This music business glossary collects the terms you will meet as soon as you release music: in distributor forms, contracts, YouTube Studio and royalty reports. Each one is explained in a line or two, in plain words. Keep it open the first time you fill in a release form or read an agreement.
Releases and distribution
- DSP. Digital service provider: any streaming service or download store, such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music or Deezer.
- Distributor. The company that delivers your music to DSPs, collects what they pay for it and passes your share on to you.
- Release. One product sent to platforms: a single, an EP or an album, with its own artwork and release date.
- Single, EP, album. Release formats by size. A single has one to a few tracks, an EP is a short collection, an album is a full-length record. Exact limits depend on the platform.
- Release date. The day the release goes live on platforms. Choose it with enough time for review and delivery.
- Takedown. Removing a release from platforms. It can be requested by the artist, or follow a rights problem.
- Catalogue. All the releases you or a label own. Older releases are often called the back catalogue.
Codes and metadata
- ISRC. A 12-character code that identifies one specific recording. Every track and every version of it gets its own.
- UPC. The barcode number that identifies a whole release. Reports and many platform tools look releases up by it.
- Metadata. All the information attached to your music: artist names, titles, versions, credits, genre, language, explicit flag.
- Primary and featured artist. The primary artist owns the release; a featured artist appears on a track as a guest.
- Credits. The people who made the track and their roles: songwriter, producer, mixing engineer and so on.
- Explicit. A flag for tracks with strong language or adult content. A clean version can be released separately.
- WAV. The uncompressed audio format distributors usually ask for. An MP3 is not a master.
- Mastering. The final sound processing step before release. Don't confuse it with master rights below.
Rights, songwriting and licences
- Master (master recording). The finished recording itself. Whoever paid for it or owns it holds the master rights.
- Publishing. The rights in the composition: melody and lyrics, separate from the recording.
- Songwriter. Anyone who wrote music or lyrics for the song. Songwriters share the publishing rights.
- Publisher. A company that manages and licenses songwriters' compositions and collects money for them.
- PRO. Performing rights organisation: a society that collects royalties when songs are played publicly, on radio, in venues or online.
- Split. How ownership or income is divided between collaborators. Write it down on a split sheet before the release.
- Sync. A licence to use music together with picture: films, series, adverts, games.
- Sample clearance. Getting permission from the owners of a recording and composition you sampled. Without it, the release is at risk.
- Cover licence. Permission to release your own recording of someone else's song. Rules differ by country and platform.
- Exclusive and non-exclusive licence. Common with beats: exclusive means only you can use it; non-exclusive means others can too.
Money and reports
- Royalties. Payments for the use of music, from streams, downloads, broadcasts and licences.
- Mechanical royalties. Royalties for reproducing a composition, including on streaming. They go to songwriters and publishers.
- Neighbouring rights. Royalties for public use of recordings, paid to performers and master owners.
- Reporting period. The period in which the listening happened, usually a month. Reports arrive later than the period itself.
- Royalty statement. The report showing streams and earnings by platform, country and track for a period.
- Advance. Money paid up front against future earnings, usually by a label or publisher.
- Recoup. Earning back an advance. Until it is recouped, your share of income goes towards repaying it.
YouTube and copyright protection
- Content ID. YouTube's system that finds uploads containing your audio and applies a policy: track, monetise or block.
- Claim. A Content ID match placed on a video. It usually redirects revenue rather than removing the video.
- Whitelist. A list of channels excluded from claims, such as your own channel and the channels you work with.
- Copyright strike. A penalty after a legal takedown request. Several active strikes can lead to a channel being removed.
- Art Track. The official audio version of your song on YouTube, generated from the distributed release.
- Topic channel. An automatic channel named after the artist with "Topic", which holds the Art Tracks.
- OAC. Official Artist Channel: your channel and Topic channel merged into one. In the CULT portal there is a request form for it, and YouTube makes the decision.
Streams and playlists
- Stream. One play that a platform counts, usually after a minimum listening time.
- Monthly listeners. Unique listeners on a platform over roughly the last month.
- Editorial playlist. A playlist curated by the platform's own team.
- Algorithmic playlist. A playlist built for each listener by the platform's recommendation system.
- Pitching. Submitting an unreleased song to a platform's editors before release.
- Artificial streams. Plays generated by bots or paid schemes. They can lead to removed streams, withheld income and takedowns.
When a new term shows up in a contract or a report and you can't find it here, ask before you sign or agree. Nobody in the industry expects you to know everything, but everyone respects an artist who asks.