For Songwriters
The Song Metadata Checklist Before You Upload
By the Starchild Music team · October 8, 2026 · 6 min read
The short answer
Before uploading a song for licensing, confirm the exact title, every writer's legal name, splits that add up to 100%, each writer's PRO and IPI number, publisher details, a final lyric sheet, honest genre and mood tags, and an AI disclosure. Know the difference between an ISWC (identifies the composition, assigned after PRO registration) and an ISRC (identifies one specific recording).
Metadata is the information that travels with your song: who wrote it, who owns what share, and how organizations around the world identify it. It decides whether buyers can clear the song quickly and whether royalties reach you.
It is also far easier to collect at the start than to fix later. ASCAP advises registering works with your PRO 'ideally before they are uploaded online anywhere.' Here is what to have ready before you upload anything.
Title, writers and splits
Use one spelling of the title everywhere: on your PRO registration, your lyric sheet, your files and your listing. If the song has a working title or an alternate title, note it, so a registration under the old name can still be matched. Small differences such as 'Dont' and 'Don't' can create duplicate records.
Next, list every person who wrote words or music, by legal name, with any professional name they use. Then record each writer's share. ASCAP's guidance for co-writers is to agree on splits 'at the point of creation', ideally in writing, so they 'add up to exactly 100%.' If you co-wrote the song, read our guide to listing a co-written song, publishing later this week, before you upload.
PRO, IPI and publisher details
Your performing rights organization (PRO), such as ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, SOCAN or PRS, collects performance royalties when recordings of your songs are broadcast, streamed or performed. Your IPI number is how PROs everywhere identify you.
ASCAP describes the IPI as 'a unique, international identification number', usually 9 to 11 digits long, assigned on behalf of CISAC when you join. A few details trip people up:
- If you have separate writer and publisher memberships, each has its own IPI number.
- Each name or pseudonym on file gets its own IPI name number.
- Your IPI is public and meant to be shared with collaborators. Your PRO member ID is a different number and should stay private.
- Collect your co-writers' IPI numbers, too. That is how a PRO tells one 'Pat Smith' from another.
- If you have a publishing company, a publishing administrator, or a publisher you have signed with, note its name, PRO and IPI. If you have none, leave those fields empty rather than guessing.
ISWC and ISRC: two different codes
These two codes are easy to confuse, and they identify different things.
The ISWC identifies the composition: the song itself. ASCAP explains that ISWCs are assigned by CISAC only after a work is registered with a PRO, and that all writers on the work must have IPI numbers first. A song has one ISWC no matter how many times it is recorded. ASCAP adds that an ISWC 'can increase the likelihood that more performances will be captured', and that it helps partner societies abroad match your work.
The ISRC identifies one specific recording. The US ISRC Agency describes each ISRC as 'a unique and permanent identifier for a specific recording', and notes that an ISRC 'can never represent more than one unique recording.' Your demo, a remix and an artist's licensed version would each have their own. Recording owners get ISRCs through the agency or an authorized ISRC manager, which often means a distributor.
When artists release recordings of your song, these codes start to matter for streaming income too. The MLC, which pays US streaming mechanical royalties, asks for details such as the recording title, version title, ISRC, artist name, label and duration to improve matching. Our guide to PRO, IPI and publisher metadata explains how all of these route your money.
Lyrics, genre and mood tags
Write out the lyrics exactly as sung on the recording, including repeated choruses and any ad-libbed lines that matter. Flag explicit language. Artists auditioning songs read along, and a lyric sheet that matches the audio saves them time and avoids disputes about what the song says.
Tags are how buyers find you. Describe what the song does today: its feel, its tempo, and the situations it suits, such as a breakup ballad, a road-trip anthem or a first-dance song. Tagging a ballad as 'upbeat' to reach more searches only sends the wrong listeners.
On Starchild, each accepted song is produced in multiple styles around your original vocal, so it can be heard in genres beyond the one you wrote it in. Your tags should still describe the song itself honestly. Buyers can browse by style on the genre pages.
AI disclosure
Every song on Starchild carries an AI-transparency label, human-made, hybrid or AI-generated, based on the writer's own disclosure. Decide before you upload which label is accurate, including for any AI tools used in lyrics, melody or production.
PROs have rules here too. ASCAP's FAQ currently says fully AI-generated works may not be registered, while partially AI-generated works may. Our explainer on AI transparency in music licensing covers why buyers care.
The checklist
- Exact title, plus any alternate titles
- Every writer's legal name and professional name
- Splits for each writer, adding up to 100%, agreed in writing
- Each writer's PRO and IPI number
- Publisher or administrator name, PRO and IPI, if any
- ISWC once assigned, and ISRCs for any released recordings
- Final lyric sheet matching the recording, with explicit content flagged
- Genre, mood and tempo tags that describe the song honestly
- An accurate AI-transparency disclosure