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Definition of all parts of a track title

In MusicBrainzTerminology, the track title is the entire text string representing the name of a Track on a Release.

This page deals with (a) the definition of different parts of TrackTitles and (b) the ordering of these parts.

Definition

• MainTitle:

  • This is the major part of a title, and is the main reference when talking about a work or a person. For example, in the track title "Take Me to Heaven (Hell remix) (feat. Linda B.)", "Take Me to Heaven" is the MainTitle.

• PartNumber:

  • This is a special part of the track title that defines where this track fits into a series of tracks, and has its own style rules as defined in PartNumberStyle. Usually it takes the form "Part x", but there may be other distinguishers used.

• TrackVersion:

  • Part of the track title that describes the remix name, edit name, the fact that it's a live recording, etc. i.e. RemixStyle deals with this.

• ExtraTitleInformation:

  • This is anything that is not actually considered part of the title but which we include anyway in the interests of retaining metadata. Example: "(feat. Schizophrenia)" in "Entrance to Exit (feat. Schizophrenia)". The aim in the future would be that ExtraTitleInformation would eventually become a separate entity from the MainTitle. An important attribute of ExtraTitleInformation is that it should never be considered vital to the title; in other words the title of the track would still be complete even if it were missing the ExtraTitleInformation. There are a couple of StyleGuidelines that deal with this:

  • FeaturingArtistStyle

  • VersusStyle

  • TrackAttributesStyle

Ordering

The order of the parts of a TrackTitle is:

• MainTitle [PartNumber] [TrackVersion] [ExtraTitleInformation]

Parts between '[' and ']' indicate not all TrackTitles have them, but if they do, they must be added.

Note that for multiple songs on one track MultipleTitleStyle applies.

ExtraTitleInformation should be ordered by how they relate to each other and to the track as a whole. It is difficult to describe exactly what I mean by this so I will try to demonstrate it instead with the following examples.

• ArtistName: Delerium TrackTitle: Silence (feat. Sarah McLachlan) (Sanctuary mix)

All versions of Silence feature Sarah McLachlan, so it's more relevant to the track overall ("Silence" as a whole) than to the remix name (which is specific to this version of the track only).

• ArtistName: David Bowie TrackTitle: I'm Afraid of Americans (V3 mix by Nine Inch Nails) (feat. Ice Cube)

Only this particular remix of the track features Ice Cube, so the remix details are considered more relevant to the track than the featured artist.

Examples

• "Together in Wonderland (Miracle mix) (feat. DJ Nonsense)"

• "Like a Rolling Stone (live)"

• "Medley: Santa Claus Is Coming to Town / O Little Town of Bethlehem"

• MultipleTitleStyle example: "Heaven / [untitled]"

• "[silence]"

See also

• MultipleTitleStyle,

• UntitledTrackStyle

• ClassicalTrackTitleStyle for ClassicalMusic tracks

Discussion

How about a NonAlbumTrackStyle? Maybe that's a special version of TrackAttributesStyle? It should contain more information than 'normal' tracks to distinguish different versions of tracks. --Zout

Think the description of ordering should have a verbage change. -more relevant-, To me the remix details are more relevant to the (feat. artist) Ice Cube in the second example or you would say the (feat. artist) is more relevant to the remix details being it's only for that edition. --teleGUISE

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