Metamusique, logoIt’s well known that the statistics for online streaming of music from Québec, especially Francophone music, are troubling. One of the solutions being considered to try and remedy this situation is improved referencing and discoverability of this repertoire on streaming platforms. That’s precisely what the team at MétaMusique, a non-profit music metadata management platform, has been working on since 2020, and version 1.0 is now fully functional.

The organization was created by a consortium of professional associations, collectives and unions active in Québec and Canada, namely the Association québécoise de l’industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la vidéo (ADISQ); the Professional Music Publishers’ Association (APEM); ARTISTI; the Conseil québécois de la musique (CQM); the Guilde des musiciens et musiciennes du Québec (GMMQ); SOCAN; the Société de gestion collective des droits des producteurs de phonogrammes et vidéogrammes du Québec (SOPROQ); the Société professionnelle des auteurs et des compositeurs du Québec et des artistes entrepreneurs (SPACQ-AE); and the Union des artistes (UDA). Conceived and developed to simplify and optimize the documentation and distribution data about musical works, MétaMusique aims to become a high-performing, centralized solution for music creators, publishers, producers, and labels.

Up until now, managing music metadata involved juggling with several diferrent systems. Thanks to MétaMusique, all these data points are now centralized in a single and intuitive platform. Users will be able to quickly access all their unique identifiers (ISNI, IPI, and IPN), register new releases, and import their catalogues of SOCAN works in one convenient portal.

Born of the collaboration between many players in the music industry, MétaMusique is fully operational right now, and designed to be scalable to adapt to future developments in the industry. Ultimately, the tool aims at improving the discoverability of works, maximizing royalties for rights holders, and streamlining the administrative management of music projects.

Thanks to MétaMusique, users can enjoy a range of tools designed to simplify the management of their metadata, including:

  • Centralized unique identifiers: No need to look left and right for ISNIs, IPIs, or IPNs: everything is available in one place,
  • Complete documentation of new releases: Registration of ISRCs, ISWCs, and UPCs for accurate indexing and tracking.
  • Importing SOCAN catalogues: Easily associate the credits of a work to its sound recordings.
  • Simplified registrations: Efficiently manage SOPROQ and Artisti registrations; legal deposits with the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) will soon be added.
  • Increased inter-operability: To ensure greater transparency and make it easier to reference works.

MétaMusique’s testing phases have allowed the integration of significant improvements, notably:

  • Importing and diagnostic of SOCAN catalogues: A verification tool identifies incomplete works, allowing you to fix them quickly.
  • Process automation: Easily copy-paste information from one recording to the next to reduce redundant data entry.
  • Manage the lyrics of works: Allows you to associate lyrics to recordings for complete documentation.
  • Compatible with Évangéline, a database of song lyrics and authorizations that enables the commercial exploitation of song lyrics. An upcoming integration will allow users to navigate fluidly between these tools.

MétaMusique also offers a range of resources to help you master the tool, including online guides and tutorials, interactive training to help you understand how the platform works, live help, and tailored support for producers and record labels managing large volumes of recordings.

The MétaMusique team is already hard at work to integrate legal deposits with the BAnQ, as well as exploring collaborations with other public organizations, media outlets, distributors, and funding partners to “create a bona fide Rosetta Stone of music metadata, at the service of creators and the whole industry.

For more information on MétaMusique 1.0, access the website.