Prepare your metadata CSV

Your catalogue’s metadata goes into Mercury as a CSV: one row per track or track version, with columns for the label, album, track, tags, rights holders and codes. Download the template from Ingest → Metadata → Metadata help → Download CSV template, or start from an export of your existing catalogue.

Ground rules

• The first row holds the column headers, spelled exactly as below with a single space after the final colon. Blank rows are ignored.
• Every row carries its album and label columns; rows for the same album repeat the same ALBUM: values.
• Each version of a track is its own row with TRACK: Is Main set to N, TRACK: Main Track Number pointing at its main track, and its own number in TRACK: Version Number.
• Save as UTF-8 CSV.

Edit the CSV

A CSV editor is safest, because it treats every value as text:

• Easy CSV Editor — Mac
• Modern CSV — Windows, Mac, and Linux
• Rons Data Edit — Windows
• Tablecruncher — free; Windows and Mac

Google Sheets and Excel work too, but only if you import the file as text so it doesn’t convert any dates or UPC codes etc. Current versions of Excel (Microsoft 365 and 2024, from late 2023) may ask before converting when you open a CSV directly: click Don’t Convert to keep leading zeros, long codes, and letter-and-number codes as text. Dates are still reformatted, so import as text when a file has date columns. Apple Numbers keeps track numbers and dates intact, but drops leading zeros (such as on IPIs and some UPCs) and can turn some codes into amounts of money (MTP009 becomes MTP 9.00), so check those columns before you upload.

Columns

Requirement: M mandatory, A advisable, O optional.

Library (label)

Column	Example	Notes
LIBRARY: Name	Cadenzabox Library	The label. Also becomes a tag in the Library Name category	M
LIBRARY: Code	CBL	Prefix for album codes	A
LIBRARY: Groups	Europe, Premium	Groups inherited by every album and track on the label	O

Album

Column	Example	Notes
ALBUM: Code	CBL001	Same for every track on the album	M
ALBUM: Title	Pop Electro Dance		M
ALBUM: Release Date	2014-06-28	YYYY-MM-DD	M
ALBUM: Description			A
ALBUM: Artwork Filename	CBL001.jpg	Must match the artwork file you deliver	A
ALBUM: Artist		Display artist for the album	O
ALBUM: Groups	Main Catalogue	Blank inherits your default groups	O
ALBUM:CATEGORY: Keywords	Sports; Promos	One column per album tag category, values separated by ;	O

Track

Column	Example	Notes
TRACK: Title	Dancing Machine		M
TRACK: Description			M
TRACK: Number	1	A whole number. A version either shares its main track’s number, with its own number in TRACK: Version Number, or has a unique track number of its own.	M
TRACK: Version Number	3	The version’s own number, a whole number: 1 or more on a version that shares its main track’s number, and blank or 0 on a main track or a version with its own track number	A
TRACK: Is Main	Y / N		M
TRACK: Audio Filename	CBL001_01.wav	Must match the audio file you deliver, extension included	M
TRACK: Main Track Number	1	Required when Is Main is N	M for versions
TRACK: Version	Underscore	Version name; required for versions	M for versions
TRACK: Type	Main / Alt / Stem	Needed to mark stems	O
TRACK: Code	CBL001_01_01	Your own track code	A
TRACK: Is Published	Y / N	Defaults to Y	O
TRACK: Teaser		Short description	O
TRACK: Album Chapter	Energetic and playful	Put on the first track of each chapter only	O
TRACK: BPM, TRACK: Key, TRACK: Lyrics, TRACK: Search Metadata		BPM advisable; the rest optional	A / O
TRACK: Duration		Ignored; measured from the audio	O
CATEGORY: Genre	Pop; Electro	One column per track tag category, values separated by ;. Use Parent:Child for nested tags	O

Rights holders

Repeat each block with 1, 2, 3… and include every column in a block. Ensure the block has a space after its colon, for example WRITER:1: First Name, ARTIST:3: IPI, etc.

Block	Columns	Notes
WRITER:n:	First Name, Middle Name, Last Name, Capacity, Society, IPI, Territory, Owner Performance Share %, Owner Mechanical Share %, Collection Performance Share %, Collection Mechanical Share %, Original Publisher	Writer 1 is mandatory apart from the collection shares. Capacity is one of the writer capacities. Shares are numbers without %	M / A
PUBLISHER:n:	Name, Capacity, Society, IPI, Territory, the same four share columns	Publisher 1 mandatory apart from collection shares. Capacity is one of the publisher capacities	M / A
ARTIST:n:	First Name, Middle Name, Last Name, Society, IPI	Performers on the recording	O
LABEL:n:	Name, Owner Master Share %	Master owner	O

Codes

Identifiers for the work and the recording. Each goes on every track row it applies to.

Column	Example	Notes
CODE: ISWC	T-907.354.706-1	International Standard Musical Work Code	A
CODE: ISRC	UK-A12-16-00001	International Standard Recording Code	A
CODE: EAN	5012345678901	International Article Number, originally European Article Number	O
CODE: UPC	825646123456	Universal Product Code	O
CODE: PRS TUNECODE	982663BT	PRS Tunecode, United Kingdom 🇬🇧. The header is in capitals and includes the PRS prefix	O
CODE: GEMA WORK NUMBER	1234567-001	GEMA work number, Germany 🇩🇪. The part after the hyphen is the version; the original is -001	O
CODE: SACEM WORK NUMBER	7300202211	SACEM work number, France 🇫🇷	O
CODE: SOCAN WORK NUMBER	193762845	SOCAN work number, Canada 🇨🇦	O
CODE: SESAC WORK NUMBER	10293847	SESAC work number, United States 🇺🇸	O
CODE: BMI WORK NUMBER	24248560	BMI work ID, United States 🇺🇸. The header uses NUMBER, not ID	O
CODE: ASCAP WORK ID	917032958	ASCAP work ID, United States 🇺🇸. The header uses ID, not NUMBER	O

Capacities

Capacity says what part a rights holder played. Write the value exactly as shown; the admin stores it as text and metadata exports pass it on to partners, some of which only recognise the first four writer capacities (Harvest Media, for example, maps Composer/Author, Composer, Author and Arranger to its own codes and treats anything else by whether the track has lyrics).

Writer capacities

Value	Meaning
Composer	The creator, or one of the creators, of the musical elements of a work.
Author	The creator, or one of the creators, of the text of a work.
Composer/Author	The creator, or one of the creators, of both the text and the music.
Arranger	A modifier of the musical elements of an existing work.
Adaptor	The author, or one of the authors, of an adapted text of a work.
Sub Arranger	A creator of arrangements authorised by the subpublisher.
Sub Author	The author of text that substitutes or modifies the existing text of a work.
Translator	A modifier of the text into a different language.
Income Participant	A person who receives royalty payments for a work but is not a copyright owner.

Publisher capacities

Value	Meaning
Original Publisher	The publisher that holds the original rights in the work.
Sub Publisher	A publisher that represents the work in a territory on the original publisher’s behalf.

Translations

Add a language suffix to a translatable column to supply a translation, for example TRACK: Description: FR. Translatable columns are the album description, track title, description, teaser, version and search metadata, and album chapter. Missing translations fall back to the main column.

Related

• Import metadata
• Fix import errors
• Deliver audio and artwork
• Tags and Tag categories