History:Style/Track and release titles

From MusicBrainz Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
Status: This Page is Glorious History!

The content of this page either is bit-rotted, or has lost its reason to exist due to some new features having been implemented in MusicBrainz, or maybe just described something that never made it in (or made it in a different way), or possibly is meant to store information and memories about our Glorious Past. We still keep this page to honor the brave editors who, during the prehistoric times (prehistoric for you, newcomer!), struggled hard to build a better present and dreamed of an even better future. We also keep it for archival purposes because possibly it still contains crazy thoughts and ideas that may be reused someday. If you're not into looking at either the past or the future, you should just disregard entirely this page content and look for an up to date documentation page elsewhere.

When entering a release or track title into MusicBrainz, please adhere to the following guidelines:

Capitalization

Follow the appropriate Capitalization Standard when the track listing on the release does not distinguish between upper and lower case. You should also follow it if the release is itself inconsistent about upper and lower case, for example if casing of the title on the spine does not match the title on the cover.

Multiple lines

If a title is split up into multiple lines on a release this usually indicates one or more subtitles, or multiple titles. It may also be some extra information about a track (e.g. live version, remix title, etc..). When entering this you may have to add punctuation to distinguish between the titles:

  • use a colon (:) to separate subtitles.
  • use a slash (/) to separate multiple titles.
  • use parentheses to separate extra information about the track.

Errors

As a general rule, we do correct spelling, punctuation and grammar errors in titles. This is covered in more detail in the Artist intent guideline.

Examples

Capitalization

Title on release Title in MusicBrainz
All Is Full Of Love and all is full of love All Is Full of Love
confusion the waitress confusion the waitress
AAN DE BEWONERS VAN DIT PAND Aan de bewoners van dit pand

Notes:

  1. Because the title in the booklet and on the track listing are different we follow Capitalization Standard English for the first example.
  2. The second example is copied from the release verbatim. The release distinguishes between uppercase and lowercase on the back cover, so we assume that the casing of this track title is deliberate, and therefore we do not follow any Capitalization Standard.
  3. The third example is entirely in uppercase, and because it is a dutch title Capitalization Standard Dutch applies.

Multiple lines

Title on release Title in MusicBrainz
FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES
Ring of Fates

Original Soundtrack
FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: Ring of Fates Original Soundtrack
Quagmire
In A State of Permanent Abyss
Quagmire / In a State of Permanent Abyss
THIS IS THE MODERN WORLD
and ALL MOD CONS
This Is the Modern World and All Mod Cons
アナタボシ
3. きらり Ver.
4. のえる Ver.
5. こべに Ver.
3. アナタボシ (きらり Ver.)
4. アナタボシ (のえる Ver.)
5. アナタボシ (こべに Ver.)

Notes:

  1. The first example uses a colon (:) to separate the subtitle "Ring of Fates" from the main title.
  2. The second example uses a slash (/) to separate multiple songs which are a single track in the database.
  3. Nothing is added for the third title, it already has the word "and" on the cover to join the two titles.
  4. The fourth example refers to a CD which contains several different versions of the same track, but the title only occurs once on the back cover.