IdenticallyNamedArtists - MusicBrainz Wiki

Artist general information >

Overview | Primary artist | Release artist | Track artist | Various artists | Secondary artist | Featuring artist | No artist | Unknown artist | Data track artist
Artists characteristics > ID | Name | Sort name | Alias | Begin date | End date | Comment | Annotation | Type

Advanced documentation >

Advanced relationships > Artist to artist | Artist to Label | Artist to url | Artist to Release | Artist to Track
Editing concepts > Different artists with same name | Same artist with different names | Fictitious artists | Special purpose artists | Merge mispelled artists
Other > Subscriptions | Artists by language | Editing suggestions

Different Artists with Identical Names

There are cases where different artists have identical names. It is possible to enter identically named artists into MusicBrainz and to distinguish them with an ArtistComment. It is also a good idea to add an ArtistAnnotations to the artists in question that explain which works go with which artist. (See HowToSplitArtists)

Example

Q: How might one go about splitting two artists who share the same name? I have the impression that this is now possible, but despite much poking around and trying to find out how to do this, I haven't made any progress.

The artist I'm trying to split is Charlie Hall; almost the entire discography on MB is for the Charlie Hall I know, but there are two tracks on compilation releases that are credited to Charlie Hall but are definitely not by the Charlie Hall I know.

A: All you have to do is add another artist with the same name. Proceeding with this leads you to a confirmation page where you have to enter an ArtistComment for the artist. This is a short description, just enough to distinguish the two. Then you go to the compilation releases and change the artist (click on change, then submit and you will be asked to select an artist). Also you can edit the original artist again to enter an ArtistComment for him, too.

Additional Informations

You might want to take a look at IdenticallyNamedArtistsHistory. It may (or may not!) provide editing suggestions about artists that need to be split (some times ago, MusicBrainz did not supported IdenticallyNamedArtists).

Additional Readings

Once familiar enough with the resources accessible from the top navigation toolbar, you may find convenient to have direct access to the following pages:

StyleGuidelines:

Resources discussing some specific difficulty or advanced topic:

If you're interested into either the future or the past, you possibly want to take a look at ArtistFuture (which lists known bugs and our super secret new masterplans), and ArtistHistory (obviously listing closed bugs and past masterplans).

CategoryMetadata CategoryArtist