The term Metadata refers to descriptive information that is attached to a digital files. All digital files have some sort of metadata attached. In the music industry, the metadata that is attached to mp3 files include; song title, artist name, album title, song lenth, and genre. You can also add further information such as producers, songwriters, publishers, ISRCs, UPCs, and more.
Metadata is the way music is identified and tracked when it comes to royalty calculations and distributions. The problem is that the creators of music, the collection agencies, and the distribution platforms have no standard methodology when it comes to creating and checking data.
This seemingly inconsistent and inaccurate intake of information of each song created and released has detoured its way of monetization for artists and their collaborators. Music creators are reportedly missing out on billions of uncollected royalties due to growing tech music platforms and the new streams of micro-music licenses that generate royalties. With minimal or no information as to who are the proper rights owners, many of these royalty generating platforms don’t know where or to who to send the money to. Many times being forfeited to terms set forth by agencies setup to collect these royalties.
Music metadata is a mammoth issue that has been approached a few times in the past and a few companies are now making attempts to find a universal solution. With a possible solution years in sight, artists and music collaborators must take it upon themselves or hire competent rights management companies to keep accurate and updated metadata across multiple platforms.
