Santa Monica, CA - Jul 28, 2010 - In 2007, The Recording Academy Producers & Engineers Wing and data management firm BMS/Chace partnered with the Library of Congress to create both a standardized approach and a software model for gathering and managing metadata for recorded music. The resulting metadata standard, dubbed Content Creator Data (CCD), and accompanying studio collection application, were previewed June 14 and 15, 2010, in New York at the Digital Data Exchange (DDEX) Plenary and National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) Digital Task Force meetings. The application is designed to be an integral part of the recording process from a work's inception, and the resulting metadata can remain linked with a recording through subsequent filing of e-copyright and point of sale. It will also interface with other open standard systems in publishing and e-commerce.

Organized under the umbrella of the Library of Congress' National Digital Information Infrastructure Preservation Program (NDIIPP), this open-source, open-standard application is on track to be widely available in 2011. The intent of the project is to harmonize with existing work from SMPTE, DDEX, AES and other standards organizations to create a compatible metadata environment that includes common business-related fields such as ISRC codes, official song titles, producer and engineer credits, performers and copyright ownership. Other partners in the project include Sony BMG Music, Universal Music Group, EMI Group and Disney Music Group.

"We see this project as a huge step forward," said Maureen Droney, senior executive director of the Producers & Engineers Wing. "It's essential to incorporate metadata gathering into the actual recording process, where recording personnel have accurate information about the content contributors: what musicians played, what takes were used, who engineered, etc. This application provides a standardized way to gather that data and to make it easily flow upstream."

The application will be shown at meetings held at The Recording Academy's Santa Monica headquarters, as well as chapter offices in Nashville and New York City, during August. After testing, which is scheduled to be completed by the beginning of 2011, the application will be available at no charge via a simple registration and download process, with the underlying metadata schema published and freely available.