History:Versus Style

Style for Versus Artists (Artist A vs. Artist B)

Status: This guideline is now official as of 10th December, 2004.

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The first thing to do when dealing with a "versus" style track or release is to determine what kind of "versus" it is. There is some very detailed discussion about the various types on this page: VersusMeansDifferentThings.

1. In the first case, where it is simply two artists collaborating, follow FeaturingArtistStyle.
2. In the second case, where it means one artist is remixing another, use the original artist as the ArtistName, and put the remixer into the track title as you would with other remixes, following the RemixStyle.
3. In the third case, where the track is a MashUp, use the mixer as the ArtistName, and put the two "versus" artist titles into the track name like so: "TrackTitle (Artist A vs. Artist B)" following the MashUpStyle.

Discussion

For the third case, what if there is no TrackTitle, but only Artist A, Artist B and the two original tracktitles are known? E.g. mix artist: 2 Many DJ's; Artist A: Dolly Parton; Track A: 9 to 5; Artist B: Röyksopp; Track B: Eple

My suggestion: in that case, use "9 to 5 vs. Eple (Dolly Parton vs. Röyksopp)" as TrackTitle.

• No. This guideline should not be used to add information that is not already given with the track. It is not a general way for adding information about the artists involved in the making of a MashUp. If the track does not contain "ArtistName vs. ArtistName" then it should not be added. In the example above, an annotation noting the original tracks were performed by Dolly Parton and Röyksopp is appropriate, but as this information was not actually part of the original ArtistName or TrackTitle, we should not add it. If we allowed this, then we open the door to using the VersusStyle any time that two artists are mashed up like this: this guideline is only appropriate when the original track lists the artists with "vs." in the first place. --TarragonAllen

What about the style for track names on As Heard on Radio Soulwax, Part 2? The track titles are being moderated at the moment, from something that was wrong to something else, that's not correct either. If feel there's a need for a separate MashUp style guide, which makes a distinction between the different kinds of mash tracks found on the linked album. cover scan --Zout

1. The 1st seems to become more and more wrong.
2. The 2nd doesn't make sense, and RemixStyle doesn't mention it at all. Since when do we put the Remixer Name in track titles. Maybe it's just completely out of date. ;) 2.1. "Foo (DJ Bar and Grill remix)"? -- MartinRudat
3. Apart from the fact, that there is no Documentation about MashUps (the links don't work). This seems to contradict the other styleguidlines, by telling that in a very special case, where a Remix is a MashUp and the artists are concatenated as A vs. B, you must use the Remixer as the main artist.
4. We are missing a 4th style where A vs. B is a real collaboration like project between two artists. ---Fuchs

As of March 2007, there appears to be growing sentiment that VersusStyle is too vague, possibly even irrelevant since ArtistIntent can almost always be argued to override it. See the "'Elvis vs. JXL' vs. VersusStyle" thread on the UsersMailingList. --LarryGilbert

I continue to use MashUpStyle as defined as the "third case" above, and it seems to have been accepted for the 2 Many DJ's albums. The broken links on this page are slightly worrying, however. Shall I create the pages just to repeat the information supplied here? -- ArtySmokes AnswerMe