Is there a way to access/edit capitalization rules?
I used to work in a job where I had to conform metadata in a massive CMS to the iTunes style guide and I am very used to all the capitalization and formatting rules for several languages. I recently had my library inspected and all suspicious capitalization corrected, however whatever rules Beauties is using are different from what I'm used to. Examples are:
Beatunes correcting to "(Feat. )" instead of "(feat. )"
Beatunes correcting to "Onto" instead of "onto" (when in the middle of a sentence)
Beatunes correcting to "From" instead of "from" (when in the middle of a sentence)
Is there a way to access and edit these rules? If this is hard encoded into the program can I work with someone to help make updates to these rules? Below is a link to the current iTunes style guide, which is what all DSPs conform to.
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Support Staff 1 Posted by hendrik on 16 Sep, 2024 08:24 AM
Hey Mason,
thanks for making me aware of this.
No, the rules cannot be configured, but are hardcoded. That said, I'm willing to change them, if there are obvious mistakes (from, onto, into, ...).
-hendrik
2 Posted by Mason Bushard on 16 Sep, 2024 05:01 PM
Thank you, Hendrik; I appreciate your response and willingness to update the capitalization rules!
I worked in music distribution and publishing/licensing for 10+ years, so I’m very familiar with these guidelines. Of course, each language has its different capitalization rules, the examples I gave previously are specifically for English. All language capitalization rules should be listed in the iTunes/Apple Music style guide I linked you to. Since Apple had the biggest market share for the longest time in the early days and has the strictest guidelines of all the digital service providers, all other DSPs just conform to their rules.
If there’s any way I can help out, please let me know; I really enjoy your program and use it for building playlists for my DJ sets and managing my digital library!
Support Staff 3 Posted by hendrik on 17 Sep, 2024 02:25 PM
Are you aware of any other errors, besides "feat.", "into", "onto", or "from"?
4 Posted by Mason Bushard on 20 Sep, 2024 10:25 PM
Hi Hendrik,
Those were the ones I noticed the most; I browsed through my library again and noticed a few others:
“On” , “With” , “Yet” , “So”.
The section in the Apple Music style guide pretty much reflects the Chicago Manual of Style. This is the section from Apple’s styleguide regarding capitalization:
——————— ——————— ——————— ——————— ——————— ——————— ———————
Casing and Accents
3.20. Non-standard Capitalization. Titles should not be in all capitals, all lowercase, or
random casing.
3.21. English Title Casing. English titles should be in title case format and follow the casing
conventions as outlined below. In addition, for English, words before and after a dash (-),
slash (/), or colon (:) must be capitalized.
This section applies to titles in English only. For general cases not addressed in this guide,
refer to .
The following words must be in lowercase, with a few exceptions:
a, an, and, as, but, for, from, nor, of, or, so, the, to, and yet.
Prepositions of four letters or fewer (at, by, for, from, in, into, of, off, on, onto, out, over,
to, up, and with), except when the word is part of a verb phrase or is used as another
part of speech (such as an adverb, adjective, noun, or verb).
Examples:
In the Still of the Night
(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman
To Be, or Not to Be
The One and Only
God Willing & the Creek Don't Rise
Some Kind of Trouble
Love: And a Million Other Things
Journey: Greatest Hits
I Need a Doctor
Just the Way You Are
Waiting for the End
The Ballad of Mona Lisa
Lost in a Pair of Eyes
I Got The - Single
The Love I’m Searching For
The Chicago Manual of Style
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https://help.apple.com/itc/musicstyleguide/en.lproj/static.html 32/68
Exceptions For Lowercase Words
Always capitalize the first and last word in a title. Capitalize the first and last word in
parentheses. For example:
To Be, or Not to Be
What They're Looking For
War (What Is It Good For?)
(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman
These rules also apply for purposely misspelled words.
In da House
Kill 'Em n' Grill 'Em
It's fo' Realz
Uppercase Words in Title Case
Are, If, Is, It, Than, That, This
3.22. Accents and Characters. Supported languages must include all accents. For a list of
supported languages, see in the iTunes Package Music Specification.
Examples:
Hôtel d’Angleterre
Révérence
Kärlek är ett brev skickat tusen gånger
Max Gazzè
L’uomo più furbo
Les plus belles chansons françaises
Un monstre à Paris ! (du film « Un monstre à Paris »)
Vài Lần Đón Đưa
For German names and titles, all characters common in German orthography must be used
(for example, Ä ä, Ö ö, Ü ü, ß). Do not use digraphs.
Correct Incorrect
Ihre größten Erfolge Ihre groessten Erfolge
1000 Träume weit 1000 Traeume weit
——————— ——————— ——————— ——————— ——————— ——————— ———————
And below is for international languages if you’re curious:
——————— ——————— ——————— ——————— ——————— ——————— ———————
Europe, Russia, Central Asia, and South Asia
Language Guidelines
Western Europe
9.1. Spanish and Portuguese Casing. For Spanish and Portuguese titles, you can decide
on either title or sentence casing, as long as the casing is consistent throughout a given
album. Capitalize the first word in parentheses or brackets.
In addition, words after a dash ( - ) or slash ( / ) should be capitalized. Words after a ( : )
should be lowercase, except for series and medleys.
Examples:
Luz da Tua Voz (Ao Vivo)
Popurrí: Guitarras de media noche / Ya no me quieres / Paloma querida (En directo)
Sevillanas: La vuelta del camino
Adiós querida mía: que te vaya bien
The following Spanish words should always be in lowercase (if title casing is used, these are
also the only words that should be lowercase):
a e las por
al el los un
de en o una
del la para y
The following Portuguese words should always be in lowercase (if title casing is used, these
are also the only words that should be lowercase):
8/27/24, 11:42 AM Apple Music Style Guide
https://help.apple.com/itc/musicstyleguide/en.lproj/static.html 41/68
a das nas pela
à de no pelas
ao do nos pelo
aos dos o pelos
as e os por
pra pro às em
ou um da na
para uma
9.2. Swedish, French, Italian, and Scandinavian Sentence Casing. Titles should follow
the casing conventions of the language it is in. Common language locales that should be in
sentence-case format are Swedish, French, Italian, and Scandinavian languages.
Note: A space before and after punctuation marks made up of two parts is required for
French content.
Album Title Track Title
L’amour dans la rue Jonques de pêcheurs au crépuscule
Il mondo che vorrei Les chants magnétiques
C’è chi dice no Il mondo che vorrei
Hoppa upp! E adesso che tocca a me
För sent för edelweiss Kärlek är ett brev skickat tusen gånger
Swing de Paris Sur les monts d'Auvergne
9.3. German Casing. German titles should use sentence case, and the first letter of every
noun should be capitalized:
Album Title Track Title
Was ihr wollt Ich tu dir weh
So ist das Spiel Dicke Mädchen haben schöne Namen
9.4. Hörspiel Formatting. Hörspiel (a German dramatized performance or reading) titles
must be formatted as follows:
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Album Title Folge 103: Der Hexenschatz
Track Titles Bibi Blocksberg Lied
Kapitel 1: Florian braucht Hilfe
Kapitel 2: Mit Sina zum Palast
Kapitel 3: Im Labyrinth der Steine
Kapitel 4: Braue den Hextrank!
Note: The language for all parts or chapters must be “Teil” or “Kapitel.”
Hörspiel that are not part of a series but may be based on a movie or TV show must be
formatted as follows:
Album Title Cars 2 (Das Original-Hörspiel zum Film)
Track Titles Cars 2 - Teil 1
Cars 2 - Teil 2
Cars 2 - Teil 3
Cars 2 - Teil 4
Eastern Europe
9.5. Cyrillic Languages. Content in languages that use the Cyrillic alphabet should not be
submitted with transliterated titles. Use Cyrillic in the native title field, English in the English
localization field, and transliteration in the available phonetic field. Localizations and
transliterations are not required.
Field Name Russian (Native) English (Localization)
Album Title О нём About Him
Album Artist Ирина Дубцова Irina Dubtsova
Track Title Шёлк Silk
Track Artist Ирина Дубцова Irina Dubtsova
Track Title Перекрёстки Crossroads
Track Artist Ирина Дубцова Irina Dubtsova
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Field Name Ukrainian (Native) English (Localization)
Album Title Мiра Measure
Album Artist Океан Eльзи Okean Elzy
Track Title День у день Day by Day
Track Artist Океан Eльзи Okean Elzy
Track Title Зеленi очi Green Eyes
Track Artist Океан Eльзи Okean Elzy
9.6. Cyrillic Casing. Titles in Cyrillic alphabet should be submitted in sentence case format.
India
9.7. Music Directors. All music directors must be listed. For soundtrack albums, music
directors must be credited with both the Composer and Primary role at the album level. At
the track level, music directors must be listed with the Composer role.
For Indian Classical albums, music directors must be listed with the Composer role on
tracks. If the album contains selections of unknown authorship, such as folk songs, chants,
or devotionals, use Anonymous or Traditional as the composer.
9.8. Lyricists for Indian Musicals. Lyricists must be credited with both the Lyricist and
Primary roles at the album level. At the track level, lyricists must be listed with the Lyricist
role and can be listed with the Primary role.
9.9. Actors. Actors must be listed in the Actor role and must not be credited as Primary on
soundtrack albums. For more information, see .
9.10. Classical Artist Roles. For classical albums, the main performers must be listed as
Primary at the album and track level. Artist listings include all relevant artists and
contributors to a given song or album. For Jugalbandi albums, all the artists must be listed
as Primary at the album and track level. Composers must be in the Composer role only.
9.11. Formatting of Classical Track Titles. Track titles for Indian classical music must
include the lyrics, raga, tala, and Indian classical genre information (Thumri, Khayal, Tarana,
and so on). Variations or abbreviations of Raga and Taal (such as, raaga, raag, rag, tal, and
so on) not be used in the album or track title. Generic titles like Bhajan, Dhun, Ragam, or
Tanam are not acceptable.
Indian Classical Vocal Album
Naming Conventions and Rules
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Field Name Metadata Notes
Album Title Worship by Music: Pandit Jasraj
(Live at Indian Night Stuttgart,
1988)
Album Artist Pandit Jasraj (Primary) Singer
Sabir Khan (Not Primary) Tabla player
Sultan Khan (Not Primary) Sarangi player
Genres Indian Classical Primary genre
Vocal Secondary genre
Track Title Raga Ahir Bhairav: Khayal In
Slow Ek Taal Rasiya Mhara/
Khayal In Fast Teen Taal Aaj to
Anand (Live)
Track title with lyrics, raga, and
taal information.
Track Artist Pandit Jasraj (Primary) Singer
Pandit Jasraj (Primary) Tabla player
Sultan Khan (Primary) Sarangi player
Indian Classical Instrumental Album
Field Name Metadata Notes
Album Title India's Maestro of Melody: Live
Concert, Vol. 7
Playlist marked ‘Live’
Album Artist Pandit Nikhil Banerjee (Primary) Sitar player
Anindo Chatterjee (Not Primary) Tabla player
Genres Indian Classical Primary genre
Instrumental Secondary genre
Track Title Raga Maru Bihag: Alap, Jod
(Live)
Track marked ‘Live’
Track Artist Pandit Nikhil Banerjee (Primary) Sitar player
Anindo Chatterjee (Primary) Tabla player
Indian Classical Jugalbandi Instrumental Album
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Field Name Metadata Notes
Album Title Jugal Bandi – Saxophone &
Clarinet
Album Artist Kadri Gopalnath (Primary) Saxophone player
Narasimhalu Vadavati (Primary) Clarinet player
Genres Indian Classical Primary genre
Instrumental Secondary genre
Track Artist Kadri Gopalnath (Primary) Sitar player
Narasimhalu Vadavati (Primary) Tabla player
Other Asia-Pacific Countries and Regions
10.1. Chinese Artist Localizations. Chinese content must always have the Traditional and
Simplified Chinese name of the artist listed: one in the native field, and the other one in the
localization field.
10.2. Chinese or Korean Artists Without Western Names. If the artist does not have a
Western name, the phonetic artist name may be listed in localizations in the order of “Family
Name Given Name.” The phonetic artist name may be listed in English localization:
Field Name Korean English
Album Artist 박지윤 Park Ji Yoon
10.3. Chinese Localizations. Chinese language content must be submitted with both
Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese metadata, with one language being used in the
primary language field and the other in the localization field. Japanese language content
should be submitted with both Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese metadata when
available.
10.4. Phonetics. Providing phonetics enhances the discoverability of your content. Use
phonetics in the phonetic fields. Use Katakana or Hiragana for Japanese, and Roman
characters for the other languages. Symbols (stars, hearts, and so on) must not be used in
any phonetic fields. Here are a few examples:
Chinese - Roman characters
Japanese - Katakana/Hiragana characters
Thai - Roman characters
10.5. Format of Title Version Information for Chinese Soundtracks and Scores. When
indicating the soundtrack in Chinese, the title of movie or TV drama must be enclosed in
Chinese guillemets《》, irrespective of the album or track level.
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Album Title English
Localization
Chinese (Album Level) Chinese (Track Level)
Dear EX (Original Motion Picture
Soundtrack)
《谁先爱上他的》电影原声带 爱上你 (feat. 万芳)《[ 谁先爱上他
的》电影主题曲]
Speed (Original TV Series) 《極速青春》劇集原聲帶 極速青春《( 極速青春》劇集同名
主題曲)
10.6. Anime Artist Names. Anime artist names can include both the character name and
voice actor in a single field. “CV” stands for “Character Voice.” For example: 綾瀬陽菜(CV:花
澤香菜).
Support Staff 5 Posted by hendrik on 29 Sep, 2024 08:29 AM
Thanks.
Support Staff 6 Posted by hendrik on 04 Oct, 2024 07:38 AM
Hey Mason,
5.2.35 (out now) should address some of these issues. Please let me know, if you find any more.
Thanks,
-hendrik
Support Staff 7 Posted by hendrik on 04 Oct, 2024 07:38 AM
I should add: I have worked on English only.