Apple Music Metadata Guide: The Style Guide Rules That Matter Most

Updated 2026-10-21 · 1 sources

Short answer

Apple's style guide is the most detailed of the major stores. The essentials: one artist per field with Primary, Featuring/With and credit roles; lowercase "feat." in parentheses; title case for English; no extra information in titles; explicit and clean flags, never title text; language codes that match the metadata and the audio; and clean artwork with no URLs or logos. Some problems, like repeated submissions or misleading content, lead to editorial hides that a redelivery can't fix.

Artists and credits

Each artist field holds one artist; artists generally listed together as a band stay together [1].
Featured artists use the Featuring or With role and are never Primary [1].
Full, consistent name spellings across all content; no generic names [1].
Complete, accurate credits, with no placeholders [1].

Titles, tags and language

No additional information in titles; versions in parentheses or brackets; singles end in "- Single" [1].
English title case; no all caps or random casing [1].
Explicit and Clean flags only; no self-censoring [1].
Metadata language matches the metadata; audio language matches the audio [1].

Artwork and hides

Artwork can't contain URLs, logos, QR codes, release dates or packaging references [1]. Editorial hides cover repeated submissions, misleading content, sound-alikes and repetitive short tracks [1]. See Apple Music violations.

Examples

Instead of	Use	Why
Body Language Featuring Usher & Tinashe	Body Language (feat. Usher & Tinashe)	Apple's featuring format.
Summer EP (Deluxe) NEW 2026	Summer EP (Deluxe Edition)	No dates or promotional text.

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FAQ

Is there an official version of the guide?

Yes. Apple publishes the Apple Music Style Guide; it's linked in the sources below.

How is it different from Spotify's rules?

The core rules overlap (roles, no artist names in titles, explicit flags). Apple goes further on casing, language and editorial hides, and uses five Primary artists as the Various Artists threshold where Spotify uses four.

Related guides

Sources

Apple Music Style Guide 2.4 (Apple)

Platform rules change. Each rule above is attributed to the company or standard that published it, as checked on 2026-10-21. This guide is not legal advice.