AIMi Labs found recordings linked to multiple musical-work records, including records for unrelated songs. That is a release-planning problem: a team can deliver the intended audio while leaving the song attached to the wrong record. Put a work-match check on the calendar before delivery, alongside the audio and artwork checks.
Start with the recording and the song
A recording and its underlying song need separate identification. A recording identifier helps a distributor deliver music, but it does not settle every claim attached to the song. The first check is therefore straightforward: confirm which recording the team intends to deliver, then confirm which musical work its credits identify. Do not treat a successful upload as proof that the second answer is correct.
The distinction matters when a title, credit or existing record points to another work. AIMi Labs identified links to multiple work records and, in some cases, unrelated songs. A team reviewing its own release should inspect the work association rather than assume a matching title resolves it. Record the intended songwriters and their shares in the team’s rights record, then identify who is responsible for correcting a mismatch before the release moves ahead. That rights record should say who can claim each share and when they must act.
Make the decision explicit. If the work association and credits agree, the team can move to contributor and territory checks. If they conflict, assign the correction to a named person and check the revised record before delivery. This gives a metadata problem a place in the schedule, instead of leaving it to whoever notices it after the release is live.
Check each claim against the right record
One identifier cannot stand in for a full rights review. Morocco’s BMDAV keeps separate records for the song, performers and phonogram producer; an International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) identifies only the recording. For a Moroccan release, the team should reconcile those three claims separately. The practical question is not whether the recording has a code. It is whether the people and entities claiming the song, performance and produced recording are correctly represented in the records that concern them.
That separation also gives the team a useful way to review a release elsewhere: ask what each piece of metadata identifies before relying on it. A recording code answers a recording question. A songwriter credit answers a different question. A performer or producer claim needs its own check. The rights record must identify who can claim each share and when they need to act. Keep those answers together so that a distributor delivery, a rights registration and an internal credit sheet do not silently describe different versions of the release.
A cover adds another decision before delivery. Artists releasing a cover through CD Baby must check the song’s copyright status, obtain the required license and enter accurate credits and territories. Treat the license, the song credit and the territory information as separate items to verify. Completing one does not fill in the others. The release can move through the checklist only when the team knows which song it is covering, what permission is required and what information it will submit.
Give the check an owner and a stopping point
The release team can run the review in a short sequence. Each step should end with either a confirmed answer or a correction assigned to someone who can make it:
- Identify the recording. Check that the audio and recording identifier describe the version being delivered. The identifier supports distribution of the recording.
- Identify the song. Compare the intended work and writer credits with the work record. Multiple or unrelated work links are a documented metadata failure.
- Identify the other claimants. Where the rights system records them separately, check performers and the phonogram producer as well as the song. BMDAV’s three records show why the recording code alone cannot complete that review.
- Check permissions and scope. For a cover delivered through CD Baby, verify copyright status, licensing, credits and territories. Each is part of that release process.
- Assign corrections. Put the responsible person and the action due in the rights record. A usable record identifies claimants and when they must act.
Let the result set the delivery decision
Once those checks are complete, the team has a concrete delivery decision. A confirmed recording, work and contributor record gives the release team a consistent set of details to send forward. A conflicting work link or unresolved credit calls for a correction before that set is treated as final. The mismatches AIMi Labs found show that even prominent catalogue recordings can carry incorrect work associations. Familiarity with a recording is no substitute for inspecting its record.
The useful output of this review is a dated rights record with the recording, song, claimants, permissions and assigned corrections in one place. Morocco’s separate song, performer and producer records show why each claim needs its own line; CD Baby’s cover requirements show why permission and territory details need their own lines too. Make delivery contingent on resolving those lines. That turns a release window into a sequence the team can execute: verify the identities, correct conflicts, then send the agreed details for delivery.
