While universal metadata principles ensure a clean and neutral foundation, each DSP enforces its own editorial and technical requirements. These rules influence how titles, contributors, artwork, and versions are interpreted and displayed. Failing to meet these requirements can lead to delivery rejections, suppressed metadata, silent corrections performed by the DSP, or unexpected display variations across platforms.

The sections below summarize the key metadata expectations for the major DSPs. These rules do not replace the official style guides but provide a consolidated reference to help ensure smoother ingestion across delivery modes.

Apple Music and iTunes

Apple maintains the strictest and most detailed metadata requirements in the industry. The iTunes Style Guide serves as a reference for many distributors and DSPs.

Apple requires titles to follow the correct casing rules of the corresponding language. Promotional text, decorative characters, and stylized casing are not accepted. Version information must appear only after the main title and must be formatted as Title (Version), with the version descriptor always in parentheses.

Artist metadata must be explicit and structured. Featuring roles must not appear in titles and must be stored as dedicated contributor roles. Apple automatically exposes featured artists on product pages.

Apple rejects metadata containing URLs, social handles, pricing, formats such as "HD" or "HQ", store names, or promotional phrases such as "Official", "Exclusive", or "New Single".

Artwork must comply with strict content restrictions prohibiting trademarks, nudity, violent imagery, or text-heavy promotional graphics. Metadata inconsistencies, incorrect casing, or misplaced version descriptors are among the most common causes of Apple rejections.

Spotify

Spotify accepts a broader range of metadata formats but still enforces language-specific casing rules and prohibits promotional or decorative text in titles and artist names.

Version descriptors should appear in parentheses as Title (Version), but Spotify may simplify or restyle certain descriptors internally. Featuring artists are extracted from contributor metadata and displayed automatically; they must not be hardcoded in the title.

Spotify discourages the use of unnecessary punctuation, repeated symbols, stylized characters, or excessive spacing. Covers, remixes, and live recordings must be clearly indicated through standardized contributor roles and subtitle formatting.

Spotify applies automated systems to detect fraudulent audio, unauthorized samples, AI-generated content, or metadata inconsistencies that suggest copyright or editorial risk.

YouTube Music

YouTube Music relies on standardized metadata while supporting multilingual content and variations in regional display.

Titles must follow the linguistic rules of their language and must not include promotional messaging, decorative characters, or store-oriented references. Version descriptors appear in parentheses. YouTube automatically extracts featured artists from metadata but may reorder the display based on its indexing logic.

Artwork restrictions are strict: no trademarks, offensive imagery, or visually misleading elements. YouTube performs extensive fingerprinting and may reject content containing unauthorized samples or audio detected as duplicates of copyrighted works..

Amazon Music

Amazon follows rules similar to Apple and Spotify. Titles must be clean and neutral, with language-appropriate casing. Marketing phrases, decorative symbols, emojis, or stylized punctuation are not accepted.

Version descriptors must appear in parentheses. Contributor roles must be stored correctly, as Amazon relies heavily on structured metadata rather than inferred relationships.

Amazon applies automated quality checks on artwork, audio masters, and contributor metadata. Improper casing, promotional text, or duplicate submissions are common rejection triggers.

Deezer

Deezer enforces clear and neutral metadata formatting. Titles must follow the linguistic rules of their language and must not include promotional or decorative text. Version descriptors must appear in parentheses, and Deezer may enforce standard forms for descriptors such as "Live", "Acoustic", or "Remix".

Featuring artists must be entered as dedicated contributors. Deezer does not support featuring text in the title field.

Artwork must be clean and respect content restrictions. Deezer also performs automated checks for audio duplication, suspicious audio patterns, and unclear rights attribution.

Meta Platforms (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp)

Meta operates two systems simultaneously: the "Audio Library" (for UGC music usage) and "Fingerprinting" (for rights protection). Metadata must remain neutral and must not contain promotional elements.

Version descriptors appear in parentheses when necessary. Featuring artists must not appear in titles. Meta may suppress certain metadata fields internally depending on the product surface.

Artwork must avoid sensitive, political, violent, or trademark-heavy imagery. Because Meta distributes audio primarily in UGC contexts, audio fingerprint accuracy is critical. Inconsistent metadata, misattributed rights, or reused audio masters may cause delays or removals.

TikTok

TikTok requires short, clean titles with minimal punctuation and no promotional phrases. Version descriptors must be succinct and appear in parentheses. Promotional or decorative characters are not accepted.

Artist metadata must be structured properly. Featured artists are extracted automatically and must not be embedded in titles.

TikTok performs strict fingerprinting and automated audio checks to detect duplicates, unauthorized samples, or AI-generated content where restricted. Artwork must respect content and cultural standards.

Anghami, JOOX, Boomplay and Regional DSPs

Regional DSPs impose specific restrictions based on local cultural norms.

Titles must follow language-appropriate casing. Arabic, Chinese, Korean, and other non-Latin scripts must appear exactly as written without added stylization. Artwork must not include imagery that is culturally sensitive, political, religious, or explicit.

Version descriptors may be simplified by the DSP. Contributor metadata must be complete, as many regional DSPs do not infer relationships automatically.

Boomplay and JOOX enforce metadata cleanliness and may reject titles containing excessive symbols or Western-style decorative elements. Anghami applies strict content moderation aligned with regional standards.

Pandora

Pandora's metadata ingestion is highly automated. Titles must follow language-specific rules and must not include promotional or decorative elements.

Contributor metadata is essential for accurate attribution in Pandora's radio-first environment. Remixers, conductors, soloists, orchestras, and band members should be entered in their correct roles.

Pandora scans audio for duplicates, unauthorized samples, copyright conflicts, and mastering anomalies.

How to Use These Requirements

The DSP rules outlined above do not replace the official style guides. They consolidate the recurring metadata expectations that influence everyday ingestion, formatting, and display logic.

Reprtoir does not enforce DSP-specific rules at the field-level, but prepares your metadata in structured, compliant formats. You remain responsible for ensuring that submissions respect the editorial and cultural guidelines of each DSP, particularly when delivering through Direct-to-DSP or Direct-to-Distributor channels.