Using Creative Commons Metadata in MP3s

This is a developer-oriented document. Read our non-technical account with explanatory comics first.

This document describes how to apply our non-web content guidelines to MP3s.

MP3 embedded metadata is placed in ID3 frames. Two of these will be used for embedding Creative Commons license claim metadata:

WCOP (Copyright/Legal information) should include the license URL. For example, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/.

WOAF (Official audio file webpage) should include the URL where the work metadata, including verification information, may be found. See Nonweb Tagging for information on verification metadata.

Historically a single field, TCOP, has been used for both purposes. New applications may support the TCOP method for compatibility, but WCOP/WOAF are preferred for clarity.

TCOP (Copyright Text) should include a human-readable license and license claim information. The contents of this frame are displayed by many programs in a "file info" window. Example value: 1995 Example Band. Licensed to the public under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ verify at http://example.com/cclicenses.html

If "verify at" exists in TCOP, everything after it must be the metadata URL and the preceding link must be the license URL.

Tools

ccLookup and Publisher offer GUI tools for MP3 license claimn embedding and verification metadata generation. Available for Linux, OS X, and Windows.

DMusic tags uploaded MP3s and publishes metadata per the above guidelines for tracks that participating artists have released under a Creative Commons license.