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One of MusicBrainz' aims is to be the universal lingua franca for music by providing a reliable and unambiguous form of music identification; this music identification is performed through the use of MusicBrainz Identifiers (MBIDs).
One of MusicBrainz' aims is to be the universal lingua franca for music by providing a reliable and unambiguous form of music identification; this music identification is performed through the use of MusicBrainz Identifiers (MBIDs).


In a nutshell, an MBID is a 36 character [[wikipedia:Universally Unique Identifier|Universally Unique Identifier]] that is permanently assigned to each entity in the database, i.e. [[Artist|artists]], [[Release Group|release groups]], [[Release|releases]], [[Recording|recordings]], [[Work|works]], [[Label|labels]], [[Area|areas]], [[Place|places]] and [[URL|URLs]]. MBIDs are also assigned to [[Track]]s, though tracks do not share many other properties of entities. For example, the artist [[Artist:0383dadf-2a4e-4d10-a46a-e9e041da8eb3|Queen]] has an artist MBID of <code>0383dadf-2a4e-4d10-a46a-e9e041da8eb3</code>, and their song [[Track:ebf79ba5-085e-48d2-9eb8-2d992fbf0f6d|Bohemian Rhapsody]] has a recording MBID of <code>ebf79ba5-085e-48d2-9eb8-2d992fbf0f6d</code>.
In a nutshell, an MBID is a 36 character [[wikipedia:Universally Unique Identifier|Universally Unique Identifier]] that is permanently assigned to each entity in the database, i.e. [[Artist|artists]], [[Release Group|release groups]], [[Release|releases]], [[Recording|recordings]], [[Work|works]], [[Label|labels]], [[Area|areas]], [[Place|places]] and [[URL|URLs]]. MBIDs are also assigned to [[Track]]s, though tracks do not share many other properties of entities. For example, the artist [[Artist:0383dadf-2a4e-4d10-a46a-e9e041da8eb3|Queen]] has an artist MBID of <code>0383dadf-2a4e-4d10-a46a-e9e041da8eb3</code>, and their song [[recording:ebf79ba5-085e-48d2-9eb8-2d992fbf0f6d|Bohemian Rhapsody]] has a recording MBID of <code>ebf79ba5-085e-48d2-9eb8-2d992fbf0f6d</code>.


An entity can have more than one MBID. When an entity is merged into another, its MBIDs redirect to the other entity.
An entity can have more than one MBID. When an entity is merged into another, its MBIDs redirect to the other entity.


== Using MBIDs for disambiguation ==
== Using MBIDs for disambiguation ==
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* the release
* the release
* the label
* the label
* the [[Track Artist|track artist]]
* the track artist
* the [[Release Artist|release artist]]
* the release artist


For more information, see the [https://picard.musicbrainz.org/docs/tags/ tag documentation] and the [https://picard.musicbrainz.org/docs/mappings/ tag mappings] of the MusicBrainz Picard tagger.
For more information, read the [[MusicBrainz Tag|MusicBrainz tag specification]].


=== Music players ===
=== Music players ===
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* query the [[MusicBrainz Database]] for further information about the file or related entities
* query the [[MusicBrainz Database]] for further information about the file or related entities
* reliably search for related files based on a unique string, instead of by potentially ambiguous strings such as [[Artist Name|artist name]] or [[Release Title|release title]]
* reliably search for related files based on a unique string, instead of by potentially ambiguous strings such as [[Artist Name|artist name]] or [[Release Title|release title]]

=== Flickr ===

See [[Flickr Machine Tag]] for information about adding MBIDs to photos on Flickr.


== Uniform Resource Identifier ==
== Uniform Resource Identifier ==


URIs can be constructed by prefixing the MBID with the address of the MusicBrainz server and the entity type, for example [[Artist:0383dadf-2a4e-4d10-a46a-e9e041da8eb3|Queen's]] URI becomes http://musicbrainz.org/artist/0383dadf-2a4e-4d10-a46a-e9e041da8eb3, and [[Track:ebf79ba5-085e-48d2-9eb8-2d992fbf0f6d|Bohemian Rhapsody's]] URI becomes http://musicbrainz.org/recording/ebf79ba5-085e-48d2-9eb8-2d992fbf0f6d.
URIs can be constructed by prefixing the MBID with the address of the MusicBrainz server and the entity type, for example [[Artist:0383dadf-2a4e-4d10-a46a-e9e041da8eb3|Queen's]] URI becomes http://musicbrainz.org/artist/0383dadf-2a4e-4d10-a46a-e9e041da8eb3, and [[recording:ebf79ba5-085e-48d2-9eb8-2d992fbf0f6d|Bohemian Rhapsody's]] URI becomes http://musicbrainz.org/recording/ebf79ba5-085e-48d2-9eb8-2d992fbf0f6d.


== See also ==
== See also ==


There are several other identifiers that MusicBrainz uses:
There are several other identifiers that MusicBrainz uses:
* [[Disc ID]]: An ID calculated from the TOC of a CD.
* [[Disc ID]]: An ID calculated from the TOC of a CD.
* [[PUID]]: The IDs used in the proprietary [[MusicDNS]] [[Audio Fingerprint|audio fingerprinting]] system operated by [[MusicIP]].
* [[AcoustID]]: the open-source [[wikipedia:acoustic fingerprint|acoustic fingerprint]] system used by MusicBrainz since 2013.
* [[Barcode]]: Machine-readable numbers used as stock control mechanisms by retailers.
* [[Barcode]]: Machine-readable numbers used as stock control mechanisms by retailers.
* [[ISRC]]: The International Standard Recording Code, an identification system for audio and music video recordings.
* [[ISRC]]: The International Standard Recording Code, an identification system for audio and music video recordings.
* [[ISWC]]: The International Standard Musical Work Code, an identification system for musical works.
* [[ISWC]]: The International Standard Musical Work Code, an identification system for musical works.
* [[IPI]], a number identifying persons connected to ISWC registered works (authors, composers, etc.).
* [[IPI]], a number identifying persons connected to ISWC registered works (authors, composers, etc.).
* [[PUID]]: The IDs used in the proprietary [[MusicDNS]] [[Audio Fingerprint|audio fingerprinting]] system operated by [[MusicIP]] (used by MusicBrainz 2006–2013)
[[Category:Documentation]] [[Category:Identifier]] [[Category:Terminology]] [[Category:WikiDocs Page]] [[Category:To Be Reviewed]]
[[Category:Documentation]] [[Category:Identifier]] [[Category:Terminology]] [[Category:WikiDocs Page]] [[Category:To Be Reviewed]]

Revision as of 21:38, 3 May 2016

One of MusicBrainz' aims is to be the universal lingua franca for music by providing a reliable and unambiguous form of music identification; this music identification is performed through the use of MusicBrainz Identifiers (MBIDs).

In a nutshell, an MBID is a 36 character Universally Unique Identifier that is permanently assigned to each entity in the database, i.e. artists, release groups, releases, recordings, works, labels, areas, places and URLs. MBIDs are also assigned to Tracks, though tracks do not share many other properties of entities. For example, the artist Queen has an artist MBID of 0383dadf-2a4e-4d10-a46a-e9e041da8eb3, and their song Bohemian Rhapsody has a recording MBID of ebf79ba5-085e-48d2-9eb8-2d992fbf0f6d.

An entity can have more than one MBID. When an entity is merged into another, its MBIDs redirect to the other entity.

Using MBIDs for disambiguation

MBIDs are used to disambiguate between entities that share the same name in the MusicBrainz Database.

For example, there are two popular artists with the name "John Williams":

  • John Williams, the soundtrack composer and conductor, has an artist MBID of 53b106e7-0cc6-42cc-ac95-ed8d30a3a98e
  • John Williams, the classical guitar player, has an artist MBID of 8b8a38a9-a290-4560-84f6-3d4466e8d791

And there are two different singles titled "99 Red Balloons":

Using MBIDs in applications

MBIDs play an important role when managing a digital music collection and there are several applications that are MusicBrainz enabled.

Taggers

Multiple MBIDs may be written to a file by a MusicBrainz enabled tagger application. They are commonly used to identify:

  • the recording itself
  • the release
  • the label
  • the track artist
  • the release artist

For more information, see the tag documentation and the tag mappings of the MusicBrainz Picard tagger.

Music players

Music player applications can take advantage of a file that has been tagged with MBIDs to do things such as:

  • query the MusicBrainz Database for further information about the file or related entities
  • reliably search for related files based on a unique string, instead of by potentially ambiguous strings such as artist name or release title

Flickr

See Flickr Machine Tag for information about adding MBIDs to photos on Flickr.

Uniform Resource Identifier

URIs can be constructed by prefixing the MBID with the address of the MusicBrainz server and the entity type, for example Queen's URI becomes http://musicbrainz.org/artist/0383dadf-2a4e-4d10-a46a-e9e041da8eb3, and Bohemian Rhapsody's URI becomes http://musicbrainz.org/recording/ebf79ba5-085e-48d2-9eb8-2d992fbf0f6d.

See also

There are several other identifiers that MusicBrainz uses:

  • Disc ID: An ID calculated from the TOC of a CD.
  • AcoustID: the open-source acoustic fingerprint system used by MusicBrainz since 2013.
  • Barcode: Machine-readable numbers used as stock control mechanisms by retailers.
  • ISRC: The International Standard Recording Code, an identification system for audio and music video recordings.
  • ISWC: The International Standard Musical Work Code, an identification system for musical works.
  • IPI, a number identifying persons connected to ISWC registered works (authors, composers, etc.).
  • PUID: The IDs used in the proprietary MusicDNS audio fingerprinting system operated by MusicIP (used by MusicBrainz 2006–2013)