Friday, May 24, 2013

Echonest, Gracenote, Rovi:: Content Metadata Suppliers You Should Know About

If you read my post on Metadata & Your Content, then you have an understanding of what metadata is, now you will learn about three companies that specialize in compiling metadata. The three companies are Echonest, Gracenote, and Rovi. This isn't an in depth post about the companies, it's more of a who they are and how you can get your content metadata into there database.

Echonest

Echonest collects metadata for music only (as of now). It is true what they say, do one thing, and do it well. Echonest focus on music has allowed them to create an amazing music metadata hub. Echonest doesn't have a content submission section, but a representative of Echonest sent this explanation of how their platform discovers your content – “We currently don't offer a way for artists to submit music directly. However, if you have recordings on the web or through digital retailers, our platform is designed to discover new artists as they release music organically through web presence”.

API available to developers: Yes

Gracenote

Gracenote collects metadata for two categories of entertainment, music and video. If you use iTunes then you've interacted with metadata supplied by Gracenote. Gracenote doesn't stop because they supply iTunes with metadata, they also supply in car infotainment centers with metadata. Some of Gracenote platforms are, Music ID, Scan & Match and Gracenote Powered Mobile Apps. You can submit your metadata directly to Gracenote.

Gracenote content submission information
API available to developers: Yes

Rovi Corp

Rovi is a metadata service that compiles metadata for multiple intellectual property categories – music, television, video/DVD content and books. You can submit your metadata directly to Rovi.

Rovi content submission information
API available to develpers: Yes

Thursday, May 9, 2013

The Music Artist Guide To Building A Free Website. "eBook"

Here are excerpts from my eBook "Distributing Digital Content From Your Blog"

Distributing Digital Content From Your Blog

Published By: JusGoMobile

Written By: Ontwayne Hill

Year Published:2013

Technology, Business, Website Building

This eBook is a must read for, independent artist, bands, record labels, independent film producers, content creators and entertainment brands. Written for a novice technical audience, you will learn to build your own website without being internet savvy or having to learn a bunch of technical jargon. In this eBook--

You'll learn how to utilize the powerful tools supplied by Googles' Blogger or Tumblrs' blogging platform to create and maintain your own website.
You will learn how to incorporate analytics and their importance.
You will learn how to set up your website for mobile accessibility.
You will learn the importance of API's and their role in the new internet information economy.
You will learn the role of third-party service providers and how to evaluate them.
You will work with real examples that give you simple concrete step by step instructions, with visual aids to show you how to build your website.
And much more...

By the end of this eBook you will be able to build a cost effective, low overhead website, that will allow you to enjoy your own web presence, monetize your content and engage your audience all while avoiding the complications of owning a conventional website.

Distributing Digital Content From Your Blog by jusgomobile

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Metadata and Your Content

As I was making my rounds on social media websites, I noticed that a lot of the content on user generated sites lacked adequate information about the media being viewed or the information presented wasn't descriptive. In this post We're going to cover the importance of metadata to the files (picture, video, audio) you upload to social media websites.

Definitions

User Generated Site/Social media website: A website where the users create majority of the content that resides on the website. E.G. Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, Blogger, etc.

API: Application Programming Interface is a set of tools used to build applications.

Introduction

Metadata is data about data. I know that sounds strange, when I first heard this I felt the same way. The best written explanation I've found comes from the NISO pdf "Understanding Metadata"-- Metadata is structured information that describes, explains, locates, or otherwise makes it easier to retrieve, use, or manage an information resource. Some concepts are understood easier once you see it in video form. So the nice folks who made this video have illustrated Metadata very well.

Anytime you fill out a registration form for a website, upload a piece of content or even tweet-- your creating metadata.

How & When Is Meta-Data Used?

The importance of metadata to your content isn't always visible because metadata is accessed by the website for search purposes and a programmer or developer uses it when querying the API from their application.

Developers are given access to a websites data through API's. The information the developer is accessing through these API's are related to metadata about the content that resides on the website. The website determines what is relevant metadata about your file. But the most common way you create metadata is through the input fields that are available for you to enter information in about your file. The information you enter is stored in a database and tied to the content.

As you go through the content upload process, thoroughly think about what you are entering into those fields the site offers. Is the name of your audio file descriptive enough? Are the tags you've added to that picture remotely close to describing it? As developers create apps for connected devices and websites, sufficient, descriptive metadata will make a difference in your content being discovered or it not being discovered.

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