Recording Versions
Understanding recording versions and their metadata
A recording version represents a specific performance and production of a song. While the song holds data (lyrics, writers, publishing), the recording version holds everything about how that song was recorded and produced.
Why Separate from Songs?
One song can have multiple recordings — an original studio version, an acoustic version, a remix, a live recording. Each has different performers, production credits, and generates separate royalties. They may even be released on different labels.
Recording Version Metadata
Recording versions track production-specific information that varies between different recordings of the same song — credits, performers, master ownership, technical specs, and release details. See Recording Metadata for the full breakdown.
Primary Version
One recording version is marked as primary — this is the default shown when viewing the song. When you create a song, Songkeeper creates an "Original" version and marks it as primary automatically.
Project Association
Recording versions can be linked to projects for organization and billing. Different versions of the same song can belong to different projects — for example, your original might be for an album while a remix is for a client project.