We can embed the following subcode and metadata information into your masters if you provide this to us and wish us to include it: ISRC: The “International Standard Recording Code” - a unique identification code for each track of your album. Currently online music retailers and streaming services require these in order to digitally distribute your music, and Soundscan and Sound Exchange uses these also to track sales and plays of individual selections. If you provide us your ISRC we can embed these into your CD-R master (DDP files or CD-R master disc) for you. We can also embed ISRC's directly into bwf wav files, and into id3v2 tags for wav, mp3, FLAC, aac and ogg files. Until recently the RIAA was offering labels and artists their own ISR Codes for free - but as of March 1, 2009 they are now charging a one time fee for this service. USA based labels and artists can apply online for your own code at usisrc.org Many digital distributors such as CD Baby, Distrokid and Tunecore can provide you with their own ISRC for your release at no extra cost as part of the costs for distributing your release. If you are doing just one release a year then this might be the best way to go - but if you are doing a number of releases each year you might find it beneficial to have your own ISR code. For more info go to IFPI's ISRC page.

FOR DIGITAL FILES:

Please note:

In general, digital music aggregators such as CD Baby, Tunecore or Distrokid will NOT use the metadata embedded in provided digital files for use in encoding the files they send to music streaming services and digital download retailers. Instead they have you enter this information on their online forms, and then they will embed this information into the various download or streaming formats for you. Total Sonic Media can provide you tagged files for your archives, direct download sales, streaming from your own websites, or for sending directly to promoters, venues, reviewers, labels and radio stations.

id3v2 tags

We can embed the following information into wav, mp3, aac, ogg and flac files, using the industry standard id3v2 tag format, that will display these fields in most software audio players: Track Title, Album Title, Artist Name, Genre, Track #, Release Year, Album Cover Art (jpg or png) We can also embed the following information, that usually will only be displayed by specialized software: ISRC, UPC (Barcode #) / MCN, Catalog #, Comment / Message, Website(s), Label, Composer, Lyrics, Lyricist, Arranger, Mood, Original Album Title, Original Release Year, Engineer, Mixer, Remixer, DJ Mixer, Conductor Please send album covers as RBG jpeg or png files saved at 1000x1000 pixel size if you wish us to embed them into your files. bwf wav metadata We can embed Album Title, Artist Name, Track Titles, Comments, SMPTE time stamp, ISRC and other fields into bwf wav files on request. Please note the information embedded in this format is generally not visible in consumer’s audio player software or hardware, rather the bwf format is aimed at professional archival use. More information on bwf wav metadata can be read at https://wavmetadata.blogspot.com/ and https://tech.ebu.ch/docs/tech/tech3285.pdf

FOR COMPACT DISCS:

CD Text: entries for Album Artist, Album Title, Track Titles, Track Artist, that will display when the CD is played in CD Text compatible players. We can also enter fields for Album Songwriter, Track Songwriter, Track Composer, Track Arranger, and Message - although these fields are usually not displayed by most players. While we can enter up to 80 characters for each of these fields we strongly recommend that any entry be kept to 31 characters (including spaces) at maximum as many CD Text compatible players do not display beyond 31 characters (and some, such as Tascam players, do not display beyond 24 characters). Please note that CD Text will not display on your computer's media player! In order to display the text information in your device’s software media player in general if you are using a digital distributor such as CD Baby, Tunecore or Distrokid, you will enter this info on an online form when you upload your master files to and then they will embed this information into the various download or streaming formats for you. ISRC: see explanation for these at top of page. The only compelling reasons to embed ISRC into CD masters is if you are going to send CD’s to radio stations, some of which might still use software that reads the ISRC off of the disc in order to create reports for plays, which can possibly generate some royalties. Otherwise, aside from possible use in archival lookups, there is no reason to delay your CD release in order to wait for ISRC’s. UPC/MCN: the barcode number (11 digit code + 1 digit check sum = 12 digits total) or Media Catalog Number / EAN (13 digit code) - check out the GS1 web site for more information on these. Many CD manufacturers or online distributors such as CD Baby can also provide you with a UPC number for either free or a minimal fee. While in previous years UPC codes embedded sometimes helped identifying the disc in radio station libraries or other archives, at this point in time this feature is very rarely used, so in general there is no need to delay your release simply to get this. Pause ID's: This is an index point we can put after any of the Track ID's in your CD's program that tells the CD player, when displaying program time, to show a backwards countdown to the next Track Id - and is commonly used to mark areas of longer silence between tracks, areas of applause on live albums, or areas where a cross fade is being made between two tracks. Note that areas marked with a pause id are generally ignored by CD players when put in shuffle mode.