What Is a Person in Velveteen
Updated June 11, 2026
A Person in Velveteen is a credits entity: a metadata record for anyone who appears as a composer, lyricist, contributor, or performer on a track. Persons have no login, no email, and no subscription. They are completely separate from user accounts.
Person vs. user
These are two entirely different concepts in Velveteen that are easy to confuse.
Person
A credits metadata record. No login, no email. Appears in track credits as a composer, lyricist, contributor, or performer. Carries industry identifiers for royalty collection.
User
An account holder with login credentials and scoped access to your catalog. Can be invited to manage releases, artists, and other entities via permission roles.
The same real person can be both. A collaborator might have a user account for catalog access and a person record for track credits. These are created and managed separately. Velveteen does not link them automatically.
Linked records vs. free-text names
When crediting someone on a track, you can link a person record or type a name directly. The full explanation of how each option affects DSP delivery is on the Contributors and performers page.
Frequently asked questions
Can I credit someone without creating a person record?+
Yes. Both contributor and performer credit fields accept a free-text name if no person record exists. The linked person record is optional but recommended: it carries identifiers (IPI, IPN) that flow through to DSPs for royalty matching. See the Contributors and performers spoke for the full detail.
Who can edit a person record?+
Access is controlled by person_permissions. Anyone with editor or admin access to the person record can edit it. Viewer access is read-only. You grant access from the person detail page.
What is the difference between a person and an artist?+
An artist is a performing identity with a public DSP presence. It appears on store pages and in release title lines. A person is a credits record with no public profile. It appears in track credits for contributors, performers, and songwriters.
Can a person record be shared across multiple tracks?+
Yes. Once created, a person record can be linked to contributor, performer, and songwriter credits on any number of tracks. Their identifiers (IPI, IPN, ISNI) are included in each delivery automatically.
Related articles
Overview
Credits entities with no login: composers, lyricists, contributors, and performers, and the identifiers that connect them to collecting societies.
Identifiers: ISNI, IPN, IPI
Three identifiers with three purposes: ISNI for name disambiguation, IPN for performer royalties, IPI for composer PRO matching.
Users, people & roles
Two distinct concepts: a Person is a credits entity on a release; a User is an account holder with scoped access. Neither implies the other.