Metadata and Credits

Metadata is the identity of a recording; credits and disclosure must be specific.

The problem

AI files become orphans easily, named output_final.wav, with no tool version, no author and no licence note. Three months later, licensing, payment or a provenance question arrives and nothing can be found. Metadata is not only for distributors; it is the identity of the recording.

Fields and layers

Write at least four layers. Work, meaning title, composer, catalogue number and movement. Recording, meaning performer, producer, date and ISRC. File, meaning sample rate, bit depth, duration and version. Rights, meaning copyright line, licence, sample sources, tool and version. An ISRC is twelve characters, two for country, three for registrant, two for year, five for designation. It identifies a recording, not a composition, so a new mix or edit needs a new code. Never invent codes; get them through a distributor or registrar.

Credits and disclosure

Credit the people fully, concept, arrangement, editing, mix and master, each by name. Credit the tools too, with name, version and role, for example vocals generated with a named tool, arrangement and mix by a named person. Disclosure should be short and specific. Assisted by AI says nothing; state which part was generated and which was human. Do not claim one hundred percent human, and do not hide it either; platform and client policies differ, so check before delivery. A traditional tune has no composer, so leave the field empty rather than writing Traditional as the author. Send the metadata with the files, not only in the body of an email.

What to listen for

In Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, the title, key and composer are present but the catalogue number is missing, which lets versions of the same work merge. In the reel, the tune has no author, so the field should stay blank. In Shostakovich's Op. 87 No. 23, an opus plus number locates the movement precisely. In Chopin's Op. 37 No. 2, the same fields applied to a Romantic work.

Listen in the library

Toccata and Fugue in D MinorC19:28巴赫 d 小调托卡塔与赋格，曲名与作者齐全但缺编号（C1）DetailsReel Des CigarettesC10:31传统里尔舞曲，没有作曲家，字段该留空（C1）DetailsPreludes and Fugues for Piano, Op.87: No.23 in F majorC15:36肖斯塔科维奇 Op.87 第 23 首，作品号加序号定位明确（C1）DetailsNocturne No. 12 in G major, Op. 37 No. 2C15:35肖邦 Op.37 No.2，浪漫派作品的字段写法样本（C1）Details

All tracks from midicn-lib — inline badge is the license tier (C1 commercial / C2 non-commercial / C3 study only).

Sources

ISRC 的十二位结构与登记方式，依 ISO 3901 与发行实务核对
录音署名与披露的写法，依公开发行规范与平台条款归纳，未抄原文

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.

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