Introduction
This article explains how to prepare and format your catalog metadata for ingestion into the FUGA platform using our standard CSV template. You’ll learn how to download the template, configure your spreadsheet settings, and populate each required field—both at the product and track level—according to FUGA’s formatting requirements. By following these steps, you’ll ensure a smooth metadata upload and avoid common ingestion errors.
Step By Step Instructions
Go to the Metadata Ingestion page and download the FUGA CSV template.
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Open the downloaded CSV file in a spreadsheet program such as Google Sheets, LibreOffice, or Microsoft Excel. In Google Sheets, set the entire sheet to “Plain Text” before entering any data.
If prompted during import (e.g., in LibreOffice or Excel), use comma or semicolon as the separator, and set the text delimiter to double quotes ("").
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Enter all catalog metadata into the template, following FUGA’s formatting requirements listed below.
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Note: Fields in bold are mandatory.
Product-level metadata: Columns B to Z
Asset-level metadata: Columns AA to BD
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- When finished, save the file as a CSV.
With your metadata file ready, you can move on to the next step: uploading your assets via FTP (see instructions [here]).
FUGA CSV Template Columns
| FIELD NAME | COMMENTS |
| Album Level Metadata | |
| Album title | Name of the release: * Do not include the release version here! |
| Album version | Put release version here (e.g.: Live, Remixed, Expanded) |
| UPC | FUGA's system supports both 13 & 12 digit UPCs. Where your UPC has a leading 0, please ensure that this is consistent across all references to the product. |
| Catalog number | The unique identifier for the release, as assigned by the label (if you do not have a catalog number, you can use the UPC as catalog number) |
| Primary artists | Only fill the Primary Artists’ names here, do not include any Featuring Artists. * Always separate multiple artist names by a “ | ” (e.g.: Shakira | Beyonce) |
| Featuring Artists | Fill the Featuring Artists’ names here. * Always separate multiple artist names by a “ | ” (e.g.: Snoop Dog | Dr Dre) |
| (Consumer) Release date | This is to communicate the street date of this release. Very important to check that you format this column as a date, not as a number or text (YYYY-MM-DD) |
| Main genre | Must be one of the following genres: Alternative, Audiobooks, Blues, Children's Music, Classical, Comedy, Country, Dance, Electronic, Folk, Hip Hop/Rap, Holiday, Inspirational, Jazz, Latin, New Age, Opera, Pop, R&B/Soul, Reggae, Rock, Spoken Word, Soundtrack, Vocal, World |
| Main subgenre | You may use any sub-genre that you wish. If that sub-genre matches at a DSP then it will override the Main Genre |
| Label | Name of the label that released the Product (ex: “XYZ Records, Inc”) |
| CLine (Copyright) year | Please use 4 digit years (e.g.: 2020) |
| CLine (Copyright) name | © line: the name of the rights owner, i.e. the current owner of the copyright in the relevant work (e.g.: cover artwork, inlay cards etc). |
| PLine (Copyright) year | Please use 4 digit years |
| Pline (Copyright) name | ℗ line: the name of the rights owner, i.e. the current owner of the rights in the original sound recording/masters. |
| Parental advisory | Accepted values are “Yes”, “No”, and “Clean” |
| Recording Year | Example: “2024” |
| Recording Location | “London”, “Amsterdam”, “Salt Lake City” |
| Album format | Album format must be one of the following values: Single, EP, Album, Box-set |
| Number of volumes | The number of volumes this release has (e.g.: 1, 2, …) This will allow for separation between volumes for DSP display (in the same manner as CD disc numbers). Please note that multiple volumes must be under the same UPC. |
| Territories | Territories can contain "World" or territory codes separated by "|" (e.g.: IT|FR|US). Please ask your rep for a full list of accepted territory codes. If you leave this field empty it will default to "World" |
| Excluded territories | Excluded territories contain codes of countries you don't allow the album to be distributed in. Use “|” as the separator (e.g.: GB|AU|JP) If you specify something in this field, it will store as "World" minus those excluded territories |
| Language(Metadata) | The Language of the Metadata. Please fill in the language using 2-letter codes (e.g.: English=EN, Italian = IT) |
| Catalog Tier | Product Catalog Tier should be one of the following: Budget, Back, Mid, Front, Premium |
| Track Level Metadata | |
| Track title | Track name * No track versions or artist names, please! |
| Track version | Enter your track version here (e.g.: “Tupac Remix”) |
| ISRC | You should enter ISRCs without the separating dashes, otherwise invalid codes will cause ingestion errors (e.g.: ITONB2000013) |
| Track Primary artists | Only fill the Primary Artist names here and No featuring artists * Always separate multiple primary artists with a “ |” (e.g.: Shakira | Beyonce) |
| Track Featuring Artists | Multiple featuring artists should be separated with a “ | “ (e.g.: Snoop Dogg | Dr Dre) |
| Volume number | If there is more than one volume, which volume is this track on? |
| Track Main genre | Must be one of the following genres: Alternative, Audiobooks, Blues, Children's Music, Classical, Comedy, Country, Dance, Electronic, Folk, Hip Hop/Rap, Holiday, Inspirational, Jazz, Latin, New Age, Opera, Pop, R&B/Soul, Reggae, Rock, Spoken Word, Soundtrack, Vocal, World |
| Track Main subgenre | You can add your own sub-genres here |
| Track Language (Metadata) | The Language of the Metadata of the track (e.g.: EN, IT, FR, …) |
| Audio Language | The Language of the Audio Recording, or Language of performance (e.g.: EN, IT, FR,… for Instrumental please use ZXX) |
| Lyrics | Please add lyrics, keeping the line separations, within the formula bar |
| Available separately | Use a “Y” to indicate yes and a “N” to indicate no. This will defaul to “Y” if left blank |
| Track Parental advisory | Use a “Y” to indicate yes and a “N” to indicate no |
| Preview Start Time | This specifies the start time for the audio on UGC platforms such as TikTok |
| Preview Length | This specifies the length of the clip |
| Track recording year | Example: “2024” |
| Track recording Location | Example: “London”, “Los Angeles”, etc |
| Composer | IMPORTANT: Separate multiple composers with a pipe ” | “. Note: this must be full first and last names! No band names or artist aliases |
| Lyricist | IMPORTANT: Separate multiple composers with a pipe ” | “. Note: this must be full first and last names! No band names or artist aliases |
| Mastering Engineer | IMPORTANT: Separate multiple remixers with a pipe ” | “ |
| Producer | IMPORTANT: Separate multiple remixers with a pipe ” | “ |
| Programmer | IMPORTANT: Separate multiple performers with a pipe ” | “ |
| Remixer | IMPORTANT: Separate multiple producers with a pipe ” | “ |
| Writer | "Writers'' & "Publishers" (columns AZ & BA) are complementary columns. There must be an equal number of entries in both columns (e.g.: "Writer A|Writer B| Writer C" & "Publisher X|Publisher Y| Publisher Y"). As per this example there does not need to be an equal number of writers and publishers, but there must be an equal number of entries in both columns. |
| Publisher | "Writers" & "Publishers" (columns AZ & BA) are complementary columns. There must be an equal number of entries in both columns (e.g.: "Writer A|Writer B| Writer C" & "Publisher X|Publisher Y| Publisher Y"). As per this example there does not need to be an equal number of writers and publishers, but there must be an equal number of entries in both columns. |
| Track Sequence | Dictates the order of the tracks on the release for display on DSPs |
| Track Catalog Tier | Track Catalog Tier should be one of the following: Back, Mid, Front, Premium |
| Original file name | The name of the audio file (e.g.: Besttrack0035.wav). The track names should be exactly the same as they are on the FTP. Recommended Format: UPC_volumenumber_tracknumber.fileextension Example: 472947291729_01_09.wav Note: no accent marks or special symbols are allowed |
| Roles or Instruments | Refer here to check which roles can be used as headers |
| Original release date | Very important to check that you format this column as a date, not as a number or text (YYYY-MM-DD). This dictates the order in which a release appears within an artist’s discography. |