How to Create a Template
Templates tell Curve how to read a sales file, describing each column in the sheet & how to map specific values. Thanks to our Templates, there is no need to copy-paste any sales data from your statement into a structured format. The objective of a Template is for it to be set up in such a way that you can import your sales files straight onto Curve without the need to make any manual changes to your statements prior to importing.
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 sales files successfully using a Template from our Library & you are happy with the outcome, then you do not need to create your own Template.
How to Create a Template
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- Name your Template – Provide a clear name for your own reference
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- Name the Source – Who sent you the statement that you are creating this Template for?
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- Specify the Tab Number – On which Tab Number of the Excel spreadsheet is the sales data specified?
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- Specify the Header Row – The Headers describe the columns of your sales file. Which Row are these Headers on?
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- Specify the Starting Row – Starting from which row does your sales file provide actual sales data that you want Curve to read?
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- If necessary, provide a Delimiter and Encoding – 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, such as UTF-8 or UTF-16, you may need to specify this also. If in doubt, generally, the Delimiter and Encoding field can be left blank.
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- Upload your Example File – Now that you have told Curve where to read the data in your sales file, you can upload your sales 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.
- Territory– the country where something was streamed, downloaded or sold.
- Source– the streaming platform, download store, or physical store.
- Sub Source– who has reported this file, if different from the Source. For instance, you may use this to capture the distributor supplying the sales file.
- Distribution Channel– the overarching consumption type (usually Physical or Digital).
- Configuration– the format or more specific consumption type; perhaps CD or 12″ for physical, or Download or Stream for digital.
- Release Title
- Release Artist
- Cat No– used to match any sales rows to your release.
- Barcode– used along with Cat No for matching to release.
- Track Title
- Track Artist
- ISRC– key identifier for matching sales to track.
- Units– the number of units sold or streamed.
- Gross Amount– this may be the amount received from the store or DSP, before any distribution fees are taken.
- Net Amount– the amount being paid to you.
- Original Currency– the currency in which you are reported your Gross and Net Amount.
- Sale Date – the day the download or stream was made.
- Transaction Date – the day you were paid.
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- Provide missing values using the Defaults – With any reporting, there will be elements that are not explicitly defined in the data, but is instead inferred or provided in additional communications. For instance, a Spotify statement will not define the channel, which is of course Digital. 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 by default on every sales line unless a more specific value is read from the original sales file.
Creating Templates for Sales Files with Multiple Tabs
Some sales sources may deliver files with multiple tabs that contain sales data you need to ingest. If there is a template created for each tab in the file, Curve will parse the tabs into separate sales files on import.
To do this, create a template for each tab by changing the Tab value in the template's Overview section and importing the file to populate the example lines. Create the template as you normally would by assigning the correct fields to each column, assigning default values and Target Cells, setting Copy Fields and Calculations as necessary, and enabling Catalogue Overwrite Sales where applicable.
Keep in mind that these files may contain hidden tabs that will throw off the Tab count. Make sure to unhide all tabs to set the Tab value correctly.
Some sources may not always deliver their files with the tabs in the same order. In this case, we recommend reorganizing the tabs in the established order before importing the file.