How to Add a Release

One of the first things you'll probably want to do in MusicBrainz is to add a release. There are two ways to start the process.

If you're in the page for the artist you want to add a release to, just press "Add release" in the sidebar (if it's a different version of a release we already have, it's better to press "Add release" in the release group page instead!).

Or you can just press "Add release" (or "Add Various Artists release") in the editing menu:

Any of these options will bring you to the release editor - which might have some fields already filled depending on where you entered it from. Now let's take a look at the first tab!

Release Information

This tab is full of text fields! Most of them are not strictly required, although you should always try give as much information as you have. Make sure to look at the release style guidelines! Most of the information you need is there. If the release is of "classical" - as opposed to "popular" - music, check the (not completely official but still almost always followed) Classical Style Guide.

Release Information

The first set of fields here is also called "Release Information":

First of all, you'll need to enter a title! Take a look at the guidelines for titles.

Then you'll see the Release Group field. In most cases, you can just leave this untouched, as it is only used to choose the release group will be placed in - and you'll usually either want to add a new one or have it pre-filled.

Artist comes next. If you have arrived here from the "Add release" link in the artist page, it will be pre-filled! To use the artist credit system and get extra options to configure the release artist (like adding more than one, or changing the way the name is credited) click the box with the arrows by the artist field (see How to Use Artist Credits).

Note that you can create new artists and labels directly from the release editor. Just write the names in the fields as if for searching, but do not select any result, and you'll given the chance to add them in a later tab. Of course, you should not add duplicates: always use the search first!

Next comes Type. You can see what each type is in our list of types. The type is actually a property of the release group, so if you are using an existing release group, you won't be able to change it from here.

The status will usually be Official, but do read the descriptions of them before choosing. Note that Pseudo-release is a very specific term, used mostly for translations and transliterations of track titles, and probably not what you want if you have doubts.

Language should be easy! But note this is the language of the titles, not the lyrics - an instrumental release with titles in French should have French as a language.

And the last one is script ("alphabet"). You can check a list of common scripts, but most European languages, including English, use the Latin script (the script this guide is written in!)

Release Event

The second set of fields is the Release Event - this deals with when and how this release was... well, released.

For the date (in the year-month-day format) enter the date it was released. The copyright year is not necessarily the same as the release year, especially for compilations and reissues. Don't assume it is.

The country is the one the release was released in. If you have a physical release and don't know the country, there's sadly no perfect way to find out for sure, but the barcode and the countries of the label and the artist sometimes help. If you are entering a digital release, the country will depend on where 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, it is safest to choose the country of the shop (if you've bought it in the French iTunes store, use France). Remember that you can always leave the field blank if you are not sure!

The packaging of a physical release should be easy to determine if you have it in front of you: you can check the list of packaging options. 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. See How to Identify Labels for more info. Also, BandCamp, iTunes or CD Baby are distribution platforms, not labels. Don't use them! Each label can be paired with a catalog number.

The barcode field should be simple! If there's no barcode, just mark the checkbox that says so and continue.

Additional Information

The last two fields are free text and completely optional.

The disambiguation field is intended to differentiate versions of the same release, especially in cases where there are two releases which are almost equal (same barcode and catalog number) but, for example, have two different covers, or to differentiate the bonus track releases from Amazon and iTunes.

The annotation is used for stuff that doesn't fit in the database structure: read the Annotation page to find out more.

Release Duplicates

This tab is only used when adding releases. It will look for releases with the same title and artist as the one you're adding and propose them as a starting point. This allows you to reuse the tracklist and recordings of the chosen release for the one you're adding, and is especially useful if you're adding a reissue or a version with bonus tracks of a release that is already in MusicBrainz. Please only use this if the recordings should also be the same - don't use it for remasters!

Tracklist

The main use of this tab is tracklist input, and in it you'll see a table: you have columns for track titles, artist and track length. If you want to change the artists or use the artist credit system you will need to make sure the checkbox by "Artist" is checked. If you click on the "credits" link you will get a box in which you can change the name the artist appears with, and/or credit more than one artist for the track.

If you have a tracklist you want to paste, you can press Track Parser. By default the parser uses the format No. Title - Artist (mm:ss), although it accepts a few variations on this format. You can (de)select the checkboxes under the input field to change the way in which the parser uses the data. The main weakness of the parser, especially for various artist releases, is that it takes Title - Artist, but not Artist - Title. Although an option to swap those is planned, for now it might be easier for you to just input the data from the table if your source information is in this format.

By default, on a new add, only 1 medium (disc) is shown. If you are editing a multi-disc release, you will want to add more: press the "Add Disc" button and you will be given several options. "Manual entry" is a track parser; if you want to add a new disc from scratch but you don't want to parse the data, just press "Add Disc" inside the menu without entering anything in the parser. "Existing tracklist" allows you to load an existing medium from the database. This is most useful when a release includes - as a bonus, or as part of a boxset - a previously released disc, as you will load not only its tracklist but also its recording associations. "CD Stub import" and "FreeDB import" allow you to import some info from a CD Stub or FreeDB respectively: this will save some typing, although you should always correct the imported info so it follows the style guidelines.

Before advancing to the next tab, make sure you set the right format for each medium! This can be done from a dropdown above each input area.

Recordings

Here you can assign recordings to the tracks in the release. If you're adding a new release and you haven't based it in an existing one, the default behavior will be to create a new recording for each track. This is not always what is wanted, and if you're sure that the recording is the same as one already in the database, you should select it in the search. If in doubt, it's probably better to create a new recording, as merging them is less time-consuming than splitting one that is wrongly assigned - and the information is less accurate, but not incorrect. On the other hand, if a track has an assigned recording that is not correct (because you based your new release on an existing one and this track is different, or because the existing release you're editing is wrong) you can change it here - or deselect it so a new one is created when you enter the edit.

Add Missing Entities

If you left any artist or label field filled without selecting a search result, you'll need to either choose an existing artist/label or create a new one from this tab. If you're offered one or more options already in the database and you find out one of them is the one you want, just select it and continue. If none of them is the right one (or you're shown no results) you'll need to create a new entity. Enter a sort name (see the guidelines for artist sort names and label sort names) and, if needed, a disambiguation comment. Once you've done one of these two things for all the entities in the page, you can continue.

Edit Note

Here you'll see a preview of the results of your edit. The list can be pretty long, but please do take a look at it and verify that everything looks correct! If it doesn't, you can go back to previous tabs and fix the errors.

Once you're satisfied with the displayed preview, you should enter an edit note. Please check How to Write Edit Notes and try to make your edit note as useful as you can! Even if you are entering the info from a physical release in front of you, it is helpful if you can give an online source that proves the data. Of course, sometimes this is just not possible, especially for obscure / underground releases. But at least make a quick check to see if you can find anything.

And you're done! Press Enter edit and your edit will enter the voting queue.