Universal metadata principles ensure that Albums, Tracks, and Releases are prepared in a way that aligns with the editorial expectations of DSPs and distributors. These rules apply to all content regardless of language, genre, or delivery mode, and they ensure that the data stored in Reprtoir is interpreted correctly when exported to DSPs and distributor systems.

Metadata must always remain neutral, descriptive, and free of elements that could be interpreted as promotional, misleading, or stylistically excessive. DSPs expect titles, credits, and version information to follow consistent editorial conventions that support searchability, indexing accuracy, and proper identification. Reprtoir separates metadata into explicit fields so that every component is clearly structured and exported in a standardized format across all DSPs.

Casing, punctuation, contributor roles, and version descriptors must follow established editorial norms. Public-facing metadata fields such as Titles, Subtitles, Artist Names, and version descriptors must remain clean, consistent, and free of unnecessary variation. DSPs routinely reject metadata that relies on decorative typography, branding-driven stylization, or arbitrary formatting choices.

These universal rules serve as the foundation for all metadata stored in Reprtoir. They must be applied before using the language-specific casing guidelines, DSP-specific formatting requirements, or specialized rules for classical repertoire, remixes, covers, or re-recordings.

Nonstandard Capitalization

Metadata must never appear in full uppercase, full lowercase, or with random capitalization. Titles, Subtitles, Artist Names, and version descriptors must follow the editorial casing rules used in their respective languages. Incorrect casing is one of the most common issues flagged by automated validation systems across DSPs, distributors, and during Reprtoir Distribution review.

Exceptions apply only when the uppercase form is an inherent and officially recognized part of the artistic identity or product naming. Valid uppercase elements include acronyms such as EP, DJ, or USA, well-established initialisms like R&B or EDM, and artist names that are verifiably stylized in uppercase across all platforms, such as LCD Soundsystem or CHVRCHES. These exceptions must remain strictly tied to official usage and never serve a promotional purpose.

Correct casing ensures consistent search results, proper ingestion, and avoids forced editorial corrections imposed by DSPs.

Punctuation and Special Characters

Punctuation must follow standard linguistic rules. Metadata must not include decorative symbols, emojis, ASCII art, repeated punctuation, or non-semantic Unicode characters. DSPs reject titles containing unnecessary symbols, excessive spacing, or visual elements intended to draw attention rather than convey meaning.

Standard punctuation marks such as apostrophes, parentheses, question marks, brackets, and exclamation points are acceptable when they serve a clear linguistic or structural function. Parentheses should be used strictly for Subtitles or legitimate artistic titles. Brackets should appear only when they are part of an official naming convention. Emojis and decorative characters must never appear in Titles, Subtitles, or Artist Names unless they are part of an officially recognized artist identity.

Version Descriptors

Version descriptors must be stored in the Subtitle field in Reprtoir. DSPs display them following the standardized structure “Title (Subtitle)”. This ensures consistent rendering across platforms and prevents formatting conflicts.

Typical descriptors include Live, Acoustic, Instrumental, Radio Edit, Extended Mix, Remastered, Re-Recorded, Edit, or Demo. They must remain neutral, factual, and free from marketing language. Version descriptors are never decorative and must not include stylized typography, emojis, or exaggerated capitalization.

For languages that follow sentence case (such as French, Italian, or Swedish), version descriptors appear in lowercase unless they contain proper nouns. For languages that follow title case (such as English, Spanish, or Portuguese), they follow the corresponding capitalization rules.

Abbreviation of Part and Volume

When naming multi-part or multi-volume works, DSPs require standardized abbreviations. “Volume” must appear as “Vol.” and “Part” as “Pt.”. The expected structure is “Title, Vol. 1” or “Title, Pt. 1”.

Correct examples include Rare Jazz Pieces, Vol. 1 and In the Still of the Night, Pt. 1. This ensures consistent identification across DSPs and prevents metadata normalization during ingestion.

Featuring and Contributor Credits

Featuring credits must never be embedded in Titles. DSPs extract featuring information exclusively from contributor metadata. Reprtoir provides a dedicated “Featured Artists” field for this purpose. This ensures that featurings are displayed correctly regardless of DSP and avoids duplicate or conflicting information.

Remixers, producers, lyricists, composers, orchestrators, conductors, and all other contributors must also be stored in their dedicated fields. Proper contributor mapping ensures that DSPs can interpret, combine, or prioritize credits according to their editorial logic.

Covers, Remixes, and Re-Recordings

A cover track must not include the word “cover” in its Title or Subtitle. DSPs identify covers based on the underlying composer and lyricist credits, not on explicit mentions in public-facing metadata. A cover must also never reference the original performing artist. Naming the original performer in the Title, Subtitle, or Artist fields is prohibited and leads to immediate rejection by most DSPs, as it wrongly suggests an association with the original master recording.

A re-recording must be indicated in a neutral Subtitle such as “Re-Recorded Version”, without implying endorsement or connection to the original master. Remix metadata follows a similar structure: the remixer must appear in the dedicated contributor field and in the Subtitle using the standard format “Remixer Name Remix”. These rules ensure that derivative versions are represented accurately, neutrally, and in a way that aligns with DSP editorial policies.

Explicit Content Flags

Explicit content indicators must never appear directly in Titles or Subtitles. Reprtoir provides explicit, clean, and edited content flags that DSPs use to classify releases. Including these indicators directly in public metadata fields leads to mandatory corrections or ingestion errors.

These universal metadata principles create a baseline for clean, compliant, and structurally sound metadata across all delivery modes and all DSPs. The next pages build on these principles with language-specific casing rules, DSP-specific formatting requirements, and specialized guidance for classical music, titles, contributors, and version structures.