This month, October 2011, several new features and options were developed and updated to the LicenseQuote site for all our publishing clients to discover and use. This article highlights several of the most important and frequently requested new features.

Custom metadata fields

On the Tracks/Songs admin page, you can now add and manage up to 15 unique custom metadata fields. At top of page, click the “Configure” link to open the Catalog Configuration console to see the new section for Filters and Custom Fields.

The Filter controls now lets you show or hide Brands, select the brands filter label (brands, artists, catalogs, composers or collections) and Genres and Tags.

When you check the “Name” box, you can add a custom label for your new search filter field and then optionally check it to “Show in store”. This provides enhanced searching in your store based on the set of your custom defined search filters. Examples of fields you can use: Tempos, Moods, Styles, Arrangements, Languages, Instruments, etc. This allows you to be as creative or technical as needed to offer enhanced catalog searching for your store users and licensing clients.

On the Edit Track page you’ll find your Custom Fields appear (towards bottom) with your names and a text box to enter a value.  When you Export your tracks metadata, you’ll find the new fields in the last columns. This makes it easy to edit your custom fields on a spreadsheet or text editor before importing back to your catalog.

Live demo store examples

Our Live Demo store now has some examples of the new Custom metadata search filters. In this demo the standard Brands, Genres and Tags fields are enabled (by default) for use in the store, but can now be removed from view in the store.  The next three are the new custom fields: Tempos, Eras/Styles and Arrangements. When you open any of these filters (check the combo box), you’ll see the options in the drop-down menu. Those filter options reflect the texts entered for each Track for each of those Custom fields.

Custom search filter examples

For example, for Tempos we’ve created the following options for the tracks in the live demo store: Custom tempo (for custom music services), slow tempo, mid tempo, up tempo variable tempo.

For Eras/Styles we’ve added different decades (50’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s) and styles such as Adult Contemporary, Classic Pop and Classic surf music.

For Arrangements we’ve created some short descriptions to give music supervisors an idea of what the song’s main arrangement theme is, for example: Female vocals, Male vocals, Heavy guitars, Rock guitars and Mixed vocals” to name a few.

These are just some examples to give you ideas for creating your own custom filters. Some of your descriptions may optionally overlap with the Tags which you can control depending on your preference, catalog type and existing metadata.

In this Live store demo, you’ll notice that the Tags also contain most of the Tempo and Era/Style options, which is another way for buyers to search based on their preference, and they can also “mix & match” the results from multiple filters, though usually one or two filters is fast and all that’s needed to get good results.

Pre-defined global filters

Two new search filters, Type and Source, with fixed (pre-defined) labels and keywords now appear and and are listed as follows:

Type:
Unspecified
Song/Vocal
Instrumental Melody
Instrumental Bed
Sound Design
Bumper/Stinger
Loops
Beats
Ringtone
Sound Effects

Source:
Unspecified
Original Composition
Cover
Public Domain

As a publisher, you’ll be able to select one of these standard keywords on the Edit Track page or enter on the songs.csv (metadata) file for import. These filters will then be added on the global store search, by default, for buyers to use but won’t effect the custom fields in your own store. These filters can also appear optionally in your own store by checking these On or Off on the Tracks/Songs Configure > Catalog Configuration dialog.

When entering the keywords on your metadata (songs.csv) file, be sure to use exact same spelling as used on the Edit Track page where they appear in a combo box, as shown in the list above. We recommend you first do several tracks manually and then Export the new file for further editing on your spreadsheet or other editor. This makes it easy to copy the data from any cell(s) and then paste to the rest of the tracks which apply.

White label store option

We now offer the option to remove the “Powered by LicenseQuote” byline (which appears in your store footer) to give you the option of using your LQ store as a white label product free from any co-branding. On the Advanced Settings page, you can now manage the LQ credit in store footer by turning it On or Off.

Lyrics text and search

On the Edit Track page you’ll now find a Lyrics text box you can use for tracks which have lyrics. You can enter any or all portions (verse. chorus, bridge, etc.) of the lyrics as needed. At this time they won’t appear visually in the store, but are completely searchable. For example, if one of your tracks has “California” in the lyrics fields, it will be found when using the “search keywords…” box in the store. It will also find multiple word searches.

You can enter the Lyrics texts manually on the Edit Track page or by first exporting the tracks metadata file to enter them quickly (copy & paste, etc.) on a spreasheet to prepare for importing.

Search speed improvements

The Genres and Search keywords filters have been optimized for virtually instant search results for the Global store on the Find Music page. These have always worked very fast in your local store, but now we’ve improved the search time for buyers in the global store which searches for tracks among all publishers who have opted in.

Subscription cancel/change instructions

We’ve improved the instructions on the Cancel Subscription page. In most cases its necessary to first Cancel before upgrading and account, or switching to a new custom plan. Now we explain how it works and what to expect. We remind you that if you are canceling to switch plans, you won’t lose any uploaded files, catalog metadata or other settings. Only your store is temporarily disabled, but it only takes a few minutes to select and activate a new plan, so it’s not a problem.