ID3 Tag Formatting and Style

I try to keep it simple.

I’ll put the artist, title, year if I can get it, and the date I received the MP3 in the comments section.

For the Genre, I keep it simple and not get deep into subgenres. I’ll usually organize things into subgenres in folders and iTunes, but not on the genre part. Most of the reason is I like to keep things “open for translation”. One person’s deep house is another person’s tech house.

I also don’t like to put “additional info” on the song names. Just the title and remix. I’ll even get rid of the “featuring _____” things i see put in titles.

Here’s an example. Say I got this track:

Stefano Prada & DJ Vaven – “Waiting for Your Love” feat. Sidney King (Big Room Mix)

I’ll lay out the ID3 tag as so:

Artist: Stefano Prada & DJ Vaven featuring Sidney King
Title: Waiting for Your Love (Big Room Mix)
Genre: House
Year: 2011
Comment: 2011-07-10

Since I use MP3Tag to do my music, I’ll then use the program along with a batch rename thing I like to use and come up with the final FILE NAME as

Stefano_Prada_and_DJ_Vaven _F_Sidney_King-Waiting_for_Your_Love_(Big Room Mix).mp3

I’d then file it into a folder and playlist called “House – Trendy” and move on.

That’s just how I like to do it. I like my files to be easily understandable anywhere and organized so I don’t have to jam tons of info into the file name or ID3 Tag. I’ve only now started putting in album art when I get it.

I don’t think we need to standardize, because everyone has their own way of organizing music. Plus to standardize would mean DJs were sharing music, thus the outcome of a standard system of naming and tagging.

Now I do think the MP3 Stores like Beatport should force a standard on the artists who put their tunes up for sale, but I think they do that now.

I’d say tagging software is a must. Those two software titles I linked to in my last reply are both freeware.

I used to do it all manually (Right-Click and select “Properties”), but since I started using MP3Tag, it’s so much easier.

I agree with D-Jam’s comments but would add that because some tracks have words in curved brackets that are part of the song, I always put the mix name itself in square brackets. It looks better too!

The important thing for me is consistency in how you tag so that when you search in iTunes or whatever software, you find what you need. e.g. using “vs” instead of “vs.”, “featuring” instead of “feat.”, capitalise each word of a title or artist, unless they are joining words such as “and”.

I also try to put the record label in the ‘album’ field when it’s a single so I can search for tracks from a particular label.