Metadata is "data about data". In the case of music tracks, it is the information embedded in your music track's file (MP3, AIF, etc.) that describes the contents of the track with data such as Song Title, Song Artist, and Genre.
I have been creating the following file types for each of my song and song alternatives:
MP3
AIF
WAV
If you haven't created all of these file types and already received the masters, don't worry. You can easily convert the files to other file types using your DAW. I use Logic Pro. You can follow the steps here to batch export to AIFF.
Once that's done, you are ready to add your metadata!
Adding metadata
I have found Metadatics to be the best tool for batch editing your metadata. With this tool you can drag everything from your file explorer into the Metadatics window to automatically import them. BONUS: You can drag the folder and it will import all of the tracks in that folder.
Once imported it should look like this:
Now, highlight all of your tracks that have shared attributes (e.g. same Track Artist) and enter in the relevant information. When I am batch editing MP3s and AIFs for multiple versions of the same song I enter:
Track Title
Track Artist
Year (of release)
BPM
Genre
Grouping (AKA publisher) - this is probably you unless you know otherwise
Comments
Album Art
Lyrics
Additionally I add an additional Tag called GRP1 because that's what Apple Music calls the "Grouping" tag within their software for whatever reason. To add a custom tag. open the right sidebar, right click and select "Add Tag"
Create the GRP1 tag using your publisher (usually you) for the value.
Once done, It will probably look something like this. You will see red dots next to each track if you have edited the file since importing it.
If you need to name your song alternatives differently (e.g. renaming Across the Deep to Across the Deep = Instrumental), you will need to go through each track one by one and add the additional tag on there. Any information that is unique to a specific track will also need to be edited in this way.
Once this is done, you are ready to save your work! When you save your files from here, it will update the files in the location you imported from. No need to copy anything from Metadatics to your file explorer! To save, click the floppy disk icon in the toolbar:
This will save all the files you have loaded into your Metadatics session.
Check your work
You can double-check that everything worked correctly, by opening the file in Apple Music or another
software. In Apple Music, you can double click the track to open it. In the middle of the app header, click the ellipsis (3 dots) and select Get Info. This is what you should see:
That's it!
I hope this was helpful. If you have any questions or appreciate the information, please drop a comment and/or a like!
Thanks for reading!
Ethan