Get Paid Guide launched to demystify music metadata

PRS for Music, The Ivors Academy, the Music Publishers Association, and the government’s Intellectual Property Office have joined forces to produce the Get Paid Guide for music creators. The guide is available in the form of a new website which aims to demystify music metadata to make sure composers and artists are being paid fairly and promptly for the use of their works.

The new initiative follows last month’s publishing of the UK Industry Agreement on Music Streaming Metadata, created by the government’s music metadata working group, (made up of the organisations partnering for the Get Paid Guide project) which identified education as ‘an area that needed vital work.’ The new Guide aims to fill this education gap, providing resources including a checklist for the data required for a track as well as answers to frequently asked questions.

Ivors Academy board director Fiona Bevan said: ‘Without accurate song data you won’t get paid. It is so important that creators get this right from the beginning. This guide simplifies what seems complex by helping songwriters, composers, managers, and publishers understand what they need to know and what they need to do to make sure they aren’t missing out on royalties. I hope it puts more money in songwriters’ pockets by taking some of the mystery out of data.’

The Get Paid Guide is designed to equip both composers and artists with an understanding of what music data is, why it matters, and how to manage it successfully. The website aims to combat the current lack of awareness around accurate metadata input, eliminating the delayed payments (and in some cases lack of payment) faced by music creators seeking payment for the use of their works.