Track metadata

What listeners see while a track plays (title, artist, album, cover) comes from your files and from a few checks we run on upload. This page explains which files and tags work, and what to do when something looks wrong.

Files you can upload

MP3, M4A, FLAC, WAV and OGG, up to 100 MB per file. Upload several at once from Library in your station dashboard.

If the title and artist matter to you, prefer MP3, M4A or FLAC. They carry tags reliably. WAV files often have no tags at all.

Tags we read

MP3 tags in ID3v2.3 and ID3v2.4 both work (older ID3v1 too). M4A uses its own iTunes-style tags, and FLAC and OGG use Vorbis comments. You don't need to pick a version for us, any common tag editor does the right thing.

Where the title and artist come from

For each upload we check, in this order.

1. A recording we recognise. We compare the audio with public music databases. If your file is a published release we can identify, its official title, artist, album, year and cover are used, even if your tags say something else.
2. Your tags. For your own productions, live recordings, mixes and anything not in those databases, your tags are what listeners see.
3. The filename. With no tags at all, a name like Anna Berg - Morning Song.mp3 becomes artist Anna Berg and title Morning Song. Underscores count as spaces.

Several artists on one track

The simplest way that always works is one artist tag naming everyone, written the way you want it shown.

• Anna Berg & Max Klein
• Anna Berg feat. Max Klein

Separate artist values are read as well and joined with commas. That covers several artist entries in ID3v2.4 and Anna Berg/Max Klein in ID3v2.3. Both show as Anna Berg, Max Klein.

Cover art and your station image

While a track plays, listeners see its cover in the player, in Discover and in the AWE Radio apps.

• A recognised release shows its official cover.
• Any other track shows your station avatar instead of an empty square.

Cover art embedded inside your audio files isn't used yet. If your tracks have no published cover, your station avatar is the image people see, so it is worth setting one.

Set the avatar in your station Settings, under Profile picture. Use a square PNG or JPG between 512 and 2048 pixels on a side, up to 5 MB. A 1024 × 1024 PNG works best.

What we tidy up

To keep every station readable, we remove web links (anything starting with http or www.) and invisible characters from titles and names, and shorten very long fields.

Fixing a track after upload

Track details can't be edited in the dashboard yet. To correct one, fix the tags in your file, delete the track in Library, and upload the corrected file. Deleted tracks never block a new upload, and the same filename is fine.

If you upload a file that is byte for byte identical to one already in your library, it is skipped and marked already on server, so you never get duplicates by accident. A file with changed tags counts as a new file.

Processing time and long files

After upload every track is checked and prepared for streaming. A typical song is ready within a few minutes and then joins your rotation by itself.

Processing time grows with length, so an hour-long recording such as a mix, a show or a recitation can take up to about half an hour. If a track still isn't ready after a few hours, don't delete it, just email us and we'll finish it for you.