Glossary.
The words that come up in a release plan, in plain English. Each one links to the guide or service where it matters.
- Art Track
- The auto-generated YouTube version of a song: the audio over its artwork, created from what your distributor delivers. It lives on your Topic channel. ISRC, Content ID and metadata
- Artist pick
- The release, playlist or event you pin to the top of your Spotify profile. It's the first thing a visitor sees, so change it with every release. A Spotify profile checklist
- Canvas
- The short looping visual that plays behind a track in the Spotify app. Added through Spotify for Artists, track by track. A Spotify profile checklist
- Catalogue
- Every song you've already released. A healthy catalogue keeps earning between releases and gives each new song a bigger audience to start from. Moving your catalogue
- Content ID
- YouTube's system that matches uploads against your song and lets you claim, track or earn from them. Set up through your distributor. ISRC, Content ID and metadata
- Countdown page
- A Spotify page for an upcoming release, with a pre-save button and a countdown. Available to eligible artists through Spotify for Artists. A Spotify profile checklist
- Creator
- Anyone who makes content to an audience: a reel-maker, a dancer, a meme page, a vlogger. In a seeding campaign, the people who use your sound first. Reels & Influencer Seeding
- Distributor
- The company that delivers your song to the stores, collects what they pay and passes it on. You keep the song; they handle delivery. Music Distribution
- DSP
- Digital service provider: a streaming or download store such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, JioSaavn, Amazon Music or Gaana. Music Distribution
- Editorial playlist
- A playlist made by a platform's own editors. You can pitch for one; nobody can buy or guarantee a place on one. How Spotify editorial pitching works
- Featured artist
- An artist credited on someone else's track, as in "ft. Sultaan". Spell it the same way on every release, or the stores may create a second profile. ISRC, Content ID and metadata
- IPRS
- The Indian Performing Right Society: the copyright society that licenses and collects royalties for lyricists, composers and music publishers in India. Credits that get you paid
- ISRC
- International Standard Recording Code: a unique 12-character code for one recording. It follows the song across every store and keeps its play count together. ISRC, Content ID and metadata
- Lyric video
- A video of the song with its lyrics on screen. A cheap way to give a song a second life on YouTube after the main video. YouTube Growth
- Master
- The final recording of a song, and the rights in it. Whoever owns the master earns from the recording being played. Credits that get you paid
- Metadata
- Everything delivered with a song besides the audio: title, artist names, credits, language, genre, ISRC, release date. Wrong metadata is the commonest release-day problem. ISRC, Content ID and metadata
- Monthly listeners
- The number of different people who played your music on Spotify in the last 28 days. It rises and falls with every release. Followers vs listeners
- Official Artist Channel
- A YouTube channel that brings your own uploads and your Topic channel together under one name, with a music note badge. Requested through your distributor. ISRC, Content ID and metadata
- Organic
- Results nobody paid for: people who found the song, used the sound or followed you on their own. The number worth building on. How to spot bought views
- Paid partnership
- Instagram's label for a post a creator was paid to make. In India, ASCI's guidelines expect paid influencer posts to be disclosed. How reels seeding actually works
- Partnership ads
- Instagram ads that run a creator's own post from their handle, with their permission. A way to put more reach behind a reel that is already working. Reels & Influencer Seeding
- Pitch
- The short note you send through Spotify for Artists about an unreleased song, for the editors. It has to go in at least seven days before release. How Spotify editorial pitching works
- Pre-save
- A link that lets a fan add an unreleased song to their library ahead of time, so it's there on release day. The six-week release plan
- Premiere
- A YouTube video scheduled to go live at a set time, with a public watch page, a countdown and a live chat beforehand. YouTube Growth
- Publishing
- The side of music rights that covers the song itself (the lyrics and composition), as opposed to the recording. Credits that get you paid
- Release Radar
- Spotify's personalised playlist of new music from artists a listener follows, plus recommendations, refreshed every Friday. Followers vs listeners
- Retention
- How much of a video people watch before leaving. YouTube shows it as a curve in YouTube Studio; a flatter curve gets suggested more. Titles, thumbnails and search
- Royalties
- The money a song earns when it's streamed, downloaded, broadcast or performed, split between the recording side and the songwriting side. Credits that get you paid
- Saves
- When a listener adds your song to their library or a playlist. A save is a stronger signal than a stream, because it's a choice to come back. Followers vs listeners
- Seeding
- Getting a song into the hands of the first people who'll use and share it, usually creators, so others pick it up from them. How reels seeding actually works
- Shorts
- YouTube's vertical videos of up to three minutes. Cut-downs of a song can link viewers to the full video. YouTube Growth
- Sound page
- The Instagram page for a piece of audio, showing every reel made with it and the count. One song can end up with more than one. One sound page
- Split
- The agreed share of a song's earnings between the people who made it. Put it in writing before release, not after it earns. Credits that get you paid
- Takedown
- Removing a release from the stores, usually when it moves to a new distributor. Done in the wrong order, it leaves a gap. Moving your catalogue
- Topic channel
- The YouTube channel generated automatically for an artist to hold their Art Tracks, named "Artist – Topic". ISRC, Content ID and metadata
- UPC
- Universal Product Code: the barcode number for a whole release (a single, EP or album), where the ISRC identifies each recording on it. ISRC, Content ID and metadata
- Visualiser
- A simple looping or animated video made for a song, usually cheaper than a music video, used to keep a release fresh on YouTube. YouTube Growth
- Watch time
- The total time people have spent watching a video. YouTube weighs it heavily when deciding what to suggest. Titles, thumbnails and search
- Wave
- A group of creators who post to a sound within the same short window. Each wave is timed to build on the one before. How reels seeding actually works