User profile for user: dgbgoes
dgbgoes Author
User level: Level 1
9 points

CD metadata isn't ours

The person who mastered our new EP with 4 songs has sent us 2 sets of copies now for review and duplication. Unfortunately both of our Apple computers are recognizing the music as belonging to an EP made in 2016 by another person. Their music is extremely different from ours. The songs on the CD are our music with the other persons metadata that I can't change because it is read only!!! How are we supposed to run a music business when a computer decides what it wants to name our music?? HELP needed FAST. We have already been delayed because the mastering company had to send us new copies of what we thought was his mistake.

This happens on macOS Ventura and macOScatalina

The incorrect data show both on Music and on the inserted CD.

At first I thought our Music app was hacked but doing a little research I see that others have had trouble with the computer identifying music as something else. Then I looked up the artist and songs that come up. They are legit and are available on Apple iTunes.

This is seriously a big problem for musicians. Do I need to buy a new brand of computer??

Posted on Aug 3, 2023 11:44 AM

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User profile for user: nekomatic
nekomatic
User level: Level 1
4 points

Posted on Mar 7, 2024 2:12 AM

I realise this is an older question, but since the previous answer doesn't directly address it:


As described here, when you insert a CD, Apple Music looks up the track metadata from the Gracenote database by matching the number and length of the tracks on the CD. (For anyone who doesn't realise: this data is not stored on the CD itself. The audio CD format was defined in the late 1970s long before personal computers had CD drives and nobody had the foresight to think that one day people would use CDs in this way, I guess.) This is why you sometimes insert a CD and get a prompt to choose between more than one disc artist and title - because the database has more than one disc with the same combination of track lengths.


With the CD inserted and selected in the Apple Music app sidebar, above the CD track list you see the buttons 'CD Info', 'Import CD', a gearwheel, and an eject button. Clicking the gearwheel pops up a menu with the options Get Track Names and Submit CD Track Names…. If you edit the CD data then selecting Submit CD Track Names… will (apparently) submit the track names you have entered to Gracenote.


If you or your record label were actually responsible for releasing the CD then there is probably a better, 'official' way of submitting this data to Gracenote so it is incorporated in their database, but I don't know what it is - you could try asking on musicians' forums or communities, maybe.

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User profile for user: nekomatic
nekomatic
User level: Level 1
4 points

Mar 7, 2024 2:12 AM in response to dgbgoes

I realise this is an older question, but since the previous answer doesn't directly address it:


As described here, when you insert a CD, Apple Music looks up the track metadata from the Gracenote database by matching the number and length of the tracks on the CD. (For anyone who doesn't realise: this data is not stored on the CD itself. The audio CD format was defined in the late 1970s long before personal computers had CD drives and nobody had the foresight to think that one day people would use CDs in this way, I guess.) This is why you sometimes insert a CD and get a prompt to choose between more than one disc artist and title - because the database has more than one disc with the same combination of track lengths.


With the CD inserted and selected in the Apple Music app sidebar, above the CD track list you see the buttons 'CD Info', 'Import CD', a gearwheel, and an eject button. Clicking the gearwheel pops up a menu with the options Get Track Names and Submit CD Track Names…. If you edit the CD data then selecting Submit CD Track Names… will (apparently) submit the track names you have entered to Gracenote.


If you or your record label were actually responsible for releasing the CD then there is probably a better, 'official' way of submitting this data to Gracenote so it is incorporated in their database, but I don't know what it is - you could try asking on musicians' forums or communities, maybe.

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User profile for user: MrHoffman
MrHoffman
User level: Level 10
151,473 points

Aug 3, 2023 12:09 PM in response to dgbgoes

Metadata has been a problem for a while, and across all platforms:

https://soundcharts.com/blog/music-metadata

https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/29/18531476/music-industry-song-royalties-metadata-credit-problems


Check back (again) with whoever mastered the music.


For Apple platforms, this is what is expected:

https://itunespartner.apple.com/music/articles/apple-music-metadata-standards-3352


Related info from another streaming service:

https://artists.spotify.com/blog/metadata-what-it-is-and-why-it-matters


And for help directly from Apple, start here: https://artists.apple.com/


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User profile for user: dgbgoes
dgbgoes Author
User level: Level 1
9 points

Aug 3, 2023 12:27 PM in response to MrHoffman

This CD has just been mastered and the company that mastered it checked through all of their settings and sent us new copies. They are not connected to Apple or iTunes and would not and do not have the issue I am having. Their technical equipment is not connected to the internet.

This issue is Apple caused. Somehow, by being connected to the internet and iTunes, the Music program is deciding what is on my CD and giving it metadata that didn't exist because this is a work in progress that we would love to duplicate through a duplication company with our own metadata embedded into the songs, not someone else's. What is worse is that it is Read Only and I don't have permission to change it, even when I unlock it. The music is ours and that hasn't changed. Maybe the read only has protected that. If this has been an issue, perhaps Apple is causing the issue!!

P.S. Just checked your direct help from Apple. That was not what I thought it would be. Our music is on Apple, Spotify and everywhere else. 11 CD's and we would like for it to be 12. I need someone who can fix this.


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CD metadata isn't ours

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