History:SG5 Disaster Relief
Subject: These are the plans to solve the major problem of StyleGuideline 5 (FeaturingArtistStyle) which are to be implemented in the short term. So we are not completly GettingRidOfFeaturingArtistStyle. In the medium term it can be made more acceptable via interface changes like the ArtistPageRedesign. A more detailed solution should come along with the NextGenerationSchema in the long term.
The plans are as follows:
- Allow albums with various artists on the tracks but which are attributed to one artist to be moved to this artist.
- Change the StyleGuideline like this: "If two or more primary artists perform on a track, create a collaboration artist for them and attach the track to it." Note, that the use of "feat." will still be valid for guest performing artists.
Code changes
The first part requires code changes such that:
- The album listing will no longer list albums which have a track of the current artist on them and AlbumArtist == VariousArtists but list albums which have a track of the current artist on them and AlbumArtist != the current artist.
- When listing tracks of an album, the TrackArtist
s will only be shown if one or more tracks have a TrackArtist != AlbumArtist. - Albums which have VariousArtists as AlbumArtist (that is which are VariousArtistAlbum
s currently) get a "Move" link which allows moving them to a SingleArtist. - Probably we have to adjust the tagger libs a bit for this.
The code changes will be open for testing on the test server before being released. Also the changes will be further announced (especially important for the customers).
Examples
- The Queen albums which are attributed to Queen on the cover and have all tracks by Queen except one which is by "Queen & David Bowie" are changed in the following way:
- Convert the album to VariousArtists
- Change the TrackArtist of the one track to a newly created collaboration "Queen & David Bowie"
- Move the album to the artist Queen
-
You have to un-check "Move Tracks to Album Artist", such that only the Album Artist is affected by the Move, but not the Tracks.
This is a bit work but the result should be acceptable for everyone. ;)
- The album The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is nearly completly by Howard Shore except the last track which is by Enya. You could move the album to Howard Shore. This would have the following consequences:
- The album appears in the discography of Howard Shore (in one of the main sections).
- The album appears in one of the VA sections of Enya.
- When looking at the album you see Howard Shore above it and the correct artist listed for every track.
- The double album The K&D Sessions is added again and again to the artist Kruder & Dorfmeister because they remixed it and so it is attributed to them. You could move it to this artist and it would appear under their albums - but the remixed tracks still show the original artists.
Editing
As you can see in some cases you'd need several atomic edits until you are where you want to be with an album (convert to VA, change track artist, move to SA). Therefore it's recommended to add notes with exhaustive explanations to the edits and links to each other. Also as some of the changes do not appear under subscribable artists you might want to tell people to vote on those changes if you are not an AutoModerator so that they won't fail and you can go on with the work on it.
Discussion
How does a compilation with a track by Pearl Jam & Cypress Hill (http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=306208) be handled? This collaboration artist only appears twice, both times on a 'real' Various Artists release. At the moment and after this relief has been implemented those 2 releases won't show up under either Pearl Jam or Cypress Hill. --Zout
So in effect the FeaturingArtistStyle I made "official" and lasted for a day will be applied, with the extension of the ReleaseArtist? This looks great! When will this go live on the test server, you think? --Zout
- Actually, it is already live! (on test of course) ;-) --G0llum
I've got two (minor) issues with the implementation:
- When moving a VA release to a 'main' artist (we need good terminology for this), there is the option "Move Tracks to Album Artist", which actually is the same as "Convert to single artist". I suggest removing this option, as it is counter-intuitive. Instead of the check box, there can be a text saying something like "If you want all tracks to be by the same artist, you need to Convert to single artist instead".
- There seem to be two listings for 'Compilation' after moving a VA release to an artist (e.g. Queen). At least, yesterday. Has this been fixed in the mean time? Great!
--Zout
If I understand correctly, the 'main' artist on a release is set for releases that are e.g. Greatest Hits by a single artist, but that have one or more tracks on it that are collaborations or maybe by a member of the group. Also, for DJ-Mixes, the DJ Mixer should be the 'main artist'. Should be, at the same time, forbid the use of '(Mixed by ...)' in ReleaseTitle
