The information attached to a track download is called the ID3 Tag and simply means "IDentify an mp3". ID3 tags contain metadata that ensures a listener knows everything about your tracks. This includes the artist name, release date, album title, and track name. This also includes album artwork, so that when someone downloads the file to their computer and adds it to a media player, the artwork will display with the track.

This article includes the following:

  • How to set your ID3 tag options
  • Automatically generated ID3 tags
  • Why ID3 tags are important to add to your music
  • What kind of files are supported with ID3 tags
  • How to add ID3 tags manually to your files

Note: ID3 tags are only available for MP3 or FLAC file formats.

How to set your ID3 tag options

In each music feature, you can set your ID3 tag options at the track level. Bandzoogle will automatically generate ID3 tags for your tracks, unless you choose to leave the tag information as it is. Follow these steps to set your ID3 tag options:

  1. From the ‘Edit Content’ tab, click ‘Pages’ and open the page on which you’ll be working
  2. Click ‘Add feature’
  3. Select a music feature and use the placement arrows to set the feature’s location
  4. Click ‘Add tracks’
  5. Click ‘Add new track’
  6. In your track details, set your ID3 tags option:
    • Automatically generate: creates the ID3 tag from the data in this track information
    • Leave tags as they are: use your track’s embedded ID3 tags. Select this option if you’ve generated your own ID3 tags

You can learn more about uploading your tracks in each music feature in our ‘Adding Music’ Help article.

Automatically generated ID3 tags

Bandzoogle’s music features allow you to automatically generate ID3 tags from the track name, artist name, album name, and track notes added in your track settings. In each music feature, your track will offer the following options:

  • Track name: Enter the name of your track
  • Artist: This will default to your ‘Site profile’ artist name. You can adjust the artist name for your track manually in your track settings.
  • Track notes (optional): Enter track notes. An ‘Info’ link will be generated next to your track name, which will link to a page containing the track and your notes.
  • Lyrics (optional): Enter lyrics. A ‘Lyric’ link will be generated next to your track name, which will link to a page containing the track and lyrics. If you have also added ‘Track notes,’ only an ‘Info’ link will appear.
  • Album name: If your track appears in an ‘Album,’ the album name will be automatically associated with the track.
  • Track order: If your track appears in an ‘Album,’ the track order will be recognized when your fan downloads the album. You can rearrange your track order at any time. To learn more about adding songs to an album, please see the ‘Selling an album’ Help article.

The information added in these fields will be embedded as an ID3 in the download provided to your fans.

Why ID3 tags are important to add to your music

ID3 tags allow media players, such as Apple Music or VLC, to display your track title, artist name, album name, track order, and other track details in the player.

ID3 tags are especially important for your fans. Once a fan downloads your music, the ID3 tags attached to your song will allow media players to display your track info and organize the music in the player, instead of displaying ‘unknown’ tags.

What kind of files are supported with ID3 tags?

ID3 tags are only supported in MP3 and FLAC file formats. WAV files cannot support ID3 tags, whether they are automatically generated or embedded. To learn more about the differences between the file types supported by Bandzoogle music features, please view the ‘Music Files and Playback Rates’ Help article.

How to add ID3 tags manually to your files

In some cases, artists may want to embed their own ID3 tags for their tracks. To do this, select ‘Leave tags as they are’ in your track settings. This option will use the metadata embedded in your track file.

If you’d like to add your own ID3 tags to your tracks, you can add metadata directly in your recording software or with external tagging software such as MP3TAG or MusicBrainz Picard.