and special characters display incorrectly.

Stores:SpotifyApple MusicAMAmazon MusicTidalDeezerYouTube Music

The primary cover artwork for the release. Must be a square image at minimum 3000×3000px (1400×1400px for Deezer). Color space must be RGB or sRGB — CMYK is rejected. No text overlay, watermarks, or promotional graphics.

Stores:SpotifyApple MusicAMAmazon MusicTidalDeezerYouTube Music

Pixel dimensions of the cover art. 3000×3000px is the industry standard minimum for HiFi stores (Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, YouTube Music). Deezer accepts 1400×1400px minimum. DPI is irrelevant — only pixel dimensions matter.

Stores:SpotifyApple MusicAMAmazon MusicTidalDeezerYouTube Music

The color profile of the cover art. RGB or sRGB is required. CMYK color space is rejected by all stores as it is designed for print, not digital display.

Stores:SpotifyApple MusicAMAmazon MusicTidalDeezerYouTube Music

Optional supplementary images such as back cover, booklet, or liner notes. Not required by any store but displayed on some artist pages where supported.

Stores:Apple MusicAMAmazon Music

The main performing artist name. Must be the official performing name exactly as registered with the label or PRO. Only the primary artist — featured artists go in the contributor field with a 'Featured Artist' role.

Stores:SpotifyApple MusicAMAmazon MusicTidalDeezerYouTube Music

Full name of a contributor to the recording. Songwriter and composer credits must use legal names (not stage names) for PRO royalty collection. Performer and Producer credits may use stage names.

Stores:SpotifyApple MusicAMAmazon MusicTidalDeezerYouTube Music

The role assigned to a contributor. Must use standard DDEX role codes: Performer, Songwriter, Composer, Producer, Mixer, Mastering Engineer, Featured Artist. Custom role names are rejected.

Stores:SpotifyApple MusicAMAmazon MusicTidalDeezerYouTube Music

A guest artist featured on a track. Must be entered as a separate contributor with the 'Featured Artist' role — not appended to the primary artist name field (e.g., not 'Artist feat. Guest').

Stores:SpotifyApple MusicAMAmazon MusicTidalDeezerYouTube Music

The percentage share of a songwriter's contribution to a composition. Used for royalty split calculations. All splits for a single composition must total 100%.

Stores:Apple MusicTidalDeezer

The primary genre classification. Must be mapped to each target store's proprietary taxonomy — there is no universal genre list. Using a distributor genre tag without mapping causes browse category misplacement.

Stores:SpotifyApple MusicAMAmazon MusicTidalDeezerYouTube Music

A secondary genre classification. Only populated if the target store supports nested genre taxonomies (e.g., Amazon Music's 3-level hierarchy, Deezer's v3.2 taxonomy). Flat-taxonomy stores like Apple Music do not accept subgenres.

Stores:AMAmazon MusicDeezerSpotify

The ISO 639-1 two-letter language code identifying the language of the lyrics. Must match the actual vocal language for lyric synchronization. Instrumental tracks should use the instrumental flag instead.

Stores:SpotifyApple MusicAMAmazon MusicTidalDeezerYouTube Music

Indicates whether the track contains explicit lyrics. Must be set accurately for every track. Stores display an 'E' label on explicit content and offer parental filtering based on this flag.

Stores:SpotifyApple MusicAMAmazon MusicTidalDeezerYouTube Music

Indicates whether the track is instrumental (no vocals). When set to true, the language code field may be omitted. Stores use this flag to categorize instrumental music in browse sections.

Stores:SpotifyApple MusicAMAmazon MusicDeezer

The official release date. Must be in ISO 8601 format. Cannot be more than 6 months in the future for pre-release scheduling. Past dates are accepted for back-catalog delivery.

Stores:SpotifyApple MusicAMAmazon MusicTidalDeezerYouTube Music

The date the release becomes available for pre-order. Must be before the release date. Some stores display a pre-order badge and allow instant-gratification tracks.

Stores:Apple MusicAMAmazon Music

The duration of each track in seconds. Must match the actual audio file duration within a 2-second tolerance. Discrepancies cause playback issues on some stores.

Stores:SpotifyApple MusicAMAmazon MusicTidalDeezerYouTube Music

The position of the track within the release. Must be sequential starting from 1. Gapless or non-sequential numbering is rejected by most stores.

Stores:SpotifyApple MusicAMAmazon MusicTidalDeezerYouTube Music

The volume/disc number for multi-disc releases. Required only for releases spanning multiple volumes. Single-volume releases should default to 1.

Stores:Apple MusicAMAmazon MusicDeezer

The territories where the release is licensed for distribution. Specified as ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes or the keyword 'Worldwide'. Must be set for each track and the overall release.

Stores:SpotifyApple MusicAMAmazon MusicTidalDeezerYouTube Music

The phonogram copyright notice identifying the owner of the sound recording rights. Format: year of first publication followed by the rights holder name.

Stores:SpotifyApple MusicAMAmazon MusicTidalDeezerYouTube Music

The copyright notice identifying the owner of the composition rights. Format: year of first publication followed by the rights holder name. Distinct from the P-Line which covers the sound recording.

Stores:SpotifyApple MusicAMAmazon MusicTidalDeezerYouTube Music

The owner of the master recording rights. Required by some stores for royalty allocation. Typically the record label or, for independent artists, the artist themselves.

Stores:Apple MusicTidalDeezer

The owner of the publishing (composition) rights. Required by some stores for mechanical royalty collection. Typically a publishing company or, for self-published artists, the songwriter.

Stores:Apple MusicTidalDeezer