Glossary
Shared, unambiguous definitions so we use terms consistently across all marketing surfaces. Where multiple terms exist for the same thing, this doc says which one to use and why. Where we don't yet know which term is right, it says so, flagged as Open rather than pretending settled. This is a marketing and human reference; the voice that governs how these words are used lives in brand.md and the mg-voice skill. Each section carries its status.
Customer-facing vs internal
Status: Locked.
| Context | Use | Don't use |
|---|---|---|
| Customer-facing copy | The real name of the thing | Internal codes, abbreviations, slug names |
| Internal docs and chat | Whatever's clearest | n/a |
Examples:
- Customer-facing: "Cherry City" (the studio in Salem). Internal-only: "MG10."
- Customer-facing: "Community Manager." Internal shorthand: "CM" (fine in Slack, never in marketing copy).
Core product vocabulary
Status: Locked (settled terms; the naming questions are consolidated in Open questions).
Monthly product
The private, month-to-month studio that is yours: gear stays, 24/7 access, no one else uses it.
Settled rule: "Studio" over "Room." Always (Paul's rule, observed across all current marketing copy). Use it even when the underlying thing is technically a room.
| Term | Status | When to use |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly Lockout | Industry-standard | Default in marketing where context isn't already established. Search-friendly for musicians who know the term. |
| Artist Studio | Brand-preferred | When elevating positioning, in product naming, in formal contexts (membership pages, tour copy). |
| Monthly studio | Casual, supplementary | When a sentence already used "lockout" or "Artist Studio" and a synonym helps flow. |
| Practice space / rehearsal space | Acceptable, supplementary | For cold prospects who don't know "lockout" or "Artist Studio" yet. Helpful in SEO body copy and metadata. "Space" is fine, "room" is not. |
Forbidden:
- "Room," "practice room," "rehearsal room" (Paul's rule).
- "Cubicle," "office space," "co-working."
- "Unit," "rental."
- "Lease," "leased space" (positions us as real estate or landlord; we are a service).
The studio-over-room rule is non-negotiable. If a sentence gets awkward, rephrase it; never substitute "room."
Hourly product
The drop-in studio booked by the hour, gear included.
| Term | Status | When to use |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly Studio | Brand-preferred | Default for marketing. Same studio-over-room rule applies. |
| Hourly studios (plural) | Brand-preferred | When referring to the product line. |
| Hourly rehearsal space | Acceptable, supplementary | When "studio" alone might confuse cold prospects (recording-studio risk). Especially in SEO body copy. |
Forbidden: "Hourly room," "rehearsal room hire," "practice slot," "lease."
Studio sizes
Studios come in four sizes: S, M, L, and XL, each with a square-foot range and an occupancy descriptor (e.g. "Solo to Duo"). Use the size letter in customer-facing copy ("Studio M") only with context (square feet or occupancy). Otherwise refer to it by use case ("Four Piece," "Solo Drummer," "Big Group"; the carousel-card framing).
SEO note
Cold searchers may type "practice room," "rehearsal room," "music practice space," "rehearsal space." Body copy and metadata can include "rehearsal space" and "practice space" freely, and may include "practice room" or "rehearsal room" in a search-targeting context even though headline copy follows the studio-over-room rule. Ad headlines and hero copy follow the rule; SEO body copy and metadata may include searched-for phrases as long as they don't dominate the visible copy.
People vocabulary
Status: Locked (the hourly-customer name is Open).
People who pay us
| Term | Status | Refers to |
|---|---|---|
| Member | Settled | Someone with an active monthly lockout. Capitalized. Aligned with ICP. |
| Members | Settled | Plural of the above. |
| Hourly customer | Placeholder | Someone who books hourly studios. No settled term yet (see Open questions). |
Forbidden across both: "User" (too SaaS), "Client" (wrong register), "Renter" (wrong register), "Tenant" (wrong register).
Our staff
| Term | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Community Manager | Settled, capitalized | The on-site person at each location. Not a generic role; a specific person customers know. |
| CM | Internal shorthand | Slack, internal docs, ops. Never in customer-facing copy. |
| On-site manager | Forbidden | Too corporate; loses the community framing. |
| Concierge | Forbidden | Wrong register entirely. |
The customer's people
| Term | Status | Refers to |
|---|---|---|
| Band | Default | The unit that uses the studio. Use freely. |
| Bandmates | Default | The other people in the band. Use this for non-primary members on a lockout. |
| Crew | Acceptable | Casual register; fine in social copy. |
| Trio / four-piece / big group | Default | Size descriptors used in carousel-card framing. |
Action vocabulary
Status: Locked (except "Get loud," now under review).
What customers do with us
| Term | Status | Refers to |
|---|---|---|
| Tour | Settled | The in-person walkthrough where a CM shows the space. Default term. |
| Book | Settled | What you do for an hourly session ("book a studio," "book your session"). |
| Become a Member | Settled | Convert from prospect to monthly. |
| Sign up | Acceptable | Casual variant for "become a member." |
| Showing | Forbidden | Real-estate register; wrong frame. |
| Visit | Forbidden | Too generic; loses the CM-driven specificity of "tour." |
| Walk-through | Internal | Fine internally; "tour" customer-facing. |
| Practice / rehearse | Settled | What customers do in the studio. Both fine; "rehearse" is slightly more in-voice. |
| Jam | Settled | Informal practice. On-voice. |
| Get loud | Under review (not settled) | An imperative from earlier creative. mg-voice v3 stepped back from performed, loud-for-its-own-sake lines, so do not treat it as settled. Resolve against brand.md and the voice work session. |
Studio access mechanics
| Term | Status | Refers to |
|---|---|---|
| 24/7 access | Settled | Monthly customers can come in any time, any day. |
| Keyless entry | Settled | Hourly studio access via code. |
| Access code | Settled | The numeric code that unlocks the studio. |
| Lockout (verb sense) | Acceptable | Having exclusive access; overlaps with the noun, so use carefully to avoid confusion. |
Things, gear, equipment
Status: Locked.
Prefer in-group shorthand, then the general term, then the formal term.
| Preferred | Acceptable | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Gear | Equipment | Instrumentation |
| Kit (drums) | Drum kit | Drum set |
| Sticks | Drumsticks | n/a |
| Amps | Amplifiers | Amplification |
| PA | Sound system | Audio reinforcement |
| Mics | Microphones | Vocal capture devices |
| Backline | Full band gear | n/a (industry term, fine to use) |
| Cabinets / cabs | Speaker cabinets | Loudspeaker enclosures |
| Pedals / pedalboard | Effects | Signal processors |
Gear or equipment is the studio-provided stuff (drums, amps, PA, mics) that lives at the studio. Instruments are what the musician brings (their guitar, their bass), usually privately owned. When in doubt, "gear" for everything; use "instruments" only when contrasting what musicians bring with what we provide.
Place names
Status: Locked.
Locations
Each Metrognome studio has a real name (customer-facing) and an internal code (never customer-facing).
| Real name (customer-facing) | City | State | Internal code | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brooklyn | Portland | OR | MG1 | Active |
| Ladd's Addition #1 | Portland | OR | MG2 | Active |
| Ladd's Addition #2 | Portland | OR | MG3 | Active |
| Reed | Portland | OR | MG4 | Active |
| Tilikum Crossing | Portland | OR | MG5 | Active |
| Slabtown | Portland | OR | MG6 | Active |
| Cully | Portland | OR | MG7 | Active |
| Buckman | Portland | OR | MG8 | Active |
| Mt. Tabor | Portland | OR | MG9 | Active |
| Cherry City | Salem | OR | MG10 | Active (opened 2025-11) |
| Carriage Tower | Portland | OR | MG11 | Coming soon |
Rules:
- Always use the real name in customer-facing copy.
- City context (Portland, Salem) is fine when geography is relevant, e.g. "Cherry City (Salem, OR)" in metadata, or "our Salem location" when speaking to non-customers about expansion.
- Internal codes (MG10, MG11) never appear in customer-facing surfaces: not in URLs, copy, or metadata. Reserved for ops and team Slack.
Markets
| Term | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Portland | Settled | The metro where 9 of 10 current locations sit. |
| Salem | Settled | The city where Cherry City sits. Use for SEO and geographic context. |
| St. Louis | Settled | Next market. Don't pre-announce specific dates until confirmed by ops. |
| The PNW | Internal | Fine internally. Customer-facing only if obviously geographic. |
| Pacific Northwest | Acceptable | Use sparingly; we will outgrow it. |
Internal words, and what to say instead
Status: Locked.
Internal or system words sometimes leak into drafts. In customer-facing copy, use the marketing word instead:
- A reservation: say "booking" or "session."
- A resource: say "studio."
- A user: say "Member" or "customer."
- A non-primary band member on a lockout: say "bandmates."
- Location codes (MG10) and URL slugs (cherry-city): use the real name (see Place names).
Open questions
Status: Open (feeds the Layer 4 experiment backlog).
- Hourly customer naming. No settled term. Candidates: "hourly customer" (generic), "drop-in musician" (descriptive, on-voice), "hourly user" (too SaaS), "hourly member" (confusing), "booker" or "guest" (too transactional or hospitality). Recommendation pending: "drop-in" as an adjective ("drop-in musicians," "drop-in bookings"). Decide before scaling hourly marketing.
- Monthly Lockout vs Artist Studio for cold prospects. Which connects better with people not already in the scene. A/B test in ads once volume permits. Both valid until tested; match the surface convention (Artist Studio on the /monthly LP, lockout in ad copy for working musicians).
- "Studio" confusion risk (observed). "Studio" alone reads as recording studio to some cold prospects (Matador fielded recording inquiries from Google Ads using "studio"). Mitigations now: pair "studio" with a clarifier ("rehearsal studio," "Monthly Lockout studio," "practice space") in cold-traffic surfaces; use "rehearsal space" in metadata; add negative keywords ("recording," "mixing," "mastering," "vocal booth," "podcast studio") to paid search. Worth quantifying via ad bounce rate, CM-reported recording inquiries, and search-query mix.
- "Get loud" and the loud register. Whether any loud, imperative phrasing fits the voice, or whether it is retired with the rest of the performed register. Resolve in the voice work session.
Related docs
brand.md— voice, altitude ladder, segment seamsicp.md— Ideal Customer Profilepositioning.md— what we displaceguardrails.md— what we can't saymg-voiceskill (.claude/skills/mg-voice/) — voice and principles, conforms to brand.md