Ever notice this field when signing up an album? What even is title version, and what is it used for?
Title version information is used to differentiate from the original release of that song with the same name, where specified attributes (e.g. Language of lyrics, Genre, etc...) don't exist
- Examples: Specific instrumentation (solo accordion version), genre, new mix, live (is actually required if the track is a live performance in from of an audience), remastered, different language than original
The purpose is to supplement the listener's understanding of the content.
Take Soundrop artist and super-bearded Leo: He's not a "metal artist" - he is a cover song artist that does metal versions of popular songs that aren't originally in the metal genre. If he were to cover a Slayer song, he shouldn't put "metal version" (as a metal cover of a metal song doesn't require any extra information). But when he's covering "Let It Go" from Frozen, it's perfectly appropriate to put "Metal Version" in the "Title Version" field. Similarly, if he did an acoustic version of Raining Blood, then he could include "Acoustic Version" in the "Title Version" field.
What about different languages? If there are multiple versions of the same song in different languages, using a translated title is good enough and doesn't require the language version in the title version field.
Don'ts
- "New" - (it won't be new forever)
- "Limited edition" - nothing's limited in the digital world
- Artist name (There's already a specific place to put your artist name - it's the artist name field)
- Duplicate info (if you've already put it elsewhere - track title, artist name)
- "COVER" - The fact that it's you doing it now and you weren't the original artist
- "Original" or "original mix"
- "re-recorded" (e.g. Journey, Def Leppard)
- Soundtrack info - should be in the track title, it's not a version. See the screenshot up-top or click here for soundtrack formatting
- A translation of the title
- Clean/explicit (already indicated elsewhere)
Required when:
- Live - if your song is recorded in front of an audience
- Remastered
- If it's your version of your OWN song
- radio edit (but NOT clean or explicit)
All these other things (title, artist, explicitness, cover song) - anything that's indicated in an existing field should NOT be used in title version
Language of lyrics & genre - These are exceptions where there are fields that are intended to specify these attributes, but can also be used as a "Title Version"
We hope that helps with better understanding title version and when to use it!