Update Art Tracks

The features described in this article are available only to partners who use YouTube’s Content Manager to manage their copyrighted content.

If the Art Track for one of your sound recordings displays incorrect track information, you can update the Art Track by providing YouTube with the corrected information. You provide updates using the same method you used to deliver the original sound recordings:

Upload a new version of the Art Track upload spreadsheet
Submit a new DDEX file

Update messages must include all of the metadata for the sound recording, not just the corrected values. For example, if you originally provided a custom ID for the recording, you need to include the custom ID in the update message. To update a single track in an album, you must include the metadata for all tracks on the album, even those that don’t have any changes.

If you are updating any of the media files used for the Art Track, upload the files along with the spreadsheet or DDEX file. The media files must meet the required specifications. You don’t need to re-upload any media files that aren’t changing.

Request an Art Track takedown

The features described in this article are available only to partners who use YouTube’s Content Manager to manage their copyrighted content.

If you need the Art Track for one of your sound recordings to be taken down from YouTube, you issue a takedown request using the same method you used to deliver the original sound recordings:

Upload a new version of the Art Track upload spreadsheet with the ownership rights removed for the tracks you want to take down. Any track without a value for track_territory_start_dates is taken down.
Submit a new DDEX file that has the <TakeDown> tag set to True for the track you want to remove.

If you submit an Art Track spreadsheet to request a takedown for a recording delivered using DDEX, the spreadsheet must identify the recording using the same identifiers (GRid, EAN, or UPC) as the original DDEX file.

Replace an Art Track with a premium music video

The features described in this article are available only to partners who use YouTube’s Content Manager to manage their copyrighted content.

Every YouTube sound recording asset has an official video associated with it. If you don’t provide a premium music video for a recording, YouTube shows an Art Track.

To set the official video, YouTube looks for a Music Video asset with the same ISRC as the Sound Recording asset. The official video is the YouTube video that you uploaded to a channel you own and claimed on behalf of the Music Video asset. If the Music Video asset claims more than one video, YouTube uses the most popular one (that is, the one with the greatest number of views).

To edit the official video for a sound recording, you must be the content owner with rights to the ISRC.

To associate a music video with a sound recording:

From the Assets page, find and open the asset for the sound recording.
On the asset detail page, click OFFICIAL VIDEO in the tab bar.The lower portion of the page shows the video currently associated with this recording.
Click the pencil icon in the upper right to edit the list.
Find the music video asset you want to use as the official music video for this sound recording, and click the check box in its row.
Click Save.

Fix incorrect track, album, or artist information

The features described in this article are available only to partners who use YouTube’s Content Manager to manage their copyrighted content.

The information shown in an Art Track comes from the metadata in the “Audio – Art Tracks” spreadsheet or DDEX file you used to deliver the sound recording. See Creating Art Tracks for details about which metadata fields map to the Art Track and its description.

If the Art Track or its description has incorrect information, you can correct it by delivering a new version of the metadataor by requesting a takedown of the Art Track and redelivering the sound recording.

YouTube creates just one Art Track for each ISRC. If a sound recording appears on multiple albums, or if more than one music partner submits the same ISRC for the same territories, YouTube creates the Art Track and sets its ownership from the submission with the earliest release date.

Fix incorrect information on the artist page

The features described in this article are available only to partners who use YouTube’s Content Manager to manage their copyrighted content.

YouTube generates the artist pages for the music service with an algorithm that pulls in the information you send us and pairs it with recent information from the web. We cannot update the information manually. The best way to update the artist image or discography is to keep your entry in Wikipedia and MusicBrainz updated.

Fix poor audio quality

The features described in this article are available only to partners who use YouTube’s Content Manager to manage their copyrighted content.

If the audio quality is poor, check to make sure that the file you delivered meets the specifications. If you delivered an MP3 file, for example, it likely has a low bit rate causing it to sound poor on YouTube. Redeliver the track with a higher quality audio file, preferably in an uncompressed format.

Resolve missing content or ownership rights

The features described in this article are available only to partners who use YouTube’s Content Manager to manage their copyrighted content.

After successful delivery of your sound recordings, it can take up to 48 hours before the asset shows in the content management system and the Art Track appears on youtube.com.

If you delivered your sound recording over 48 hours ago but you still don’t see the asset or the Art Track, check that you provided the correct ownership data for the recording.

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Update Art Tracks