ANSWER · DJ SOFTWARE & EXPORT
Tags embedded in a Club Ready Songs MP3
“What tags and metadata are embedded in a Club Ready Songs MP3?”
A Club Ready Songs MP3 is tagged for DJ software on the way out. It carries standard ID3v2.3 text frames for title, artist, album, genre, BPM and key, a comment that spells out the key in three notations and the cue times, embedded cover art, and Serato-format hot cues with a beat grid. Nothing needs to be typed in after import.
Text tags
| Frame | Content |
|---|---|
| Title | Your song name, with "(Extended Mix)" if that option is on |
| Artist | The artist or DJ name you entered |
| Album | Club Ready Songs |
| Genre | Your first-picked genre, or Electronic if none |
| BPM (TBPM) | The BPM you set |
| Key (TKEY) | Short musical name, such as Am or F#m |
| Comment | Camelot code, Open Key code, musical name, BPM, intro and outro bar counts, and Club Ready Songs |
The key appears three ways because DJ software disagrees on notation. Rekordbox and Serato read musical names and Camelot; Traktor uses Open Key. Writing all three means every program shows something useful without analysis.
Cover art
The generated cover JPEG is embedded as the front-cover picture frame once it has finished rendering. If you re-roll the cover later, re-download the MP3 to get the new art.
Hot cues and grid
Serato stores hot cues and beat grids inside the MP3 itself, so Club Ready Songs writes them there. Up to eight coloured cues, intro end in red, drop in orange, outro in blue, vocal in in green, and a grid with its first marker on beat one at your BPM. Serato shows them on load. Rekordbox does not read Serato cues from the file, which is why the DJ pack includes a rekordbox XML with the same marks.
When tags are written
Tags are written in two stages. The mastering step writes the text frames and the comment immediately. A final pass runs once both the audio and the cover art have arrived and adds the artwork, the cue colours and the grid, then marks the take as final. Downloading before that pass gives you a file with text tags but no cover; the DJ pack builder adds the final tags on the fly, so the pack is always complete.
The WAV
The WAV carries the same text tags in its metadata chunk where the format allows, but not the cover art, hot cues or grid. Use the MP3 for library work and the WAV for processing.
Editing afterwards
All of these are ordinary tags. A tag editor, your DJ software or a DAW can change any of them. If your software analyses the file and overwrites BPM or key with its own detection, the original values remain in the comment field for reference.
Frequently asked
Can I change the tags?
Yes. Any tag editor or DJ software can rewrite them. Renaming a track in the studio before the final tag pass updates the title.
Why does the album say Club Ready Songs?
The album field groups your renders in DJ software. Change it if you prefer a release title.