Why All RSS Generators Repeat Tags (Author, Explicit) at Item Level Too?

Question

Why All RSS Generators Repeat Tags (Author, Explicit) at Item Level Too?

Why does every RSS feed I have found redundantly show the tags of itunes:author and itunes:explicit at both the channel level and in every single episode?

If the itunes:author is "Jane Smith Studios" and an individual episode has no changes to that, then why does the RSS feed show the tag itunes:author in the channel *and also again* in the item?

When there is no change from channel to item for the image or the location, then we do *not* repeat that identical info for each individual item (episode).

But!

For some reason, a channel with the same author at both the channel (series) level and episods level for every episode will repeat that information.

The case is the same for itunes:explicit. If my channel (series) is clean, then the channel tag for itunes:explicit is false. Yet every episode re-declares that the episode is also clean.

Why repeat these tags in every item (episode) if *neither changes* and if the tags (itunes:author, itunes:explicit) *already* appeared at the channel level?

(Is there some historical reason to Apple or iTunes using or demanding this?)

Thank you for reading.

Posted on Dec 14, 2024 11:09 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Dec 14, 2024 12:41 PM in response to TheYellowLight

Quite simply many different apps use those tags. And since some may or may not look at the channel level info - you want to make sure for example if you have one episode where there is an F-bomb dropped - you can flag that specific episode "explicit" while all the others are not.

It is about flexibility - and again not knowing what every app does in each case.

Rob W

Reply

Answer 2

Dec 14, 2024 04:09 PM in response to Robert Walch

What confuses is me why someone would ever need to *re-post* the lack of explicit language (i.e., the F-bombs) within an episode if the channel as a whole is clean.

Set that aside for now.

The author part is more confusing. The value for itunes:author usually ends up being the Album Artist on IDv3 tags and the production network or person or LLC behind the operation. If it is the same in an episode as in the channel, then why bother reiterating that fact? You do not reiterate the location or other details when they do not change. If you do not have a special itunes:image for the item, the podcast application will simply default to using the channel-level itunes:image (or image) tag.

This leads me to a point I want to dig deeper on. If you did not include the itunes:author at the item level and expected everyone to just assume the channel-level itunes:author held true for the episode, then what would happen? Is there an index and/or a program out there that would say “No Album Artist” or “[Series name] by Unknown”? If one exists, I have yet to encounter it.

Thank you for your comments and the information about how RSS generators just like to play it safe and cover all bases. The answer is not too satisfying—through not fault of your own, just the fact that the most likely rationale does not make a lot of sense.

Reply

Answer 3

Dec 14, 2024 05:46 PM in response to TheYellowLight

From my research on various generators repeating identical tags in items when the individual episode does *not* differ from the channel’s settings.

itunes:image – No

image – No

copyright – No

podcast:license – No

podcast:location – No

rawvoice:location – No

rawvoice:rating – No

spotify:countryOfOrigin – No

itunes:author – Yes

itunes:explicit – Yes

Apparently, the tags’ being from Apple has no bearing on this. Again, I can see how distributors and government authorities want to have the lack of explicitness positively asserted for every episode, but the itunes:author one stands out as having no justification that I can see.

Reply

Why All RSS Generators Repeat Tags (Author, Explicit) at Item Level Too?

Similar questions