History:Continuous Mix Style Proposal

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Revision as of 05:02, 24 September 2010 by Chancey (talk | contribs) (→‎Definition)
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Status: This page describes an active style guideline proposal and is not official.



Proposal number: RFC-Unassigned
Champion: Chancey
Current status: Unknown



Synopsis

This proposed style attempts to address the ambiguity with releases that exist as a full continuous track. In some situations it can be seen as an extension to the official Live Bootleg Style because most Continuous Mixes are bootlegs.

Definition

A 'Continuous Mix is defined as having the criteria;

  • Must exist originally as a continuous mix. Normal releases that have been joined together are not continuous mixes and should not be entered as releases unless with a special reason.
  • Are not live concerts. This makes them a Live Bootleg Style. The exception to this if the concert is part of a longer well known series where all the other releases are also similarly Continuous Mixes.
  • Almost always a bootleg (recorded off the radio, TV, etc.)
  • In almost all cases Continuous Mixes are the joining (and/or mixing) of many songs that can be discreetly separated; not one single very long song.

Notes

  • If a Continuous Mix is defined as the solid state of many discreet songs then it's possible that the Continuous Mix will be split into its individual song members and exist as a separate release on MusicBrainz (in the same release group) following the standard guidelines for whatever content has been split.
  • Being a Continuous Mix release does not relinquish any other guidelines that may apply. The guidelines that exist for Continuous Mixes are on top of other official guidelines.

The Problem

MusicBrainz puts a strict emphasis on releases that have been physically or digitally released through a label or otherwise official means - this gives the release a label, release date, country, barcode etc. Similarly a whole other set of guidelines exist for Live and Bootleg performances that may or may not have been released through standard means (never released or "fan managed.")

It is clear that audio recorded from radio, TV, etc would be classified as Bootleg and sometimes the releases do fall into the official Live Bootleg Style - if so this should be used.

The Proposed Solution

Release Groups and Titles

  • Continuous Mixes can exist as a single or multipart continuous mix. For single part continuous mixes the title of the release may look like:

A State of Trance 470: Continuous Mix

  • The release group will house the continuous mix and/or the split version so the release group name should not contain the suffix "Continuous Mix" such an example may look like:

Release Group: A State of Trance 470
   Release: A State of Trance 470: Continuous Mix
   Release: A State of Trance 470

Track Title(s)

  • For single part Continuous Mix releases the title of the track will be the same name as release title (e.g. A State of Trance 470: Continuous Mix).
  • When continuous mixes are split into parts each part becomes a track (following the Part Number Style) so like:

Release: A State of Trance 470: Continuous Mix
   Track: A State of Trance 470: Continuous Mix, Part 1
   Track: A State of Trance 470: Continuous Mix, Part 2

Release Annotation

Putting all the track names and artists into the track title would be inappropriate, all this information should be listed in the release annotation. Along with any other general annotation information.

Release Event

  • Date: Is of the original broadcast (not of when it was recorded.) So for bootlegs that are replayed only the original date is to be entered as the release event.
  • Country: The country of original broadcast (even when it goes globally.) This should not be [Worldwide] just because it was broadcast worldwide. Often the country will be the same country as that of the label. [Unknown Country] is suitable if not enough information can be found.
  • Label: Some bootlegs will have a label. For example the A State of Trance episodes are broadcast under the similarly named A State of Trance label.
  • Catalog #: There could be a catalog number but this is not allowed to be made up. It must come from an official source or be left blank.
  • Barcode: Same thing as Catalog #.
  • Format: Digital Media is the best match as that's how most bootlegs exist, but the format should match the correct medium if Digital Media is not the case.

Examples

Sources

Discussion

See Proposal_talk:Continuous_Mix_Style.