In this article

You’ll learn how to:

• get your catalog and session files into DISCO
• set up metadata so people can reach you, credit you and clear your music
• build a Page for each audience you work with
• run co-writes and remote sessions
• deliver client work and protect it
• pitch to artists, A&R and music supervisors
• keep a growing catalog organized

Getting your work in

Your catalog is probably spread across drives, DAW folders and old links. Get all of it into one place, including instrumentals, stems, alternate mixes, demos and lyric sheets, because a sync request or an artist pulling a song can come years after you wrote it.

• Bulk Uploader - for a hard drive or a sessions archive, use the Bulk Uploader. Each lowest-level folder of files becomes a Playlist.
• Playlist Creator - drag files in from your desktop as you finish them, or import from Dropbox or Box.
• Inboxes - share your Inbox link with co-writers, players and engineers, and their files land in your DISCO. They don’t need a DISCO account.
• Save to DISCO - when a bounce arrives by email, WhatsApp or WeTransfer, save it in a couple of taps with the DISCO app.

Metadata that gets you reached and paid

A music supervisor or an A&R can love a track and still pass if they can’t work out who wrote it or who to call. Get these right on every track before it leaves your account:

• clean Title and Artist fields, with a distinctive title so the track doesn’t get lost in someone else’s search results
• your contact details in the Comments field
• writers and splits in the Comments field, with publisher and PRO for each writer
• lyrics, transcribed into the track so people can search them and you can send a lyric sheet in minutes

The Writers tab is for your own records. It doesn’t travel with the file and isn’t visible to other DISCO accounts, so anything someone else needs goes in Comments.

Lyric Transcription is unlimited on the Artist plan. For the details, see How to manage and edit track info and metadata.

Pages for each audience

A Page is your showreel. Most writers and producers need more than one, because an artist, a brand and a music supervisor want to hear different things.

• Artist Pages - build an Artist Page for each audience: your production credits for artists and labels, a sync reel for music supervisors, a composer reel for brands and agencies. Each Page can carry its own bio, images and running order.
• Album Pages - present a body of work, such as a sync EP or a production package, as one designed page with artwork and notes.
• Branding - add your logo, colors and contact details once in account settings, and they appear on everything you share.

Keep each Page short and current. Seven tracks that fit the listener do more than fifty that don’t.

Co-writes and remote sessions

• Sending a session - upload the current bounce to a Playlist named with the date and session version, and send the link. The full flow is in Organizing content for remote sessions.
• Getting parts back - players and co-writers upload their parts to your Inbox. Agree on file names before the session so you know what’s what when it lands.
• Keeping versions together - use Sections in the Playlist to separate full mixes from individual parts, and nest instrumentals, stems and alternates under the main track.
• One link for the whole project - add new mixes to the same Playlist as they come in, or replace the audio on a track when a revised mix or new master supersedes it. The link stays the same, and collaborators refresh to hear the latest version. If an earlier mix is still worth keeping, nest it or create a section for previous versions instead of replacing it.
• Writing camps - share an Inbox link so every writer submits to one place, ready to review and send on to the publisher or artist.

The Artist plan includes two user seats, so a regular co-writer or your manager can work in the same account.

Client work

For producers, mixers, mastering engineers and composers delivering to artists, labels and productions:

• create an Artist Page for each client at the start of a project, so every delivery looks finished
• keep mix versions in one Playlist, with Sections for each round of revisions
• when a director or producer needs options fast, send a Playlist of alternative cues they can stream straight away, with clear version numbers in the track titles
• tag tracks and sessions clearly, because clients come back for an old mix or the stems months later
• protect unreleased work with link expiry, a password (Artist and Pro plans) or stream-only access, and use Alias Metadata (Plus plans and above) to hide the artist name and title in the share link

The full setup is in Producing and working for clients.

Pitching

A pitch on DISCO is a Playlist. The recipient streams or downloads from one link, with no account needed, which is what most music supervisors and A&R teams expect instead of attachments.

• Send less - build a Playlist for the brief or the artist, not your whole catalog.
• Have every version ready - nest the instrumental, clean version and stems under each track, so a follow-up request takes minutes.
• See what landed - Email from DISCO or Assign a URL shows which tracks each person streamed and downloaded. Copy link is faster but doesn’t tell you who listened. Use what you learn to shape the next pitch, and the next session.
• Respond to briefs - with the Discovery Suite, Similarity Search finds the closest-sounding tracks in your catalog from a reference track or a YouTube link, which helps when a brief names a song the client can’t afford. Instant Instrumentals creates a vocal-free version of an older track that you don’t have stems for.

The Discovery Suite is a paid add-on, priced by the number of tracks connected. For a full walkthrough of pitching to music supervisors, see the Sync on DISCO quick start guide.

Keeping your catalog organized

A structure that works for most writers and producers:

• one Catalog Channel for finished work, with a Folder per project, client or artist
• Playlists for each session, client delivery and pitch
• Tags for stage and status, such as demo, needs mix, ready for mastering, pitched or placed

In the DISCO app, Make offline lets you check mixes in the car or on the move. For more layouts, see Organize your DISCO.

When a DISCO Catalog makes sense

Composers and producers with a large body of work, such as a library of several hundred cues, are who DISCO Catalogs are built for. A Catalog gives clients and music supervisors a branded, searchable site they can browse without you. It isn’t worth building for fewer than 100 tracks. Read Do artists need a DISCO Catalog? before you decide.

Resources

• Organizing content for remote sessions
• Producing and working for clients
• Sync on DISCO: your quick start guide
• Artists on DISCO: your quick start guide
• DISCO Crash Course
• Download the DISCO app
• Questions? Chat in-app or email support@disco.ac

How other writers and producers use DISCO

• Why producer Dru DeCaro says “DISCO is central to my daily practice”
• How composer Kevin Richardson uses DISCO to organize a catalog of 1,100-plus tracks
• Finding the GLOW sound: composer Lara Meyerratken on scoring for TV
• How Billboard-charting artist Dawty uses DISCO to organize his production catalog
• How Jordi Up Late expanded into sync and stays organized with DISCO
• How DISCO gives rapper Mighty more time to get back to creation
• How Eric Campbell is demystifying the sync space with DISCO and CTRL Camp

Wrap up

Get the whole catalog in, finish the metadata that lets people reach and credit you, and send short, targeted links. With sessions, client deliveries and pitches all in DISCO, the old mix or the stems someone asks for are a search away.