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'''Labels''' are one of the most complicated and controversial parts of the music industry. The main reason for that being that the term itself is not clearly defined and refers to at least two overlapping concepts: imprints, and the companies that control them. Fortunately, in many cases the imprint and the company controlling it have the same name.
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==What is a label?==
{{LabelsStatus}}
==What is a Record Label?==


=== Imprint ===
<ul><li style="list-style-type:none">-- ''(derived from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Record_label Wikipedia's article])''
Labels in MusicBrainz refer mainly to imprints.
</ul>


An imprint is (strictly, and nothing more than) a brand (and trademark) associated with the marketing of sound recordings (an imprint is not a company). An imprint may be marketed as a project, unit or division of the company that manages it. Imprints are the information you certainly want to add in the database and is the information available on sleeves in the form of a label logo (a.k.a. imprint). Imprints are labels, as one usually understand it. Specifically, you should favor using names as they are represented on the imprint, rather than using a company name (usually found in "copyright"/"produced" mentions).
'''Record labels''' may refer to:
* Music groups:
** A music group is a financial holding, whose purpose is solely to control and manage other companies directly involved in the production of sound recordings


* Record companies:
=== Record company ===
To a lesser extent, a label entity ''may'' be created in the database to represent a record company.
** A record company manages imprints, and coordinates the production / manufacturing / promotion / relations with artist / PR / distribution of sound recordings. Record labels may directly handle one or more of these aspects, or may sign contractual agreements with other companies to do the job.


A record company typically manages imprints, and coordinates the ''production / manufacturing / promotion / relations with artist / PR / distribution'' of sound recordings. Record companies may directly handle one or more of these aspects, or may sign contractual agreements with other companies to do the job. In some specific cases, you may want to create a label in the database to represent such a company name rather than an imprint: usually, such a move is required when labels went through complex merge/split operations and you need [[Relationships|relationships]] to structure the imprints list and represent their history in a meaningful way. It can also make sense to add such a company in order to use the manufacturing and distribution relationships. Please note, though, that there is no need to "de-duplicate" companies from imprints when their name are very close.
* Imprints:
** An imprint is (strictly, and nothing more than) a brand (and trademark) associated with the marketing of sound recordings (an imprint is not a company). An imprint may be marketed as a project, unit or division of the company that manages it.


=== Music group ===
[[MusicBrainz]] should keep track of imprints, companies involved into either production or distribution, and to some extent music groups. Typically, all these informations are available on the media sleeves.
Lastly, we also store music groups.


A music group is a financial holding company, whose purpose is '''solely''' to control and manage other companies directly involved in the production of sound recordings. For record companies, the use of Music groups is reserved for specific cases that you will likely not encounter unless you're doing some research intensive background work on structuring the labels list.
At that time, we don't think we should keep track of companies involved in the other aspects of the music industry (PR...), get into too much financial details, or try to represent exactly the socio-economic organization of labels. There are two reasons for that:
* such informations are usually not available from sleeves
* they are probably irrelevant to [[MusicBrainz]] goal (being a '''music''' database)


=== Others ===
==Record Labels in MusicBrainz==
At this time, we '''don't''' keep track of companies involved in the other aspects of the music industry (PR, management, etc.), and we '''don't''' get into too much financial details, or try to represent exactly the socio-economic organization of companies. There are three reasons for that:
* this information is usually not available from sleeves
* this information is irrelevant to the MusicBrainz goal of being the ultimate source of ''music'' information
* such a project would be extremely complicated and our current data model is not fit for it


There are several entities that are '''not''' correct labels for which we still keep an entry so we can stop people from adding [[Release|release]]s to them. You can find [[Label/Non-Labels|a list of them here]].
These fields are stored directly in each label's record:
* [[Label ID|LabelID]]: the [[MusicBrainz]]' UUID of the label (not editable)
* [[Label Name|LabelName]]: the name of the label
* [[Label Sort Name|LabelSortName]]: the sortname of the label
* [[Label Alias|LabelAlias]]: aliases
* [[Label Code|LabelCode]]: the unique code of the label (a.k.a. "LC")
* [[Label Begin Date|LabelBeginDate]]: this is the creation date of the label entity (or the date at which the imprint name was first used)
* [[Label End Date|LabelEndDate]]: this is the date at which the company went bankrupt, was dismantled, or the name was used for the last time
* [[Label Comment|LabelComment]]: field to distinguish between identically named labels
* [[Label Annotation|LabelAnnotation]]: general information about the label that may be of interest and doesn't fit in any other fields
* [[Label Country|LabelCountry]]: the country in which the company was founded
* [[Label Type|LabelType]]: the "type" of the label, describing its production


== Examples ==
Many other kinds of information can be represented using [[Advanced Relationships|AdvancedRelationships]]. You can read [[Advanced Relationship Type|AdvancedRelationshipType]]<code><nowiki></nowiki></code>s for informations on all kind of relationships, or more specifically check [[Label Relationship Class|LabelRelationshipClass]] for label centric informations.
* Original Production: [[Label:022fe361-596c-43a0-8e22-bad712bb9548|EMI Records]]
* Holding: [[Label:a8f3eb19-05db-4895-b1d2-7ec911022a5e|EMI Group]]


== Style guidelines ==
Just like with artists, you can subscribe to a label. See [[Label Subscription|LabelSubscription]] for more information.
We have no specific guidelines for labels.


== Label properties ==
==Editing labels==


=== Name ===
Any [[MusicBrainz]] user can edit labels in several ways:
The official name of the label.
* The system provides the following [[Edit Type|EditType]]<code><nowiki></nowiki></code>s:
** [[Add Label Edit|AddLabelEdit]] (autoedit)
** [[Edit Label Name Edit|EditLabelNameEdit]]
** [[Edit Label Sortname Edit|EditLabelSortnameEdit]]
** [[Add Label Annotation Edit|AddLabelAnnotationEdit]]
** [[Add Label Alias Edit|AddLabelAliasEdit]]
** [[Edit Label Alias Edit|EditLabelAliasEdit]]
** [[Remove Label Alias Edit|RemoveLabelAliasEdit]]
** [[Merge Labels Edit|MergeLabelsEdit]]


The label name should be represented as found on media sleeves, including use of characters from non latin charsets, stylized characters, etc.
For general informations about these edits (and other types of edit), see [[Edit Type|EditType]].


If a label is renamed a new label should be created and a [[rt:e6159066-6013-4d09-a2f8-bc473f21e89e|label rename relationship]] created between the two.
==More about labels==


If there exists multiple slightly different names for the label (eg: ''The Verve Music Group'', ''Verve Music Group'', ''VMG''), you should use the most commonly used name, or the one used on the label's official site.
The design of the label system has been made bearing in mind one main requirement: having a release sleeve as only information source must be enough to perform all basic editing.


Labels are not always named uniquely, and different labels may share the same label name. To help differentiate between identically named labels, you should use a [[Disambiguation Comment|disambiguation comment]] and possibly an [[Annotation|annotation]] as well.
That being said, the label macrocosm is a very rich and complex world. Editors who want to go beyond basic editing and want to learn/document more can take a look at the [[Label Resource|LabelResource]] page.


==F.A.Q.==
=== Label Code ===
The [[Label/Label_Code|label code]] is the "LC" code of the label.


===How to handle autoreleases?===
=== Type ===
The [[Label/Type|type]] describes the main activity of the label.


=== IPI code ===
In some cases, artists "autoproduce" and "autorelease" their own records. As long as an imprint is possible to positively identify, it should be used as a label entry. If there's no such thing, or if the creation of such a label entry is disputable, we may want to use [[Special Purpose Label|SpecialPurposeLabel]]<code><nowiki></nowiki></code>s (possibly [autorelease]). This need to be discussed further, and such an addition should be made after a proper RFC/RFV process.
An IPI (interested party information) code is an identifying number assigned by the CISAC database for musical rights management. See [[IPI]] for more information, including how to find these codes.


=== ISNI code ===
===Can an imprint and the company that controls it have the same name?===
The International Standard Name Identifier for the label. See [[ISNI]] for more information.


=== Alias ===
Yes, definitely. Actually, a company "A" may sell its own imprint "A" to another company "B" and continue to exist as company "A", while the imprint is being operated by company "B"... This can result in really confusing situations... Usually though, editors in [[MusicBrainz]] will deal with imprints exclusively (which *is* the information available on sleeves).
Aliases are used to store alternate names or misspellings. For more information and examples, see the [[Aliases|page about aliases]].


=== Begin and end dates ===
In the old days, there was actually no clear distinction between an imprint and the company that controlled it. Nowadays though, things got much more complex. Whether or not something requires two distinct entries in the database is up to the editor, and should be decided on a case by case basis (though we think that in most cases, just one entry is enough).
The exact meaning of the begin and end dates depends on the type of label. Note that it's usually hard to know if an imprint has folded or is just on hold, and in generally the end date should only be entered if there's a clear indication of its demise.


:;Begin date:
===Where to discuss problems and enhancements suggestions?===
:* For officially registered trademarks or companies (holdings, distributors), it's the date at which it was registered.
:* For imprints, collection names (when used as labels) and subdivisions (or subsidiaries) for which there is no available creation date, it's the release date of the first release ever issued under that label name.
:* For bootleg companies (more generally for obscure/dubious companies), it's also tolerable to use the release date of the first release, unless more accurate data is available.


:;End date:
Both discussions about future enhancements and current limitations and bugs should be done on the [[Label Future|LabelFuture]] page.
:* For companies (holdings, distributors), it's the date at which the company stopped to exist (be it bankrupted or dismantled).
:* For imprints, collection names (when used as labels) and subdivisions (or subsidiaries) for which there is no available dismantling date, it's the release date of the last release ever issued under that label name.
:* For bootlegs companies (or otherwise obscure/dubious companies), it's also tolerable to use the release date of the last release, unless one has more accurate information.


===Are "collections" valid imprints?===
=== Country ===
The [[Label/Country|country]] of origin for the label.


=== MBID ===
This is a difficult question that can't be solved generally, but only on a case by case basis. Hence, the use of a label entry for collections names must be made with extra-care. Definitely, one must not use collection names printed on the front cover as a label name, but only if the collection name is used in place of the label name (usually on the back cover, next to a catalog number), and is really used by the producing label as is. For example, the "Verve Jazz Masters" releases are from label "Verve", dot, and "Jazz Masters" should be part of the release name. On the other hand, "Original Jazz Classics" is an imprint, owned by label "Fantasy".
See the [[MusicBrainz Identifier|page about MBIDs]] for more information.


=== Disambiguation comment ===
===How do you "relate" a label and a release?===
See the [[Disambiguation Comment|page about comments]] for more information.


=== Annotation ===
When adding a [[Release Event|ReleaseEvent]], you can additionally specify a [[Label Name|LabelName]], [[Catalog Number|CatalogNumber]], and an EAN. This is a core relation between labels and releases (not to be confused with [[Advanced Relationships|AdvancedRelationships]]). At that time, there are no [[Advanced Relationships|AdvancedRelationships]] between labels and releases.
See the [[Annotation|page about annotations]] for more information.


== Additional information ==
==Discussion==
* [[How to Identify Labels|How to identify labels]]
* [[Style/Unknown_and_untitled/Special_purpose_label|Special purpose labels]]
* [[Label/FAQ|Label FAQ]]
* [[Subscription|Label subscriptions]]
* [[Label/Resources|Extra resources]]


[[Category:WikiDocs Page]] [[Category:Terminology]] [[Category:Label]]
Open questions and miscellaneous discussions that don't yet have a place in the F.A.Q. and doesn't belong to [[Label Future|LabelFuture]] should go to the [[Talk:Label|LabelDiscussion]] page. Alternatively, you can post your question to either the [[Users Mailing List|UsersMailingList]] or [[Style Mailing List|StyleMailingList]], and possibly edit one of these pages afterward with the result if you think it's of general interest.

[[Category:To Be Reviewed]] [[Category:Terminology]] [[Category:Label]]

Revision as of 20:28, 26 May 2015

Labels are one of the most complicated and controversial parts of the music industry. The main reason for that being that the term itself is not clearly defined and refers to at least two overlapping concepts: imprints, and the companies that control them. Fortunately, in many cases the imprint and the company controlling it have the same name.

What is a label?

Imprint

Labels in MusicBrainz refer mainly to imprints.

An imprint is (strictly, and nothing more than) a brand (and trademark) associated with the marketing of sound recordings (an imprint is not a company). An imprint may be marketed as a project, unit or division of the company that manages it. Imprints are the information you certainly want to add in the database and is the information available on sleeves in the form of a label logo (a.k.a. imprint). Imprints are labels, as one usually understand it. Specifically, you should favor using names as they are represented on the imprint, rather than using a company name (usually found in "copyright"/"produced" mentions).

Record company

To a lesser extent, a label entity may be created in the database to represent a record company.

A record company typically manages imprints, and coordinates the production / manufacturing / promotion / relations with artist / PR / distribution of sound recordings. Record companies may directly handle one or more of these aspects, or may sign contractual agreements with other companies to do the job. In some specific cases, you may want to create a label in the database to represent such a company name rather than an imprint: usually, such a move is required when labels went through complex merge/split operations and you need relationships to structure the imprints list and represent their history in a meaningful way. It can also make sense to add such a company in order to use the manufacturing and distribution relationships. Please note, though, that there is no need to "de-duplicate" companies from imprints when their name are very close.

Music group

Lastly, we also store music groups.

A music group is a financial holding company, whose purpose is solely to control and manage other companies directly involved in the production of sound recordings. For record companies, the use of Music groups is reserved for specific cases that you will likely not encounter unless you're doing some research intensive background work on structuring the labels list.

Others

At this time, we don't keep track of companies involved in the other aspects of the music industry (PR, management, etc.), and we don't get into too much financial details, or try to represent exactly the socio-economic organization of companies. There are three reasons for that:

  • this information is usually not available from sleeves
  • this information is irrelevant to the MusicBrainz goal of being the ultimate source of music information
  • such a project would be extremely complicated and our current data model is not fit for it

There are several entities that are not correct labels for which we still keep an entry so we can stop people from adding releases to them. You can find a list of them here.

Examples

Style guidelines

We have no specific guidelines for labels.

Label properties

Name

The official name of the label.

The label name should be represented as found on media sleeves, including use of characters from non latin charsets, stylized characters, etc.

If a label is renamed a new label should be created and a label rename relationship created between the two.

If there exists multiple slightly different names for the label (eg: The Verve Music Group, Verve Music Group, VMG), you should use the most commonly used name, or the one used on the label's official site.

Labels are not always named uniquely, and different labels may share the same label name. To help differentiate between identically named labels, you should use a disambiguation comment and possibly an annotation as well.

Label Code

The label code is the "LC" code of the label.

Type

The type describes the main activity of the label.

IPI code

An IPI (interested party information) code is an identifying number assigned by the CISAC database for musical rights management. See IPI for more information, including how to find these codes.

ISNI code

The International Standard Name Identifier for the label. See ISNI for more information.

Alias

Aliases are used to store alternate names or misspellings. For more information and examples, see the page about aliases.

Begin and end dates

The exact meaning of the begin and end dates depends on the type of label. Note that it's usually hard to know if an imprint has folded or is just on hold, and in generally the end date should only be entered if there's a clear indication of its demise.

Begin date
  • For officially registered trademarks or companies (holdings, distributors), it's the date at which it was registered.
  • For imprints, collection names (when used as labels) and subdivisions (or subsidiaries) for which there is no available creation date, it's the release date of the first release ever issued under that label name.
  • For bootleg companies (more generally for obscure/dubious companies), it's also tolerable to use the release date of the first release, unless more accurate data is available.
End date
  • For companies (holdings, distributors), it's the date at which the company stopped to exist (be it bankrupted or dismantled).
  • For imprints, collection names (when used as labels) and subdivisions (or subsidiaries) for which there is no available dismantling date, it's the release date of the last release ever issued under that label name.
  • For bootlegs companies (or otherwise obscure/dubious companies), it's also tolerable to use the release date of the last release, unless one has more accurate information.

Country

The country of origin for the label.

MBID

See the page about MBIDs for more information.

Disambiguation comment

See the page about comments for more information.

Annotation

See the page about annotations for more information.

Additional information