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Contributor Metadata: Roles, Instruments, and Technical Mappings

  • Updated

This article explains how to credit individuals who have contributed to a recording or to a release. Providing accurate contributor information ensures that all participants receive proper recognition and that royalties are correctly distributed when tracks are consumed through streaming, purchase, or other usage types. Users will learn how to navigate the system to add contributors at both the track and album levels, and how these roles map to delivery standards.

Contributor information serves as a vital component of track and album metadata. In addition to ensuring transparency and correct royalty allocation, Digital Service Providers (DSPs) use this data to enhance music discovery. For instance, recommendation algorithms and voice-activated assistants use contributor and instrument metadata to fulfill specific user searches, such as identifying recordings featuring a particular performer or a specific instrument.

Where Contributors Can Be Set

Contributors and instruments can be credited at two levels in the FUGA Interface:

  • Track Level (Asset-Level Contributors): Use this level for any role tied to a specific recording. This includes performers or composers when individual tracks on a release have completely distinct contributors.
  • Album Level (Product-Level Contributors): Use this level for roles that apply across the entire release. Examples include an executive producer credited on the whole project, a single composer covering an entire album, or conductors and orchestras shared across all tracks in a classical release.

The same comprehensive role and instrument lists are available at both levels. Select the level that accurately matches whom the credit applies to.

How Track-Level and Album-Level Contributors Interact

The album-level Contributors panel acts as an all-or-nothing override on how track-level credits are automatically displayed at the album level on DSPs:

  • Leave the album-level panel empty: The platform's system will automatically roll up qualifying track-level credits to the album surface upon delivery, following each DSP's unique display rules.

  • Set any contributor in the album-level panel: This automatic roll-up is disabled for that entire product. Only the contributors you manually list at the album level will be sent to DSPs for the album-level display. Track-level credits will continue to display on individual tracks independently.

Note: The override applies to the entire product, not individual roles. Setting a single album-level Composer turns off the automatic roll-up for all roles on that product. Therefore, when using album-level credits, ensure you input the complete list of contributors you want displayed at the album level.

For example, a classical release with 12 tracks, each crediting a distinct Composer, would normally trigger an automated "Various Composers" listing at the album surface on certain platforms like Apple Music. To credit the Composers individually at the album surface instead, you can manually set each of them on the album-level Contributors panel. This communicates the exact list directly, bypassing the automated placeholder.

Visibility and presentation of contributor information vary across streaming platforms and are subject to each service's unique display logic.

Note for Classical products: Roles such as Composer and Choir are automatically mapped to the primary artist level. Ensure these roles are only used when explicitly intended for this purpose.

Adding Contributors and Instruments to a Track

The Contributors section is located within the track-level metadata, situated between the Artists and Publishers sections. Follow these steps to add credits:

  1. Navigate to the Catalog and select the desired product.
  2. Select the specific track to open its metadata settings.
  3. Scroll down to the Contributors section.
  4. Click Add contributor.
  5. Select the appropriate role from the dropdown menu and enter the contributor's name.
  6. If the role allows for instrument specification (such as Performer or Studio Musician), select the instrument from the provided list.
  7. Click Save.

Adding Contributors to an Album

The album-level Contributors panel is located on the product detail page, below the Artists section.

  1. Navigate to the Catalog and select the desired product.
  2. On the product detail page, scroll to the Contributors panel below the Artists section.
  3. Click Add contributor.
  4. Select the appropriate role from the dropdown menu and enter the contributor's name.
  5. If the role allows for instrument specification, select the instrument from the provided list.
  6. Click Save.

Once any contributor is set at the album level, the platform stops rolling track-level credits up to the album surface for that product. Always ensure you set the complete album-level credit list you want communicated.

All available roles

The FUGA Interface supports the following 391 Contributor Roles, which can be downloaded in .xlsx via this link. Please view the first 10 roles in below image:

first 10 roles.png

All available instruments

When specifying a contributor's instrument, select from the standardized list provided within the Add Contributor form. Instrument tags help clarify the nature of a performer's input, particularly when multiple contributors share the same role.

Common instruments include:

  • Guitar
  • Piano
  • Drums
  • Violin
  • Synthesizer

Instrument metadata is optional but recommended when relevant to the contributor's role.

The FUGA Interface supports the following 638 Instruments, which can be downloaded in .xlsx via this link. Please view the first 10 instruments in below image:

first 10 instruments.png

If you require assistance with a contributor role or instrument not listed above or encounter delivery issues related to metadata mapping, contact your FUGA representative or reach out via our support channel.

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