Users, People & Roles in Velveteen
Updated June 10, 2026
Velveteen uses two distinct concepts that are easy to conflate: a Person is a credits entity (a composer, lyricist, or contributor named on a release), while a User is an account holder with scoped access to your catalog. They are separate, and one does not imply the other.
Two concepts in Velveteen are often confused because they share a word in everyday language: a person and a user. In Velveteen they are completely different objects with different purposes, and mixing them up leads to missing credits or unintended access. This page covers both clearly.
Person vs. User: the key differences
| Person | User | |
|---|---|---|
| Has a login | No | Yes |
| Can edit catalog | No | Yes (based on role) |
| Appears in credits | Yes: name travels to DSPs and PROs | Not automatically |
| Requires a Velveteen account | No | Yes |
What is a Person?
A Person is a credits entity. It represents a human contributor on a release or track: a composer, lyricist, producer, or any other named role in the liner notes. Persons appear in release metadata, publishing credits (as composer or lyricist), and DSP credits. They have a name and a contributor role; they may also carry an IPI, ISNI, or IPN number for rights-tracking purposes.
A Person is not an account. A Person does not have an email address, cannot log in, and has no access to anything in your catalog. They are purely a metadata record: the authorship information that travels with your music to stores and PROs.
Composer
The writer of the musical composition. Credited on the track and used in publishing royalty attribution. Requires an IPI number for accurate PRO reporting.
Lyricist
The author of the lyrics. A separate credit from composer when writing and music are by different people, common in co-writes.
Contributor
Any other named role on the release: arranger, producer, featured performer, remixer. The specific role appears in store metadata alongside the name.
Tip
What is a User?
A User is an account holder: an email address with login credentials and scoped access to your catalog. When you invite a manager, a bandmate, or a label admin to help run your account, you are inviting a User. They accept via email, log in with their own Velveteen account, and can see and edit exactly what you allow. Nothing more.
Access is hierarchical. You grant a User access at one of three levels, and the scope determines what they can reach.
Label-level access
The broadest scope. The user can work across all artists and releases under that label. Right for a manager who oversees your full operation or label staff handling multiple artists.
Artist-level access
Scoped to one performing identity and all of that artist's releases. Useful for bandmates, an artist's personal manager, or an A&R rep assigned to a specific act.
Release-level access
The narrowest scope. The user sees only that one release: its tracks, artwork, status, and analytics. Use this for one-off collaborators or anyone with a stake in a single project.
Permission roles
Every user is assigned one of three roles at the scope you choose.
Admin
Full control at the assigned scope. Can edit metadata, manage releases, invite or remove other users, and change settings. Use this for managers and label staff who run day-to-day operations.
Editor
Can create and update content (tracks, releases, artwork, credits) but cannot manage other users or change account-level settings. Right for bandmates and producers actively working on releases.
Viewer
Read-only. Can see releases, analytics, and status updates, but cannot make any changes. Good for investors or anyone who needs visibility without edit rights.
Heads up
Inviting and managing users
The recipient must already have a Velveteen account. Access is granted by looking up their email address. If no account exists under that email, the grant will fail; ask them to sign up first, then add them.
- 1
Navigate to the entity you want to share
Open the label, artist, or release and click the Manage Access button on its overview. - 2
Add by email
Enter the collaborator's email address and select their role (admin, editor, or viewer). Confirm to grant access. - 3
They log in
The collaborator logs in to their existing Velveteen account. Their access is active from the moment you grant it. - 4
Manage ongoing access
You can change a user's role at any time from the Manage Access dialog. To change the scope (e.g. move someone from one artist to another), remove them from the current entity and add them to the new one. Changes take effect immediately. - 5
Revoke when done
When a collaborator leaves your team, open Manage Access and remove them. Access is cut off instantly. Their person credits on any releases are unaffected.
Doing both deliberately
A band member is often both a Person and a User, but they become each through separate actions. They are a Person because their name is in the credits. They are a User if you invite them to log in and see or edit your catalog. One does not create the other.
When you add a bandmate, do both steps deliberately: credit them as a Person on the tracks where they contributed, and invite them as a User if you want them to have account access. Crediting them without inviting means they have no login access. Inviting them without crediting means the release is missing their contribution in the metadata.
Tip
Frequently asked questions
Can I credit a composer on a release without giving them account access?+
Yes. Adding a person as a credit on a track is entirely separate from inviting a user to your catalog. A composer can appear in your release credits without ever logging in to Velveteen. Only send an invite if you want them to see or edit things in your account.
Can I give someone access to just one release without them seeing my whole catalog?+
Yes. When you invite a user, you choose the scope: a specific release, a specific artist, or your entire label. Someone with release-level access sees only that release and cannot browse anything else in your account.
What happens when a user I invited leaves my team?+
Open the relevant artist, label, or release and use the Manage Access button to remove them. Their access is revoked immediately. Their person credits on releases are unaffected. Those are metadata, not access grants.
Can a collaborator invite other collaborators?+
Only admins can invite new users. Editors and viewers cannot extend access to anyone else. This prevents your team from growing without your knowledge.
Do collaborators need to pay for Velveteen?+
No. Collaborators need an existing Velveteen account. Access is granted by looking up their email, so they must sign up first if they don't have one. The subscription belongs to the account owner, not to each collaborator.
Related articles
Overview
A tour of the core building blocks: releases, tracks, artists, labels, publishers, people, and pitches, and how they fit together.
Artists vs labels
Who owns what, and why an independent artist is usually both the artist and the label.
What is a publishing house?
The entity that owns composition rights: what it is, how it differs from a label, and when you need one.
What is a person?
A metadata record for anyone who appears in track credits. No account, no login: purely a credits entity.
Identifiers: ISNI, IPN, IPI
Three identifiers with three purposes: ISNI for name disambiguation, IPN for performer royalties, IPI for composer PRO matching.