About: Difference between revisions
PavanChander (talk | contribs) m (Using non-redirect link.) |
PavanChander (talk | contribs) (There needs to be a "major edit" checkbox for this. It's a lot longer but I believe its presented well and that it represents an "About MB" page better. Disclaimer: that's a slightly biased opinion :)) |
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== Overview == |
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MusicBrainz is a user-maintained open community that collects, and makes available to the public, music metadata in the form of a relational database. |
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[[MusicBrainz]] is a project of the US non-profit [http://metabrainz.org MetaBrainz Foundation]. See [[MusicBrainz History]] for a brief description how the MusicBrainz service has grown into its current size. |
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MusicBrainz was initially created by Robert Kaye in response to Gracenote taking over the free CDDB project and charging people for access to the (what up till that point had been free) data. The MusicBrainz community has grown considerably since then, and the project has expanded its scope from being a CDDB replacement to a true "Wikipedia for music".<ref>Highfield, Ashley. "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/speeches/stories/highfield_iea.shtml Keynote speech given at IEA Future Of Broadcasting Conference]", BBC Press Office, 2007-06-27. Retrieved on 2009-10-30.</ref> |
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==About MusicBrainz== |
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=== What data does MusicBrainz collect? === |
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'''MusicBrainz is a user-maintained community music metadatabase.''' Music metadata is information such as the [[Artist|artist name]], the [[Release Title|release title]], and the list of [[Track|tracks]] that appear on a [[Release|release]]. MusicBrainz collects this information about recordings and makes it available to the public. The web site is the interface which allows the creation and maintenance of the data. All of the data in MusicBrainz is user contributed and user maintained. This means that if you spot a mistake in the database, you should take the initiative to [http://www.musicbrainz.org/login.html create yourself a MusicBrainz account] (for free, of course!) and edit the data. MusicBrainz will never share your personal information with anyone and we will not spam you with anything. We believe strongly in the privacy of our users and since they are our lifeblood we would be stupid to disrespect our contributors. Please contribute your knowledge about music and MusicBrainz will share your knowledge with others, and in time MusicBrainz can become the most powerful and comprehensive music service in existence. In return for your hard work, MusicBrainz makes the data that users have contributed to [[Database Download|available for download]] to the public. Some portions of the data are placed into the [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain Public Domain] and some portions are covered by a [[Creative Commons]] [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/1.0 license]. Please take a look at our [[Server]]/[[Database]] product pages. |
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MusicBrainz collects a vast amount of music metadata, far more than the traditional artist/album/track model, for a complete list see our [[Database|database]] page. All of the data in MusicBrainz is contributed to, and maintained by, its users - who follow community written [[Style Guideline|style guidelines]] when editing to help ensure a standard of quality. |
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'''The MusicBrainz products:''' MusicBrainz takes the catalog service one step further and provides products which build on it. Our products can be used to apply the data to digital audio files like MP3, Ogg Vorbis (and for the [[Picard Tagger]], a multitude of other digital audio formats as well). The metadata contained in these files is often incorrect or missing altogether. If this data is not present or incorrect, even more since many music lovers have a huge collection of digital audio files, it is very hard to find the music one wants to listen to. The MusicBrainz solutions for this are [[MusicBrainz Tagger|tagging applications]] for almost every platform (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, etc.) that use [[Acoustic Fingerprint]]s ([[PUID]]s) to semi-automatically identify tracks in your music collection and then write consistent and accurate metadata to your digital audio files. MusicBrainz provides a [[XML Web Service|webservice]] which can be used to query musicbrainz data from any application which is able to parse XML. Another option is [[Server Setup|to setup an own copy of the MusicBrainz server]], and import the latest database dump. From there on, you can subscribe to the [[Replication Mechanics|database replication service]] (free for non-commerical use!) which allows your copy of the database to stay up-to-date with the changes being made to the main database. (see the [[Products|products page]] for more details) |
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The database is made available by MusicBrainz to [[Database Download|download]] for free by the general public. Some portions of the data are placed into the [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain public domain] and some portions are covered by a Creative Commons [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/ Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0] license. |
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'''MusicBrainz provides data about recordings, but ''not'' the media files itself:''' The MusicBrainz service only provides the data ''about'' music (a catalog of music [[wikipedia:Metadata|metadata]]) but '''not the music itself'''. MusicBrainz does not condone copyright infringement and will never help you find a place to illegally download copyrighted works. |
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If you come across a mistake in the database feel free to [http://musicbrainz.org/user/register.html create an account] and fix it! |
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'''How the MusicBrainz catalog can be used:''' MusicBrainz users can browse and search our catalog to examine what music different artists have published and how those artists relate to each other, to discover new music. The music metadata and its ability to uniquely identify music will also enable non-ambiguous communication about music, and will allow the Internet community to discover new music without any of the bias introduced by marketing departments of the recording industry. Another usage scenario is the lookup of information by media players: Since most audio CDs do not contain the metadata about the recording on the physical media, but they can use the digital characteristics of the CD (i.e. number of tracks, the length of the tracks) to look up the metadata and use this information to enhance the listening experience. |
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==== Copyright infringement ==== |
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'''Where to go from here:''' This introduction serves as the most basic crash course on what MusicBrainz does. The MusicBrainz project has many goals for the future with the hopes of changing how people enjoy their music collections. The detailed [[Current Work|current status]], the [[Future Work|plans for the future]], our views on working with commercial companies and our plans for creating a non-profit corporation are covered in great detail in our [http://www.musicbrainz.org/papers/mb_nonprofit.html MusicBrainz Non-Profit White Paper]. |
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MusicBrainz provides data ''about'' recordings, ''not the music itself''. |
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With this short introduction, we leave you to explore MusicBrainz. Welcome, and enjoy your visit! |
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MusicBrainz does not condone copyright infringement and will never help you find a place to illegally download copyrighted works. |
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[[Category:To Be Reviewed]] [[Category:WikiDocs Page]] [[Category:Philosophy]] |
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=== How can the MusicBrainz database can be used? === |
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MusicBrainz users can browse and search our database to examine what music different artists have published, how artists may relate to each other, and even to discover new music. The database and its ability to uniquely identify music also enables non-ambiguous communication about music, and allows the Internet community to discuss and build relationships on top of the Musicbrainz database. |
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Another usage scenario is the lookup of information by media players. Most audio CDs do not contain the recording's metadata on the physical media, but MusicBrainz can use the digital characteristics of the CD (i.e. number of tracks, the length of the tracks) to look up the metadata and use this information to enhance the listening experience. |
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== Products == |
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: ''For more details on this topic, see our [[Products|products]] page.'' |
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MusicBrainz takes its database service one step further by providing several products and services that build on top of it. These products and services are all open source and/or free for non-commercial use. |
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<div style="float: left; width: 44%; margin-right: 2%;"> |
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=== MusicBrainz Picard === |
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[[Picard]] is MusicBrainz' next generation tagging application. |
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Picard uses an album oriented tagging concept, as opposed to the track/file oriented concept used by the previous tagger (Classic Tagger). Picard is written in Python and makes use of cross-platform libraries, this allows the same code to run on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. |
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</div> |
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<div style="float: left; width: 54%;"> |
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=== MusicBrainz Server === |
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Whether you're a user or a developer, the MusicBrainz [[Server]] is available to download and setup. |
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Once setup, the server can make use of MusicBrainz' live data feed in order to keep it up to date with the latest changes being made to the main database. |
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</div> |
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<div style="clear:both"></div> |
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<div style="float: left; width: 44%; margin-right: 2%;"> |
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=== XML web service === |
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MusicBrainz provides an [[XML Web Service|XML web service]] which can be used to query MusicBrainz data from any application which is able to parse XML. |
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</div> |
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<div style="float: left; width: 54%;"> |
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=== Live data feed === |
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The MusicBrainz service provides a [[Live Data Feed|live data feed]] for mirror servers, free of charge. |
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</div> |
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<div style="clear:both"></div> |
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== Licenses == |
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: ''For more details on this topic, see our [[License|license]] page.'' |
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'''Any user that contributes to MusicBrainz should be aware that their contributions will be made available to the public under the licenses described below.''' |
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<br/>Furthermore, MusicBrainz users give the MetaBrainz Foundation the right to license this data for commercial use. |
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The data collected by the MusicBrainz project falls into two categories explained below. |
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The income from these licenses keeps MusicBrainz running and covers the paychecks of paid MusicBrainz developers. |
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<div style="float: left; width: 44%; margin-right: 2%;"> |
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=== Public domain data === |
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MusicBrainz' core data is placed in the [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain/ public domain], for anyone to download and use any way they see fit. |
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The core data consists of all the factual information (eg. artists, albums, tracks, etc.) contained in the database. |
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</div> |
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<div style="float: left; width: 54%;"> |
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=== Creative Commons licensed data === |
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The remaining portions of the MusicBrainz data are released under the Creative Commons [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/ Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0] license. |
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This allows non commercial use of the MusicBrainz data as long as MusicBrainz is given credit and that derivative works, works based on MusicBrainz' CC licensed data, are also made available under the same license. |
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The CC licensed data consists of non-factual information that users have added to the database such as [[Annotation|annotations]], [[Folksonomy Tagging|folksonomy tags]], and wiki documentation; in addition the [[Live Data Feed|live data feed]] is also published under the CC license. |
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</div> |
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<div style="clear:both"></div> |
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== Corporate parent == |
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MusicBrainz is a project of the [http://metabrainz.org MetaBrainz Foundation], a 501.(c).3 tax-exempt non-profit based in San Luis Obispo, California. |
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The MetaBrainz Foundation was founded in 2005 to provide a legal entity for the MusicBrainz project to operate under. |
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Robert Kaye, the executive director of the MetaBrainz Foundation, originally managed MusicBrainz as a private project from its inception in the fall of 2000 until the project was turned over to the new company in December 2005. |
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== Privacy policy == |
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MusicBrainz does not require you to provide any personally-identifying information to browse the contents of the MusicBrainz database. |
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Any personal information you choose to provide will not be revealed to anyone else. |
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MusicBrainz will never share your personal information with anyone nor will will spam you with anything; we believe strongly in the privacy of our users. |
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<references/> |
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[[Category:WikiDocs Page]] [[Category:Philosophy]] |
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__NOTOC__ |
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Revision as of 03:10, 21 November 2009
Overview
MusicBrainz is a user-maintained open community that collects, and makes available to the public, music metadata in the form of a relational database.
MusicBrainz was initially created by Robert Kaye in response to Gracenote taking over the free CDDB project and charging people for access to the (what up till that point had been free) data. The MusicBrainz community has grown considerably since then, and the project has expanded its scope from being a CDDB replacement to a true "Wikipedia for music".[1]
What data does MusicBrainz collect?
MusicBrainz collects a vast amount of music metadata, far more than the traditional artist/album/track model, for a complete list see our database page. All of the data in MusicBrainz is contributed to, and maintained by, its users - who follow community written style guidelines when editing to help ensure a standard of quality.
The database is made available by MusicBrainz to download for free by the general public. Some portions of the data are placed into the public domain and some portions are covered by a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 license.
If you come across a mistake in the database feel free to create an account and fix it!
Copyright infringement
MusicBrainz provides data about recordings, not the music itself.
MusicBrainz does not condone copyright infringement and will never help you find a place to illegally download copyrighted works.
How can the MusicBrainz database can be used?
MusicBrainz users can browse and search our database to examine what music different artists have published, how artists may relate to each other, and even to discover new music. The database and its ability to uniquely identify music also enables non-ambiguous communication about music, and allows the Internet community to discuss and build relationships on top of the Musicbrainz database.
Another usage scenario is the lookup of information by media players. Most audio CDs do not contain the recording's metadata on the physical media, but MusicBrainz can use the digital characteristics of the CD (i.e. number of tracks, the length of the tracks) to look up the metadata and use this information to enhance the listening experience.
Products
- For more details on this topic, see our products page.
MusicBrainz takes its database service one step further by providing several products and services that build on top of it. These products and services are all open source and/or free for non-commercial use.
MusicBrainz Picard
Picard is MusicBrainz' next generation tagging application.
Picard uses an album oriented tagging concept, as opposed to the track/file oriented concept used by the previous tagger (Classic Tagger). Picard is written in Python and makes use of cross-platform libraries, this allows the same code to run on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.
MusicBrainz Server
Whether you're a user or a developer, the MusicBrainz Server is available to download and setup.
Once setup, the server can make use of MusicBrainz' live data feed in order to keep it up to date with the latest changes being made to the main database.
XML web service
MusicBrainz provides an XML web service which can be used to query MusicBrainz data from any application which is able to parse XML.
Live data feed
The MusicBrainz service provides a live data feed for mirror servers, free of charge.
Licenses
- For more details on this topic, see our license page.
Any user that contributes to MusicBrainz should be aware that their contributions will be made available to the public under the licenses described below.
Furthermore, MusicBrainz users give the MetaBrainz Foundation the right to license this data for commercial use.
The data collected by the MusicBrainz project falls into two categories explained below.
The income from these licenses keeps MusicBrainz running and covers the paychecks of paid MusicBrainz developers.
Public domain data
MusicBrainz' core data is placed in the public domain, for anyone to download and use any way they see fit.
The core data consists of all the factual information (eg. artists, albums, tracks, etc.) contained in the database.
Creative Commons licensed data
The remaining portions of the MusicBrainz data are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 license.
This allows non commercial use of the MusicBrainz data as long as MusicBrainz is given credit and that derivative works, works based on MusicBrainz' CC licensed data, are also made available under the same license.
The CC licensed data consists of non-factual information that users have added to the database such as annotations, folksonomy tags, and wiki documentation; in addition the live data feed is also published under the CC license.
Corporate parent
MusicBrainz is a project of the MetaBrainz Foundation, a 501.(c).3 tax-exempt non-profit based in San Luis Obispo, California.
The MetaBrainz Foundation was founded in 2005 to provide a legal entity for the MusicBrainz project to operate under.
Robert Kaye, the executive director of the MetaBrainz Foundation, originally managed MusicBrainz as a private project from its inception in the fall of 2000 until the project was turned over to the new company in December 2005.
Privacy policy
MusicBrainz does not require you to provide any personally-identifying information to browse the contents of the MusicBrainz database.
Any personal information you choose to provide will not be revealed to anyone else.
MusicBrainz will never share your personal information with anyone nor will will spam you with anything; we believe strongly in the privacy of our users.
- ↑ Highfield, Ashley. "Keynote speech given at IEA Future Of Broadcasting Conference", BBC Press Office, 2007-06-27. Retrieved on 2009-10-30.
