Live Data Feed

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MusicBrainz has been offering its live data feed since spring 2004. The live data feed enables a server running a PostgreSQL database in conjunction with the MusicBrainz Server software to automatically stay in sync with the main server by downloading replication packets from the main MusicBrainz FTP site at hourly intervals and applying them to the local database. This enables the mirror server to never be more than about an hour off sync with the main server.

As mentioned on our license page, the replication packets contain both Public Domain and Creative Commons licensed data. The Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 license allows anyone in a non-commercial setting to use this live data feed. However, you will need to obtain a commercial data license from the MetaBrainz Foundation if you would like to use our live data feed in a commercial setting. For information on what entails commercial use and how to obtain a commercial use license, please visit the MetaBrainz data license page.

Please note that MetaBrainz does not charge for access to the data! Anyone can download data snapshots that are at most a few days old (which is better than our closest competitors) or use our web service to have instant up to date access to the data. We are charging commercial users for timely and convenient data access so that we can fund the operation of our non-profit foundation and in turn develop new features.