Metadata is the backbone of the music and royalty business. Hence the Documentation Team plays a very crucial role in a Copyright Society like IPRS. It registers the member’s work, cleans, and matches the data, to ensure the right pay-outs to the members of the Society.
Metadata problems have plagued the music business for years now. And the problem is much bigger than a name misspelled, or missing or inconsistent song details. Wrong metadata results in considerable revenue loss to the creators and publishers of music.
Thus, the Documentation Team of IPRS ensures that all data ingested in our system is devoid of errors. The team also educates and guides the members to submit clean metadata in the desired work registration format set by IPRS.
Coping with unexpected hurdles
The sudden change witnessed over the past year has been difficult. The team did not have any prior experience of working from home and many of our members were not accustomed to the digital submission of their works. It was a new challenge and the Documentation department had to ensure that data matching of DSPs along with the registration of works are completed on time. Fortunately, the team and our members both adapted quickly to the new normal and have been helping each other in sailing through these unforeseen times. Thanks to technology and the multiple digital platforms that brought the world together. The team dedicatedly helped our members making sure that they are comfortable with the new work registration process.
Training our members
The Documentation Team now regularly conducts online training sessions with the members to help in the smooth transition from offline to online. We are steadily moving away from sharing hard copies, to uploading work in soft copy format. During the past year, many members have started emailing their works in the work upload format. Once the team receives the work, it is reviewed for any missing metadata. In case of any anomaly, we reach out to the member for necessary corrections. Our members and the IPRS Documentation team, are working as a unit to improve the metadata which will benefit all.
The idea of filling an iPod up with our personally curated digital files almost seems like a distant memory now. Who knew the digital library of songs which we built embodied the future of music! These days streaming apps provide limitless and instant access to music in all languages. The Documentation Team at IPRS also plays an important role in matching the song metadata received from various streaming platforms like Spotify, Amazon, Apple to name a few. The matching of metadata happens through various automated processes. The matched metadata is then manually reviewed by the Documentation Team. Once that’s done we also seek help from our publisher members for the unmatched songs. If any version of the track is already registered with IPRS we reach out to our Publisher members to identify the Original Track basis the Internal numbers, which are available in the work reports shared. This proves to be very helpful when the team cannot identify a song by one-to-one match because of ambiguity in spelling, the difference in version and/or title.
As a member, your support also matters to help us assist you better in reaping the benefits of your creative acumen. What do you need to follow?
- – Submit complete and error-free metadata
- – Submit all works in the desired work upload format
- – Ensure all your works are updated regularly in our database
- – Reach out to us in case of any anomaly in your data
- – Check all correspondences being sent to you
- – Adhere to the systems and process being introduced from time to time
Our members are at the core of our activities and we are happy to help and support them. From assisting the members, implementing their feedback, to resolving various concerns, the Documentation Team has been working with a 360-degree approach.
