Templates tell Curve how to read a income file, describing each column in the sheet and how to map its specific values. Thanks to our Templates, there is no need to copy-paste any income data from your statement into a structured format. Your objective when creating a Template is to set it up in such a way that you can import your income files straight onto Curve without the need to make any manual changes to your statements prior to importing.

When dropping an income file into Curve using our Bulk Upload tool, Curve will automatically search for a fitting Template in our Template Library. Our library covers the statement format of hundreds of streaming and download platforms, distributors, collection societies and sub-publishers. Only when you import a income file that is in a format that is not recognised by Curve will you need to create your own Template or adjust an existing Template from our Library.

Our Template Library covers hundreds of statement formats. Before you create your own Template, please try uploading your sales file to Curve using our Bulk Import tool. If Curve uploaded your income files successfully using a Template from our Library & you are happy with the outcome, then you do not need to create your own Template.

In the below video, we explain how you can create your own Template. Further down this article, we provide you with notes and further reading.

To get started, go to the Income > Templates page. On this page, hit +Create on the top right of your screen to create a new Template. You will be presented with two options ‘From New’ or ‘From Library’. Meaning you can create your own Template from scratch, or download and adjust an existing one from our Library. The below steps instruct you on how to create a Template ‘From New’.

1

Name your Template – Provide a clear name for your own reference

2

Name the Source –  Who sent you the statement that you are creating this Template for? This is important, as any unknown work identifiers in your income file will be stored down per Source. More info

3

Specify the Tab Number – On which Tab Number of the Excel spreadsheet is the sales data specified?

4

Specify the Header Row – The Headers describe the columns of your sales file. Which Row are these Headers on?

5

Specify the Starting Row – Starting from which row does your sales file provide actual sales data that you want Curve to read?

6

If necessary, provide a Delimiter or File Type – If your data is separated by a character such as a comma or a semi-colon, rather than data being stored in different columns, you may need to specify this delimiter here. If your sheet has a special type of encoding where each column has a fixed width rather than a delimiter, you may need to set the File Type field to PRO.

7

Upload your Example File – Now that you have told Curve where to read the data in your income file, you can upload your income file as an example. Once you have attached your file, hit Save. This will upload the file, and then display some example lines for you to work with.

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Match Columns to Fields – Once the upload of the test file is complete, you need to tell the system which columns contain data for the Required Fields. If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you’ll see the Example Lines panel, where a sample set of data is displayed. The objective here is to match the columns of data to the necessary Fields using the drop-down options at the top of the columns.

The main fields to consider when mapping columns to fields are:

9

Provide missing values using the Defaults – With any reporting, there will be elements that are not explicitly defined in the data, but are instead inferred or provided in additional communications. For instance, a PRS statement may not define the channel, which is of course Performance. Or, your statement may not specify the currency in which you are paid. In these instances, you can provide these values using the Standard Fields. Put simply, you can set the values that will be stored as a default for every income line, unless a more specific value is read from the original income lines.

Once all of your necessary columns have been matched, hit Save and your income template is now complete and ready to import income data.

Target Cells – Sometimes income file-wide data such as the Sale Date, the Currency or the Source will be specified in a single cell rather than a column. If so, you can use Target Cells to read this data and apply it to all the sales lines. More info

Copy Fields – When one column holds data that should be mapped to two or more fields (such as one column being used to specify both the Net Amount and Gross Amount), you can use a Copy Field to copy the data stored in one field to another. More info

Sub Source Mapping – This can be used to adjust the spelling of the Sub Source values provided in the income file. You may prefer SPOTIFY to be spelt as Spotify for example

Calculations – These can be used to combine columns, ignore rows, adjust values or perform a myriad of other operations on the data in the income file. More info

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