How to Add a Release

If you are committed to helping shape the MusicBrainz data, you will pretty soon want to edit or add releases - and that means interacting with the release editor.

Release Information

This tab is full of text fields! Most of them are not strictly required, although you should always give as much information as you have. Make sure to look at the release style guidelines! Most of the information you need is there.

A few tips for this tab:

• The Release Group field is only used to move a release from one release group to another. This means in most cases you won't need to touch it. Specifically, if you're adding a new release, you should probably leave it untouched. The best way to add a release to an existing release group is navigating to it and pressing the Add Release link in the sidebar of the release group page.
• Remember this well: Language is the language of the titles, not the lyrics! An instrumental release with titles in French is a French release. Also, most European languages, including English, use the Latin script (the script this guide is written in!).
• The copyright year is not necessarily the same as the release year, especially for compilations and reissues. Don't assume it is.
• If you have a physical release and don't know the release country, there's sadly no perfect way to find out. An option is to look at the barcode: the first three numbers in EAN barcodes indicate a country, that you can find in this list of country codes nicely provided by Wikipedia. They are not infallible though, but if the barcode and at least other sign in the release (like the distributor) point to a country it is relatively safe to assume it.
• If you are entering a digital release, the country will depend on which page it is available from. Pages like BandCamp, SoundCloud and other similar sites have no region restrictions. In this case, it is safe to set the release to [Worldwide]. For releases from shops like Amazon or iTunes, that have region restrictions, the choice is harder, and there is no clear consensus on what to choose. Remember that you can always leave the field blank if you are not sure.
• Packaging of a physical release is often hard to determine if you don't have it in front of you. If in doubt, leave it blank. For a description of each packaging type, check Packaging. For digital downloads, use None.
• For labels, we follow imprints, not companies. This means you should look at the label logos, not the copyright statements. Also, BandCamp, iTunes or CD Baby are distribution platforms, not labels. Don't use them!
• The last two fields are free text fields and completely optional. Disambiguation is intended to differentiate versions of the same release. An example of a text that could belong here is "iTunes bonus track release". The annotation is used for stuff that doesn't fit in the database structure: read the Annotation page to find out more.