Imagine a music supervisor looking for the perfect “soulful, uplifting female vocal” track for a new Netflix show. If your song fits that description but your metadata is blank or sloppy, your track won’t even come up in the search.
It’s like your jar of peanut butter sitting on the shelf with no label. Nobody knows what it is, so nobody picks it.
This isn’t just about TV placements either. Metadata matters any time someone is looking for music.
If you upload a track to a licensing library, a playlist pitching service, or even just send files to a venue or collaborator, missing or incorrect metadata makes you look unprofessional and it makes your music practically invisible.
And invisibility in this industry is costly. It can literally mean the difference between getting a placement check or getting passed over.
Here’s the part I want you to really get: metadata is not hard. You just need to take the time to properly tag your songs with your name, song title, contact info, writer splits, genre, mood, and any other key identifiers.
It’s housekeeping. It’s labeling your work so it doesn’t get lost in the sea of anonymous files floating around the internet.
I’ve heard countless stories of musicians losing out on opportunities because someone loved their track but couldn’t figure out who to contact.
Don’t let that be you. Every piece of music you create is an asset. Metadata is what makes sure your assets are discoverable, usable, and payable.
So the next time you finish a song, don’t think of metadata as an annoying extra chore. Think of it as putting your name on your masterpiece so the world knows it belongs to you and knows how to reach you when they want it.
And if you need help figuring out how to input your metadata and what exactly needs to be included, join us for the workshop tomorrow.
Always in your corner,
<3 Bree
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