In this article

You’ll learn how to:

• use track tags to describe music in ways that make it discoverable
• add internal and client notes, and use them to work with your team
• store writer splits, publishers, and PRO information
• use the Comments field to communicate clearance rights clearly
• set up custom fields for rights management and team-specific data
• search across all of these layers with Search filters

The job: making a large catalog actually searchable

A catalog of thousands of tracks is only useful if you can find the right one quickly. Standard metadata - title, artist, genre - gets you part of the way. But the teams that get the most from DISCO build deeper layers: descriptive tags that capture mood and instrumentation, notes that record clearance context, writer splits that answer rights questions instantly, and custom fields that store the business-specific data their workflows depend on.

These tools are most valuable at scale. If you have a small collection, basic metadata may be enough. If you are managing hundreds or thousands of tracks across a team - and if clearing, pitching, or reporting on that catalog is part of your daily work - this is where the extra setup pays off.

Track tags: describe the music beyond genre

Track tags are native to DISCO and separate from standard ID3 metadata. They do not travel with downloaded files by default, but they are deeply searchable inside your DISCO and inside DISCO Catalogs.

Tags are organized into categories - genre, mood and feel, instrumentation, energy, vocal type, tempo, and more. DISCO’s auto-tagging AI can populate these instantly for every track you send it. Your team can also add manual tags at any time, and the AI will never overwrite or remove tags you have added deliberately.

A few things worth knowing about tags:

• tags that should stay internal - like “Do not pitch” or approval status - can be locked so they do not appear in Catalogs or get written into shared metadata
• color indicators can be added to any tag to make it visible at a glance across Browse and search results - useful for flagging favorites, clearance status, or anything your team needs to see quickly
• custom tags can be created in Settings if the existing schema does not cover what you need

The more consistently your team tags, the more powerful search becomes. A well-tagged catalog of 5,000 tracks is more useful than a poorly-tagged catalog of 50,000.

Track notes: team conversations and client-facing information

Notes live in the Notes tab of the Track Info editor. A toggle at the top switches between Internal Notes and Client Notes. It controls both which notes you see and which type you are about to add, so check it before you start typing.

Internal notes are only visible to your team. Use them for clearance context, who sent the track and when, pitch strategy, or questions for a colleague. They work as a conversation on the track:

• type @ to mention a team member - they are notified in the web app and by email
• reply to a note to start a thread, or like it
• use the bell on the Notes tab to follow a track and choose what you hear about - all notes, mentions and replies only, or off. You follow a track automatically when you write a note on it
• a dot on the Notes tab shows when there is new activity for you, and a daily email digest rounds up new notes on the tracks you follow

Set your default notification preference in Settings > Notifications. Notes are also available in the DISCO mobile app, where you can turn on push notifications for mentions and replies.

Client notes are visible to recipients. They appear when someone clicks the info icon next to a track on a shared playlist, and beneath the track details on individual track share and download pages. Use them for listening cues, clearance information you want recipients to see, or context that helps them engage with the music. Because client notes appear wherever the track is shared, make sure they are appropriate for every audience that might see them. Client notes do not support replies, likes, or mentions, and they do not send notifications.

A few practical details:

• notes stack rather than overwrite - each one is timestamped and attributed to the team member who added it, which builds a history of decisions and conversations around a track
• click the timestamp icon in the note toolbar to insert the current playback position as a link that jumps to that moment in the track
• notes have a 2,000 character limit
• anyone on your team with access to the track can edit or delete a note, and edited notes are marked (Edited)
• a note cannot be switched between internal and client after posting - delete it and add it again under the right toggle
• when you bulk edit several tracks, a new note is added to every selected track
• both note types are indexed for search - use the Note and Client Note filters to search within one type

Writers tab: splits, publishers, and PRO information

The Writers tab in the Track Info editor is where you store songwriter names, publishers, PRO information, and split percentages for each track. This data is for internal use - it does not travel in downloaded file metadata by default, though a business setting can push writer information into the Composer field on download.

To add a writer, click the + icon and type a name or select an existing writer from the dropdown. If the writer is new, select Create new writer and save them in the modal that opens. Each row then takes the writer, their publisher, their PRO, and their split out of 100%. A warning appears if the total split is under 100%. The PRO Number field is intended for the ISWC - the International Standard Musical Work Code - which your PRO assigns when you register a song.

A few practical notes on using the Writers tab effectively:

• writers are stored in your contact database and tagged as Writers, which means their publisher and PRO details pre-fill automatically next time you add them to a track
• the same writer can appear on more than one row, as long as each row has a different publisher - use this when a writer’s share is split across publishing entities
• click the pencil icon next to a writer, publisher, or PRO to edit its name - the change applies everywhere that name is used, across every track
• when bulk editing splits across several tracks, choose Add splits to append to existing splits or Replace splits to overwrite them. If any tracks fail validation, DISCO lists them with a link to fix each one
• writer information is not indexed for search, so it will not return in search results - use the Comments field for any clearance information that needs to be findable
• to export writer splits, open Reports, enter the playlist or album title, select Writer Information fields under More Options, and download as a CSV

The Writers tab is most valuable for teams dealing with many different writers and publishers across a large catalog. If every track has the same writer or you are the only writer, it is simpler to put that information directly in the Composer metadata field.

Use the Comments field for clearance information

The Writers tab stores splits data internally. But when you want clearance information to travel with a track - so that a music supervisor opening a downloaded file can immediately see who controls what and how to reach them - the Comments field is the right place.

The Comments field is large, expandable, and one of the most-searched fields in DISCO. A well-structured Comments field can be the difference between a quick clearance and a frustrating back-and-forth.

The general structure that works well is: start with the splits you can clear and your contact information, then list writer names, splits, PRO, publisher, and whether you control that split, then list master owners and splits, and finally add any descriptive information about the track below that.

A few common scenarios worth knowing how to handle:

One stop

The simplest case. The same person or entity controls 100% of both the master recording and the song publishing. A music supervisor only needs to contact one party. Make this clear in the Comments field - “one stop” is recognized industry shorthand that supervisors appreciate seeing immediately.

Cover Recordings

You re-recorded a famous track and control 100% of the master but none of the publishing. Make it very clear it is a cover, name the original writers and publishers if you know them, and be honest about what you can and cannot clear. Never claim control of rights you do not have.

Co-written tracks with published writers

If any of your co-writers have publishing deals, those details belong in the Comments field. License requests for tracks with published writers must go through the publisher, so giving supervisors that information upfront saves everyone time. If you do not know a co-writer’s publishing details, list their name and split and leave it at that - do not guess or claim control you are unsure about.

Metadata regarding featured artists, instrumentals, remixes, explicit vs clean, etc. should be added into the title field.

When you rep all co-writers' splits

List all writers, publishers, master owners, and splits, and mark each line you can clear with “[Control]” next to it. If you control every line, this is effectively a one-stop situation even with multiple writers - make that obvious.

Two more details that help supervisors find and clear your music. Metadata about featured artists, instrumentals, remixes, and explicit or clean versions belongs in the title field. And if a recording is from 1975 but was remastered and released in 2023, the original year goes in the Year field with the new release date added separately - this helps surface the track when supervisors search for music from a specific era.

Ideally, you have a sync representation agreement signed by all co-writers.

Custom fields: build the data structure your workflow needs

Custom fields let you store additional track information that does not fit into standard metadata - rights management data, clearance status, deal dates, territory information, internal codes, or anything else your team needs to track.

Custom fields are available on Pro plans and above and need to be set up with the help of DISCO Support. Before reaching out, it helps to prepare a list of field names and what type each one is - text, number, date, checkbox, or dropdown. Each field has a range of attributes that control how it behaves: whether it is searchable, editable, visible in Catalogs, exportable in reports, and whether it writes into the Comments field on download.

Some of the most useful custom field setups for rights-focused teams include:

• external song or track IDs to connect data with other systems
• clearance fields like one-stop status, master control percentage, publishing control percentage, and territory
• date fields for agreement start and expiry dates, date composed, and date registered at a PRO
• code fields for ISWC, UPC, and PRO work codes
• dropdown fields for internal catalog name, label, or publisher

Once custom fields are set up, they are available as Search filters, which is where they pay off. You can find all tracks where you control 100% of publishing, all agreements expiring in the next quarter, all tracks missing lyrics, or all tracks controlled worldwide. This kind of filtering is not possible with standard metadata alone.

Searching across all of these layers

All of these data types are filterable in Search. Open Search in the left sidebar and use the filter dropdown to filter by metadata fields, custom fields, track tags, notes, and groups like Channels and Inboxes. Browse uses the same search bar and filters, so you can work in whichever view suits you - columns in Browse or the table in Search.

There are two ways to approach a search. Start with a keyword or a YouTube, Spotify, or DISCO track link in the search bar, then layer filters to narrow results - useful when you want to cast a wide net first. Or skip the search bar and start with filters - useful when you know exactly which field you want to search within, and it tends to return fewer, more targeted results.

A few filters are especially useful for catalog management:

• is missing and is not missing find gaps - tracks with no lyrics, no ISRC, or an empty custom field
• Appears on shows how many playlists a track is in, so you can find tracks that have never been shared

Filters can be combined across metadata, tags, custom fields, and notes.

Wrap up

Deep metadata is what separates a catalog that works for you from one that just stores files. Track tags make music discoverable by sound and feel. Notes capture the context that does not fit in metadata fields, and give your team one place to discuss each track. The Writers tab keeps rights information organized and linked to your contact database. Custom fields store the business-specific data your team depends on. And Search ties it all together, with filters that can answer most questions about your catalog in a few clicks.