Gracenote

Gracenote, a subsidiary of Nielsen, provides advanced media services that help artists enhance the discoverability of their content through metadata and content identification systems. Although Gracenote does not sell or directly stream music, it plays a vital role in music recognition across various platforms like Apple iTunes and Spotify, helping drive music discovery and sales on external outlets.

Key Services for Artists:

  • Content Identification & Discovery: Gracenote ensures that music is accurately recognized across all digital platforms (CDs, streams, and files), which enhances the visibility and monetization of music. Their MusicID technology helps identify and match tracks across cloud-enabled devices.
  • Music Metadata: Gracenote provides rich data about songs, including genre, tempo, and mood, helping to improve user experiences and music recommendations on platforms that rely on Gracenote’s data​.

Payout and Royalty System:

  • Payout: Gracenote itself does not handle direct payouts to artists because it does not sell music. Instead, it enhances music sales by supporting music discovery and providing essential metadata for music platforms where sales occur.
  • Royalties: Since Gracenote does not manage direct sales, artists do not receive royalty payments from Gracenote. However, Gracenote’s services support content visibility, helping artists earn royalties through other sales channels where their music is sold or streamed​.

Go Live Time and Territories:

  • Go Live Time: It typically takes about 1-3 days for content to be published and go live on Gracenote’s system.
  • Territories: Gracenote operates globally, covering over 200 countries, allowing artists’ music metadata to be recognized across multiple regions​.

Music Sales:

  • Sales Channels: Gracenote does not sell or stream music directly. Instead, it powers identification and metadata for various platforms that manage sales and streams, such as iTunes and Spotify. This helps drive traffic to platforms where actual sales happen.

Warnings & Restrictions:

  • Restrictions: While Gracenote provides metadata and identification services, it is not responsible for directly selling music, so artists need to rely on external platforms to generate revenue from their music​.

In summary, Gracenote is a powerful tool for content recognition and discovery, boosting an artist’s presence across digital platforms but does not handle direct sales, payouts, or royalty distribution.