In this article

You'll learn how to:

• use track tags to describe music in ways that make it discoverable
• add track notes for internal context and client-facing information
• 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 advanced 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 DISCO starts to work really hard for you.

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: internal context and client-facing information

Notes live in the Track Info editor and come in two types - internal notes and client notes.

Internal notes are only visible to your team. This is a good place for clearance context, information about who sent the track and when, notes about a specific pitch, or anything else that helps your team work with that track more effectively. Notes are indexed and appear in search results, which makes them useful for finding tracks based on information that would not fit in standard metadata fields.

Client notes appear next to tracks in shared playlist views when recipients click the info icon. Use them for listening cues, clearance information you want recipients to see, links to related content, or any context that helps the other person engage with the music. Because client notes appear in every playlist the track is included in, make sure they are appropriate for all the audiences that might see them.

Notes stack rather than overwrite. Each note is timestamped and attributed to the team member who added it, which makes them useful for tracking the history of decisions and conversations around a track.

Writers tab: splits, publishers, and PRO information

The Writers tab in the Track Info editor is where you store songwriter names, split percentages, publishers, and PRO information 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 writers, click the + icon and type a name or select from existing writers in the dropdown. Enter each writer's split out of 100%, their publisher, and their PRO. 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
• only one publisher can be added per writer split - if splits are more complex, use the Comments field or custom fields for additional detail
• 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 clear.

One more useful detail on the Year field: 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:

• 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 appear in the Advanced Search filters alongside standard metadata fields - which is where they become genuinely powerful. 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 searchable through DISCO's Advanced Search filters. Open the search area and use the dropdown to access filters for metadata fields, custom fields, track tags, and groups like Channels and Inboxes.

There are two ways to approach a search. Start with a keyword in the search bar and then layer filters on top to narrow results - useful when you want to cast a wide net first. Or start directly with filters and no keyword - useful when you know exactly which field you want to search within, which tends to return fewer, more targeted results.

Filters can be combined. A search for tracks tagged "Cinematic" with a master control percentage of 100% and an agreement expiry date after a specific date is entirely possible - and for a rights-focused team, genuinely useful.

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. 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 Advanced Search ties all of it together into a filtering system that can answer almost any question about your catalog in seconds.