Talk:MusicBrainz Database/Schema

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One work in several tracks?

Could you clarify how one work can be split up in several tracks like in classical works? pronik 08:57, 7 April 2009 (UTC)

Let's say you have work "A" and tracks "A1", "A2", "A3", then you simply add ARs between A1->A, A2->A and A3->A. LukasLalinsky 09:13, 7 April 2009 (UTC)
What about order and work part <-> track relationship? How do we know that A2 is the second part of A? pronik 11:32, 7 April 2009 (UTC)
We don't, that's a known limitation and it's meant to be solved by the next version (something like http://users.musicbrainz.org/~luks/tmp/works.png), where you explicitly specify the attribute (part number, symphony number, anything defined by the work type). LukasLalinsky 11:35, 7 April 2009 (UTC)

Terminology

  • Is it a good idea to rename 'modpending' to 'editpending', to catch up with current terminology? --zout 07:55, 21 April 2009 (UTC)
  • The main page says artist will have new entries for "country" and "gender". I just want to point out that the correct word is "sex"; "gender" is often misused to mean "sex", but please don't propagate this error.
I'm not a native English speaker, but in every dictionary I look it up it says "gender" is what I meant it to represent here.
Lukáš Lalinský 08:20, 2 August 2009 (UTC)
But see the usage note attached to the last link: "[t]he words gender and sex both have the sense ‘the state of being male or female’, but they are typically used in slightly different ways: sex tends to refer to biological differences, while gender tends to refer to cultural or social ones." What you're referring to is biological difference. (FWIW, the Shorter OED has a note: "colloq. or euphem." next to this, too. Properly speaking, gender is a feature of grammar, not of creatures.)
Who says it will store the biological one anyway? Whichever meaning the community decides to use the field for, I would much prefer to label it "gender" partly because "sex" is just asking for trouble with internet filtering programs. Also, please sign your comments. --Nikki 04:16, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

Questions

  • Is it possible to have ARs for release groups that do not apply to specific discs? I have a box set with previously released albums. The box set has liner notes unique to the box. --zout 23:36, 25 April 2009 (UTC)
No, release groups actually won't know anything about discs. Some box sets will still be tricky to represent in the database. Lukáš Lalinský 06:44, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
With 'discs', I meant 'albums'. Am not yet familiar with the correct terminology. My case: I have releases Bob Dylan and Live at The Gaslight 1962 (and 8 other albums) in a box set. That box set has liner notes only available in that box set. Can I link an AR to the writer of the liner notes for the box set only? --zout 11:24, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
  • Is it possible to have more than one label/catalog number combination for a single release event? And are separate catalog numbers for discs supported? --zout 23:36, 25 April 2009 (UTC)
Yes, one release can have multiple label/catalog number pairs. And yes, these pairs will be linked to release mediums, which will effectively allow for this. Lukáš Lalinský 06:44, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
  • Why do we have a table called track and a table called recording? What purpose do they serve?
I think the NGS page explains it well. Lukáš Lalinský 19:45, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
  • Why does the recording table have an artist_credit that is not an FK and track does as well, but there its not an FK? Is this a graph error?
Error in the diagram, it's fixed now. Lukáš Lalinský 19:45, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
  • Why do both recording and track have an artist_credit and name?
Because that's what humans tend to use as identifiers. :) They normally wouldn't know "b98ee5f2-0b07-4da6-913c-acfe19d4578d", but they mostly likely do know what "Thriller by Michael Jackson" is. That's for recordings. I think it's obvious why tracks need to have artist credits and names. Lukáš Lalinský 19:45, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
  • I'm sorry, but for me it's not obvious why tracks also need to have artist credits and names. I can get all the information from the recording. Or can artist credits and name differ between track and recording? --Horstkevin 20:16, 10 August 2009 (UTC)
Consider cases such as http://musicbrainz.org/track/e372d7ac-dde9-4b58-a37d-6da71dfdb770.html vs http://musicbrainz.org/track/0f315d61-00c0-42d6-a000-51d9ad2958e2.html It's the same recording, but credited differently on different releases. While different artist credits are not that common, but for example the same recording credited as "Track (album version)" on single and "Track" on album is definitely not rare. Lukáš Lalinský 21:08, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

Objects

Is the Objects list intended to be a complete list of all NGS entity types? If so, URL is missing. -- BrianFreud