“What? I can’t just be an artist? You mean I have to think of my career as a business? Well, that sucks?” Yes, indeed! However, if you’re open to learning and you do the work, the fun of being an artist will return, especially if it brings in more money.

Okay, with that out of the way, what are some of the strategies we at www.songandfilm.com can tell you about becoming more "pro" (professional, profitable, proactive) when it comes to the business of music? Metadata is a top pick when it comes to music administration!

What is metadata you ask? For musicians, it is simply data about your songs. The most important bits of information to expose in your files are things like:

• The name of your project
• The names of the tracks
• The name of the artist
• Featured artists
• Producer(s)
• Composer(s)
• Publishing company name
• Performance rights organization (PRO) names and identification numbers for each person involved.
• ISRC codes (international standard recording code - unique identifier for each recorded track)
• UPC code (universal product code - unique identifier for an entire album or EP 
• 

Having this proper information does a few things for the security and profitability of your music. It allows you to get paid when your music is licensed or played on Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, etc. as well as getting you paid when your music is used in a film or TV show. In order to get paid, these platforms need to be able to identify your music and the people who made it!

So there you have it, a quick lesson in the music business from the team at www.songandfilm.com. There's more to say here, but we're trying to keep the reading easy! Next blog will be about the various "opinions" on how metadata should be embedded in your tracks, or how it should look. Our example is just one way. Stay tuned for Part B!