Digital Music Distribution & Soundrop Terminology

Do you know what metadata means? Are you confused by what distribution or licensing refers to?

General music industry terms include:

• Music Distribution
  • The process, after your music is completed, to create a release with a distributor (in this case, Soundrop), and having them deliver that music to digital stores like Spotify, Apple Music, or Amazon, as well as social media platforms like Instagram.
• Aggregators / Distributors
  • In order to distribute music to the digital stores, platforms coordinate with aggregators (or distributors) like Soundrop who host, verify, and process the musical content in the same way that a restaurant partners with farms that supply and deliver quality food.
• UPC (EAN) / ISRC
  • To keep a record of digitally distributed releases and their sound recording(s), a unique code called a UPC (or EAN) and ISRC(s) are assigned to releases and their track(s) respectively.
    • UPCs are digital bar codes for your releases
    • ISRCs act as the individual identifiers for a track's sound recording. These codes ensure the integrity of your music at the stores and accountability for royalty payout to artists.
• Licensing
  • Licensing means obtaining permission to use someone else’s copyrighted musical work (a song's underlying composition, a sample, a mix, an audio recording, etc.) in your own creation.
• Metadata
  • Metadata refers to all the information about a release that makes it unique. Just like you have a name, eye color, height, and weight, your music has that personal info too: the track name, artist name, genre, etc.
  • Metadata is NOT digital music or cover artwork files.
  • Metadata exists for your music on two levels: the release (such as a release date) and the track (songwriter credits) and/or both (label name.)
• Cancellation
  • When released music needs to be removed, the distributor submits a removal request to the platform(s). This is referred to as a “cancellation”. Here's an article with more info about the cancellation process.
• Monetize / Monetization
  • Music monetization means getting paid for the use (not the sale or stream) of your music. This can include the number of views on a video that uses your music or the number of videos created using your music. 

Here is some specific Soundrop terminology:

• Cover Song Licensing
  • The type of licensing Soundrop clears for you is cover song licensing, also known as compulsory mechanical licensing. This notifies and pays out royalties to the original song's copyright holder.
  • Please review our licensing help center article for clarification about what is included in cover song licensing and what is not (like mash-ups, derivative works, sync licensing, etc.)
• My Music
  • In Soundrop, tracks and albums are uploaded to the “My Music” section of your account.
    Check out this help center article for more information about the music stores' guidelines for differentiating between singles, EPs, and albums.
• Release
  • For Soundrop to distribute your music, the track(s) must be attached to release-- even if it's just one song.
  • Create a release by first selecting 'My Music' in the left-hand menu, then click on the blue 'Actions' button (to the far right side) and choosing 'Create new release' from the drop-down menu:
    • 
• Takedown
  • Soundrop's "cancellation" (see above). You can submit a takedown for any released music from within your Soundrop account and we'll send the request to the music store(s). Here's an article that guides you through the takedown process.
• Automated Claiming
  • Social media sites like Facebook and TikTok allow you to monitor and monetize your music on the platform. Setting that up for your songs distributed through Soundrop is called automated claiming.
  • If any songs on a release are ineligible for automated claiming, that entire release cannot be delivered to automated claiming services.
• Auto Distro
  • A setting in your account that automatically distributes your existing individual releases to new music stores that we add in the future.
• Info Share
  • Info share allows your collaborators to see your name and email address when they add you to revenue splits.
  • Here's a help center article with more info.
• Transactions
  • Soundrop processes a monthly statement detailing the revenue reported for your account's releases. A payout is processed each month for all accounts that have crossed their custom payment threshold (minimum $20) of revenue generated.
• Title Version
  • The title version for an album or track specifies the unique musical qualities of that song/album. Adding a title version is not necessary for approval, but can usefully differentiate between multiple versions of the release (such as a "Deluxe" album release or an "Instrumental" track.)