Maybe your mum was right when she said gaming was bad for you 🎮
Metadata gaming is when a release’s metadata features certain words or phrases that may match to high profile artists or releases, or trending topics, which can mislead consumers.
The two main ways of metadata gaming are:
- Famous artists and song titles
- Search engine optimization terms
How can I avoid it?
Please avoid using any famous artists or their releases in any of your metadata. If you’ve written a ballad about John Lennon, this is fine, and it would also be fine to reference John Lennon and to talk about him in your track. However, if the track or album title has John Lennon in it, for example ‘Ballad for John Lennon’, stores could assume that his name has been purposefully used so that when Lennon is searched, your track is more likely to come up.
Consider that this is the same for any track, album, or high profile artist name that you may have featured.
You are no longer allowed to feature genres in track titles or artist names, for example, Nightcore, or Phonk. This also includes longer artist names, such as ‘Billy Bonker’s Phonk Spectacular’.
Artist names which are generic descriptions may also not be accepted or may even be removed by stores. Please also avoid using any terms to describe the type of content being uploaded, for example, lo-fi or sped up. This also includes longer artist names, like ‘Sped Up get yer Knees Up’.
All for the same reason – stores could assume that the word or phrase has been purposefully used so that when it’s searched, your track is more likely to come up. Trending topics are changing all the time, so what stores do and don’t allow is likely to change depending on this.
If you’re unsure about a certain word or phrase, our moderation team will let you know if there’s an issue when you upload your release! You could also email moderation@routenote.com with your word or phrase queries if you’d prefer.
For further information on misleading metadata, please head to our Support Hub article by clicking here.
If you have any further queries, feel free to get in touch with us!
See also:
Can I use generic titles and names in my release?
Can I upload cover songs with RouteNote?
When is a title too generic?