History:Miscellaneous Production Relationship Type/Artwork Proposal

From MusicBrainz Wiki
Revision as of 13:51, 2 May 2007 by Bogdanb (talk | contribs) (added signature (Imported from MoinMoin))
Jump to navigationJump to search

Cover art-related Relationships proposal

I propose a few enhancements to the general "covert art" category; the current three relationships are (in my experience) not very pliable to what's actually on many covers (i.e., on the covers I've seen).

First, I suggest to group all such roles under a general "artwork" category. (Or class, I don't know which is the preferred term.)

Below is a list of roles that should be in the category. The list contains the previously existing relationships (I assume they were added for good reasons), and a few more that I encountered on covers. Anyone who has encountered others should add them here. The list is hierarchical, I believe that's possible, right?

  • artist or URL provided art direction on release or track
  • release or track has art direction by artist or URL
  • artist or URL provided design for release or track
  • release or track has design by artist or URL (this is broken from "art design / illustration", I don't see why they should be together.)
    • artist or URL provided graphic design on release or track
    • release or track has graphic design by artist or URL
    • artist or URL provided executive design on release or track
    • release or track has executive design by artist or URL
    • artist or URL provided layout for release or track
    • release or track has layout by artist or URL
  • artist or URL provided artwork for release or track
  • release or track has artwork by artist or URL
    • artist or URL provided cover art for release or track
    • release or track has cover art by artist or URL
    • artist or URL provided illustration for release or track
    • release or track has illustration by artist or URL (this is broken from "art design / illustration", I don't see why they should be together.)
    • artist or URL provided photography for release or track
    • release or track has photography by artist or URL
  • artist or URL provided typography for release or track
  • release or track has typography by artist or URL
  • artist or URL provided cover/artwork concept for release or track
  • release or track has cover/artwork concept by artist or URL
  • I don't know if it's worth it to differentiate these two, but I'm wary of another "art design/illustration" problem, so it may be a good idea to separate them.

Discussion

If you're not certain about adding something to the list above, or you need to discuss anything else about this proposal, discuss the item in this section.

Recording unfulfilling ARs

While you wait on the above to be added, please feel free to use FrederikSOlesen/SubOptimalCredits to records ARs that aren't able to be fulfilled with current list. -- FrederikSOlesen 09:56, 02 May 2007 (UTC)

Breaking the current "art design/illustration" relationship

I recommend breaking this relationship in two, as the two are not very closely-related (they're even in different subtrees of the hierarchy above) and this seems confusing. The only problem is what to do with the ARs that already use this relationship. I see only a few possibilities, but they don't seem very satisfactory, so maybe someone can suggest something better:

  • Just delete them. Of course, that looses data.
  • (1) Add the new relationships, and leave the old one in a "deprecated" state where it can't be added to new releases. (2) Then auto-add an edit note to all edits that added such relationships, asking the moderator to re-do the edit with the new AR types. (3 - optional) After a while, send a note to subscribers of the artists that still have such ARs asking them to change them. (4) Make a list of still-existing ARs, if there are not lots maybe we can do a "clean-up week" where volunteers can clean up some more. (5) Finally, drop whatever's left :(
  • The "lazy" version: just leave the old version together with the new ones. (And maybe "deprecate" it, so it's not used anymore.)

Domains of artwork contribution

It was noted on the mailing list and above that sometimes credits mention "cover art" (or "cover photography", presumably more) but sometimes just "artwork" (or "photography" etc.).

It might be a good idea to add only the functional roles (i.e. "photography", "concept", "artwork", "typography") under the general "artwork AR" category, and have checkboxes for specific areas: "cover", "booklet", "disc", "data track". I have only encountered "cover art" and [generic] "artwork" types, but conceivably there may be more, especially with all the special-deluxe-limited-edition-picture-vinyl-with-extra-bonus-tracks-plus-poster-and-decoder-ring releases that are coming out these days. -- Bogdanb