Gracenote FAQs
Welcome to the Gracenote FAQ page. Please determine which category you're in to find the FAQs most applicable to you. If you have further questions, we provide email support at support@gracenote.com.
Consumers
Gracenote powers digital media solutions for software, consumer electronics, mobile phones and automobile entertainment systems in products around the world. In fact, you may already be a consumer of Gracenote technology. For instance, do you use iTunes to title your tracks before you import them onto your iPod? Play music in Winamp? Does your automotive entertainment system have music recognition? Does your mobile phone identify music playing at a club? If so, you most likely use Gracenote technology.
We license and sell technology products and services and access to our Global Media Database to companies that build consumer products and services. Gracenote itself does not develop or sell consumer products. Therefore, if you need support, updates or information, you need to contact the company that builds your product or provides your service. We have some links to their websites to help you find their support pages in the Consumer FAQ, below.
Common questions from Consumers include:
Where did the music search go?
Content Creators and Owners
Gracenote assists content creators and owners in submitting (uploading) their media information to our recognition service. If you are an artist, label or publisher and create music or video, or you are in the business of selling music, audio books or video, we want you to upload your information to our recognition service. These uploads are easy and free, and we explain how to do it in the Content Creators and Owners FAQ below. If you're with a major content owner, and are interested in becoming part of Gracenote's Content Partner Program, please use this form.
Common questions from Content Creators and Owners include:
How can I upload (submit) my CD to be included in the Gracenote service?
Can you fix this typo on my CD?
See all Content Creator and Owner FAQs
Developers
If you’re with a company that creates, sells, or distributes software, consumer electronics, mobile phone, or automotive hardware, and you’re looking to learn more about Gracenote’s latest technology, please explore our site to learn what’s now available for your product lines. Our Developer FAQ section below should help you with some common questions.
Common questions from Developers include:
Can I develop an application that uses the Gracenote Service?
Consumers
Why is there a new website?
Our new website was designed to meet the needs of our developers and those of content creators and owners – our customers. We are a technology company and we license products and services to businesses around the world to allow them to provide an enhanced digital entertainment experience to consumers via products ranging from software, to mobile phones, home entertainment systems, and automotive entertainment systems. Our website now better enables our developers to find what they need to do business with us.
Where did the music search go?
Gracenote made the hard decision to remove the website search in favor of focusing the site and our web resources on our customers. Many millions of you will still use Gracenote’s recognition technology daily, on your desktop with products like iTunes and Winamp, on your mobile phones, in your cars and home entertainment systems. Thank you for understanding.
What happened to the Lyrics widget?
We have decided to discontinue servicing the Lyrics widget, based on our business focus.
Is my software or device powered by Gracenote?
iTunes, Winamp, Creative, Roxio, Sony, Sony Ericsson, LG, Ford, Mitsubishi and many, many other companies have products powered by Gracenote. Each of these companies provides support for their products and will be happy to assist you. Try adding a .com to each name to reach the right website. If you’re having any problems reaching our service, your software is trying to reach the URL http://service.gracenote.com. If you see this sentence about Gracenote, “This system is used for the Gracenote Media Recognition Service" this means that your computer can reach our recognition service. Again, you must contact the company that built your product or provides your service.
Does my automotive entertainment system need a Gracenote update?
Although Gracenote has been delivering solutions in the automotive market since 2001, each company has a slightly different strategy for supporting their customers and distributing database updates to their customers.
The place to ask about service and the latest updates is at your local dealership.
These links are provided to help locate updates on your car company’s website, but if your product isn’t listed or you need more help, please go directly to the automotive website, as they provide you both product support and the Gracenote updates.
GM/Cadillac/Buick/Hummer Update Chrysler Dodge Ford/Lincoln/Mercury Sync |
Jeep Mitsubishi Acura Nissan US |
Why didn’t my DVD/Blu-ray get recognized? Why is my DVD/Blu-ray missing cover art?
Please send us specifics to support@gracenote.com and we’ll look into it. We’ll need:
- Title
- Edition (“Widescreen”, “Director’s Cut”, etc.)
- UPC/EAN/JAN/Hinban (Commercial product code/barcode)
- Format (DVD/Blu-ray)
How can I work at Gracenote?
Looking for a great new career or an exciting internship at Gracenote? Please use this link to explore Careers at Gracenote.
Can I fix a typo on an album?
Yes. You can type over the error and submit back to Gracenote (please see the submit section for instructions), or simply write to support at support@gracenote.com with the current information you see in your software (artist name, album name, track titles), and then the fix. Let us know where you see it listed differently, such as the artist’s own website or a commerce site, and we’ll work with our editors to get it fixed. If you’re the artist or label write us with the same details, and tell us you’re with the band.
What are Gracenote’s privacy protections?
We have a link to Privacy on each page. One section covers the Gracenote Web site, and the second section is for those using our recognition service. If you have further questions, please write to GracenotePrivacy@gracenote.com.
Still have questions? Please write to support@gracenote.com. We provide email support only.
Content Creators & Owners
If you are an artist, label or publisher and you create or distribute music, we want you to upload (submit) your CD information. Submits are free and easy, and when your music is recognized, that means any of the millions of people using our service can find your music labelled. Below are basic instructions on how to submit a new CD to our recognition service, while specifics for using either iTunes, QMP or Winamp are after this. They are all freeware, and iTunes can be used to submit from either Mac or Windows, while QMP and Winamp are Windows only, and both provide more complete submit capabilities.
How can I upload (submit) my CD to be included in the Gracenote service?
First, you need the CD (we recommend using the final pressing), which you place in your CD ROM drive. Then you need software, such as iTunes, Winamp, or QMP and your computer needs an internet connection.
Then you simply type in all these core details:
Artist name
Album name
Track title
Genre
Year of release
Label name (iTunes doesn’t supply this field)
Then you hit the submit button. Your submit takes two or three days to process before it’s available in our recognition service. Now the specifics for the three most popular submit (upload) software applications.
How do I submit (upload) CDs to Gracenote using iTunes?
You can download iTunes from here:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/
Open iTunes and place your CD into your CD ROM Drive. (Click No when asked to import.)
Click into a track name and select Get Info.
On the Info tab, type in track name, artist name, album name, select a genre and year of release. The next button will take you to the next track. Continue until all tracks are titled.
Go to Advanced and click Submit CD Track Names.
Wait two or three days, place the CD back in the CD ROM drive, go to Advanced and click Get CD Track Names. This is a re-query button that clears your local cache, to show your CD’s information now comes from our service. Questions? Write to support@gracenote.com.
How do I submit (upload) CDs to Gracenote using Winamp?
You can download Winamp from here:
http://www.winamp.com/
Open Winamp and place your CD into your CD ROM Drive. Click Submit New.
This will open up a Gracenote MusicID Window. Start on the Album tab.
Type in the album title, the artist name, label name, year and select a genre. If the CD is Classical select the Display of Classical instead of General.
Next select the Tracks tab.
Add details, track by track until all tracks are titled. When you’re done, then click OK (bottom right corner) to submit (upload) the CD to our recognition service.
Wait two or three days for us to process your new CD submit.
Questions? Write to support@gracenote.com.
How do I submit (upload) CDs to Gracenote using QMP?
You can download QMP from here:
http://www.quinnware.com/
Open QMP and place your CD into your CD ROM Drive. Press the Play button and select the CD. You’ll see a dialog box asking if you’d like to submit. Click Yes.
This will open up a Gracenote MusicID Window. Start on the Album tab.
Type in the album title, the artist name, label name, year. If the CD is Classical select the Display of Classical instead of General.
This product uses Gracenote’s Genres, so select a Primary and Secondary genre.
Next select the Tracks tab.
Add details, track by track until all tracks are titled. When you’re done, then click OK (bottom right corner) to submit (upload) the CD to our recognition service.
Wait two or three days for us to process your new CD submit.
Questions? Write to support@gracenote.com.
What if my CD still doesn’t show up?
If you do not find your CD recognized three days after you submit (upload) please write to support@gracenote.com and include the artist name, album name and track titles exactly as you submitted them. We’ll make sure your information goes live, so that anyone using any software application using our recognition can find it. If you used iTunes for your submit (upload), make sure you’ve tried the re-query (CD back in the CD ROM drive, go to Advanced and click Get CD Track Names, or see iTunes Submit).
Can you fix this typo on my CD?
Yes, please write support@gracenote.com with the current listing (what it displays when you play it) and then the correction, and we’ll get it fixed for you.
Are there guidelines for submitting (uploading) CDs?
Yes, there are four key points to notice when you’re submitting CD information to Gracenote; 1. capitalization, 2. the use of brackets for the Album titles and track titles, 3. specifics about compilations, and 4. how to list artists, co-artists and featuring artists.
Capitalization
Gracenote’s standard is to capitalize the first letter of each word, including articles. PLEASE DO NOT TYPE IN ALL-CAPS or all-lowercase even if all titles appear that way on the CD cover. Designers of CD covers sometimes use all-caps or all-lowercase because it looks cool in a particular typeface, but it doesn't look so cool in a text display. Rare exceptions might be artist names that always appear in all-caps or all-lowercase (such ABBA, NRBQ, k.d. lang, or eels).
Standard: For English language submits, the first letter of each word is capitalized, including articles such as “a,” “the,” “and,” etc.
Example:
Title: Party In The U.S.A.
Artist: Miley Cyrus
Album: The Time Of Our Lives
Album Title Standards
| Situation | Standard | Example |
| Multiple-Disc Releases | Add “[Disc #]” after title | 69 Love Songs [Disc 1] |
| Singles | Add “[Single]” after title | Fearless [Single] |
| Live Albums | Add “[Live]” after title | Frampton Comes Alive! [Live] |
Track Title Standards
| Situation | Standard | Example |
| Live Albums | Add “[Live]” after title | Paparazzi [Live] |
| Differentiating Information (i.e. Acoustic Version, Instrumental) |
Add info in brackets after title | Forever [Instrumental] Forever [Extended Version] Forever [Radio Edit] |
| “Clean” versions | Add “[Clean]” after title | Gangsta Luv [Clean] |
| Remix | Add “(Remix)” after title if specific remix | Whatcha Say (Bill Hamel Club Mix) |
Compilations
A compilation is an album with tracks by different artists, such as a soundtrack or sampler. The Artist Name should almost always be Various Artists. Soundtracks and scores should almost always have the genre of Film Soundtrack or Score. Please turn on the compilation checkbox and fill in the artist and genre for each track. Please do not place the song name and the artist name together in the track field.
Since many compilations gather together songs from many different periods, having the original year of release for the song is also very important. After all, just because the album was released in 2003 doesn’t mean that the Aerosmith song “Dream On” was. Now, an anthology is an album of tracks all by the same artist, but put together from several other albums or sources. Do not turn on the compilation checkbox for an anthology.
Artist, Featuring Artist, Co-Artist
| Situation | Standard | Example |
| Artist, Featuring Artist, Co-Artist | Artist 1, Artist 2, ... & Artist X | Kid Rock & Sheryl Crow |
| Featured Guest Artists | Main Artist(s) Feat. Guest Artist(s) | The-Dream Feat. Rick Ross & Ludacris |
| Introductions | Main Artist Presents Other Artist | Goldtrix Presents Andrea Brown |
How can I submit (upload) a Classical CD?
Please use QMP for Classical submits. It will provide a submit option that allows you to select the Display for Classical instead of General. This opens a series of extra fields specifically chosen to encourage better classical listings.
Why don’t you provide more genres?
Each developer decides which genres of ours to include in their own product, so iTunes and Winamp do not use our full list, but QMP does. See the submit section for specifics.
Can I upload my cover art?
Cover art is a more complicated area than track listings. If you have your album available through CD Baby, or if you are carried by one of the major labels (e.g. Warner, Universal, Sony, EMI) or you are on an independent label that is carried by one of the major aggregators such as. IODA, The Orchard, Iris, Consolidated Independent, Koch, Finetunes, Ingrooves, etc., then we should automatically receive your cover art for inclusion for recognition systems that license cover art along with music recognition. For iTunes, please contact Apple.
How can I get my DVD/Blu-ray included in your service?
Please send us a note with your request to support@gracenote.com, and we’ll discuss your product inclusion for future updates.
Why does my new CD show as another artist and album?
Your new CD has simply "matched" another CD in our database in terms of the exact length of the tracks (the TOC). If you submit the proper titles for your CD to our database, then people playing your CD should get the proper music recognition. Because we have a massive database, many CDs, especially CDs with very few tracks, are likely to find a possible match already here. In fact all CDs with a single track will match a CD already in our database.
When software applications, such as iTunes or Winamp, try to identify CDs in our service, they will pull up a close match, or if the software can't choose between very close potential matches, we’ll provide our "fuzzy matching" dialog asking if someone is listening to CD A or CD B.
To submit (upload) your CD, you literally type your CD information over the current information and hit the submit button (see instructions for submits above). Then you write to support@gracenote.com with exactly what you just submitted. We’ll work to get your new CD into the service over the next two days. Then when people query our service, they can get proper recognition immediately or a "fuzzy match" asking whether they're listening to CD A or CD B. The user can then select properly.
How can I join the Content Partner Program?
Most artist and label submits come through basic submit tools as outlined above. However, some major labels, book publishers, and aggregators require additional help to submit hundreds of thousands of tracks to our recognition service. If this is you, we have a free licensing program for you; please fill out this form to sign up. We’ll provide your company a custom submit tool and other submit assistance. We look forward to working with you.
Can I report a problem with lyrics to Gracenote?
Yes. We will clean up any inadvertent issues in our lyrics service. Please email current information and the corrections, and your source for the corrections (as available), to LyricsQA@gracenote.com.
Can I join the Gracenote Lyrics Partners program?
If you're a publisher or rights holder and are interested in joining our Lyrics Partner Program, follow this to learn more.
How can I include lyrics in my own book, article, etc?
In order to display copyright protected lyrics in your own work, you’ll need to obtain rights directly from the publisher. The following are industry standard online sources where you can search by song and author to locate the copyright owner, and arrange for permission:
http://www.bmi.com/search
http://ascap.com/ace/search.cfm
http://www.sesac.com/Repertory/RepertorySearch.aspx
You can find more permission information here:
http://www.halleonard.com/permissions/index.jsp
Developers
Can I develop an application that uses the Gracenote Service?
Yes, for any developers who generate revenue from their applications Gracenote offers a variety of solutions. For information about commercial licensing you can fill in the web form, or if you have questions you can contact us at GracenoteLicensing@gracenote.com.
What is the Gracenote Non-Commercial Software License?
The Gracenote Non Commercial License offers Gracenote’s CD recognition functionality, and is completely free of charge or royalties. Please note that this is for non-commercial developers only. Non-Commercial developers derive no revenue from their applications from any source. This includes, but is not limited to, direct means such as sale or licensing of the application, 'shareware' fees or update or support fees for the application.
What is Gracenote Validation?
Primarily we are verifying data integrity and compliance with the terms of the Gracenote License. Please keep in mind that we are not testing for bugs or defects in the application itself. Before submitting your application to Gracenote for validation, you should download the Validation Instructions and Checklist document. To maximize your chances of passing validation on the first try, you should check your application using this checklist before sending it to Gracenote for validation. Commercial developers should allow ten business days for the results of the first validation.
