AIM Specification

AIM stands for Attribution & Ingestion Manifest for Music.

AIM is an open specification for media engineering packages that support:

• scorable karaoke and vocal coaching workflows
• AI-editable audio workflows
• WEB multi-track playback
• disclosure-ready downstream rights and provenance workflows

The current published specification in this repository is AIM 1.20.0 (Final).

What AIM is

AIM is a package format centered on a single authoritative manifest, structured references, edit metadata, provenance pointers, rights policy, and profile-based conformance rules for writers, readers, and validators.

AIM is designed for workflows where audio is not just a file to play, but an engineering package that may also include:

• multi-track audio assets
• lyric timing references
• pitch and rhythm references for scoring
• edit lineage and AI process metadata
• preview assets and waveform indexes
• package identity and rights metadata
• provenance pointers and disclosure references
• profile-based interoperability declarations

Repository contents

spec/
  AIM_1.20.0.md
examples/
  packages/
    minimal_multitrack/
    minimal_web_streaming/
    minimal_karaoke/
    minimal_ai_editable/
    minimal_disclosure_ready_ai_generated/
    minimal_disclosure_ready_no_ai/
    minimal_signed_attached/
  README.md
announcements/
  github_release_v1.20.0.md
  launch_post_long.md
  launch_post_short.md
checklists/
  release_checklist.md
tools/
  validate_examples.py
  validate_examples_output.txt
CHANGELOG.md
FAQ.md
RELEASE_NOTES_v1.20.0.md
ROADMAP.md
VERSIONING.md

Current release status

This repository is still a spec-first release.

That means:

• the specification is public now
• example AIM packages are included now
• a small non-normative checker for bundled examples is included now
• converter, player, validator, and editor implementations may be released later as separate or follow-up projects

Conformance subsets covered by the examples

The bundled example packages are aligned with the main minimum subsets defined by the specification:

• minimal multi-track playback
• minimal WEB streaming
• minimal karaoke scoring
• minimal AI-editable package
• minimal disclosure-ready package with AI-generated content
• minimal disclosure-ready package with explicit no-AI declaration
• minimal signed-attached package structure

These examples are intended to help implementers understand package layout, manifest structure, profile declarations, and minimum required references.

Getting started

1. Read spec/AIM_1.20.0.md.
2. Inspect the example packages under examples/packages/.
3. Run tools/validate_examples.py to check the bundled examples.
4. Use the examples as reference material when building a writer, reader, validator, converter, player, or editor.

Repository scope

This repository is for the AIM specification itself.

It is the right place for:

• specification issues
• clarification requests
• change proposals
• example package discussion
• conformance and interoperability questions

It is not intended to be the permanent home for all future AIM applications. Reference tools may be published separately.

Versioning and compatibility

AIM specification versions use SemVer.

The current release is v1.20.0. Future updates should preserve a clear changelog and release note trail so implementers can track compatibility expectations over time.

License

This repository uses a split-license model:

• Specification and documentation are licensed under CC BY 4.0.
• Code, scripts, implementation helpers, and example AIM packages are licensed under Apache-2.0.