Release groups usage guideline: Difference between revisions

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Both release groups and releases are "albums" in colloquial sense, but with a slight difference: a release is something you can buy as media, e.g. a CD box, a vinyl record etc. on its own, while a release group embraces the concept of an album -- it doesn't matter how many CDs or editions/versions it had. When an artist tells you "We've released our new album", he's talking about a release group. When his publisher says "This new album gets released next week in Japan and next month in Europe", he's talking about several releases belonging to the release group the artist has told you about.
Both release groups and releases are "albums" in colloquial sense, but with a slight difference: a release is something you can buy as media, e.g. a CD box, a vinyl record etc. on its own, while a release group embraces the concept of an album -- it doesn't matter how many CDs or editions/versions it had. When an artist tells you "We've released our new album", he's talking about a release group. When his publisher says "This new album gets released next week in Japan and next month in Europe", he's talking about several releases belonging to the release group the artist has told you about.


Therefore a release group is a single group of releases containing:
Therefore a release group could contain:
* Plain releases containing one or multiple discs, e.g. Nirvana's "[http://test.musicbrainz.org/release-group/0da3291e-e864-40de-9bc2-b64abf2c3795.html Nevermind]" or Linkin Park's "[http://test.musicbrainz.org/release-group/d0fd521d-06ef-4f98-8432-258413267b2a.html Bleed It Out]".
* Normal release(s), consisting of a single disc or multiple discs.
** Nirvana's "[http://test.musicbrainz.org/release-group/0da3291e-e864-40de-9bc2-b64abf2c3795.html Nevermind]"
* Various artists' multiple-disc compilations like "[http://test.musicbrainz.org/release-group/e28bca11-ee27-4a6a-be5c-9848fc7f26a1.html Bravo Hits 64]"
** Richard Wagner's "[http://test.musicbrainz.org/release-group/ad7b2786-404c-4d7b-a679-8de5e76c0507.html Ring der Nibelungen]" - A 10 discs release
* Collection boxes, e.g. Richard Wagner's 10-disc release "[http://test.musicbrainz.org/release-group/ad7b2786-404c-4d7b-a679-8de5e76c0507.html Ring der Nibelungen]".
** Linkin Park's "[http://test.musicbrainz.org/release-group/d0fd521d-06ef-4f98-8432-258413267b2a.html Bleed It Out]"
* Special editions with additional or alternative tracks or discs, e.g. Slipknot's "[http://test.musicbrainz.org/release-group/08f5be36-086c-411d-af2e-de2aabacc4e4.html Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)]"
** "[http://test.musicbrainz.org/release-group/e28bca11-ee27-4a6a-be5c-9848fc7f26a1.html Bravo Hits 64]" - A various artist multiple disc compilation
* Re-releases, e.g. Blind Guardian's "[http://test.musicbrainz.org/release-group/f9de2cc5-e19e-4060-9aa7-0321c84698cc.html Nightfall in Middle-Earth]" released in 1998 and then in 2007.
* Different (special) editions with additional or alternative (bonus) track(s) or disc(s).
** Slipknot's "[http://test.musicbrainz.org/release-group/08f5be36-086c-411d-af2e-de2aabacc4e4.html Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)]"
* Re-releases.
** Blind Guardian's "[http://test.musicbrainz.org/release-group/f9de2cc5-e19e-4060-9aa7-0321c84698cc.html Nightfall in Middle-Earth]" released in 1998 and then in 2007.


A release group is not:
A release group should not contain:
* Compilations series' consisting of different volumes, released over time. A particular part or volume consisting of multiple discs is usually a release group, but not the whole series.
* A complete compilations series' consisting of different volumes, released over time. Typical examples are "[[Series/Cafe Del Mar|Café del Mar]]", "[[Series/Hitzone|Hitzone]]", "[[Series/Ministry Of Sound|Ministry of Sound]]" and "[[Series/Now Thats What I Call Music|Now That's What I Call Music!]]". Each release of the series can be a release group though.
* Different bootleg recordings of a live show, e.g. two bootlegs ([http://test.musicbrainz.org/release-group/069f88ab-0e5e-48b8-b1f1-7f24cfc2d37c.html [1]], [http://test.musicbrainz.org/release-group/8ba7ca48-c8cf-4070-9e8f-30cdd2e76df3.html [2]]) of a Pink Floyd concert 1970 in San Francisco.
** "[[Series/Cafe Del Mar|Café del Mar]]"
** "[[Series/Hitzone|Hitzone]]"
** "[[Series/Ministry Of Sound|Ministry of Sound]]"
** "[[Series/Now Thats What I Call Music|Now That's What I Call Music!]]"
* Different bootleg recordings of a live show
** Pink Floyd's "[http://test.musicbrainz.org/release-group/069f88ab-0e5e-48b8-b1f1-7f24cfc2d37c.html 1970-04-29: Interstellar Encore: Fillmore West, San Francisco, USA]"
** Pink Floyd's "[http://test.musicbrainz.org/release-group/8ba7ca48-c8cf-4070-9e8f-30cdd2e76df3.html 1970-04-29: Interstellar Fillmore: Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA, USA]"


Musicbrainz automatically considers every release in the database to be part of a release group, even if this group only contains this one release. Therefore, grouping releases only requires merging several release groups. The following criteria should help you to decide which releases should be merged and which should not.
Musicbrainz automatically considers every release in the database to be part of a release group, even if this group only contains this one release. You don't have to worry about creating release groups, you only ever need to merge them.

Revision as of 02:37, 22 May 2009

Current Musicbrainz server release feature a concept called Release Groups. Just as the name suggests, it groups several releases together in one entity. Since this is not obviously clear, this page explains the difference and gives some guidelines on how to handle them.

Both release groups and releases are "albums" in colloquial sense, but with a slight difference: a release is something you can buy as media, e.g. a CD box, a vinyl record etc. on its own, while a release group embraces the concept of an album -- it doesn't matter how many CDs or editions/versions it had. When an artist tells you "We've released our new album", he's talking about a release group. When his publisher says "This new album gets released next week in Japan and next month in Europe", he's talking about several releases belonging to the release group the artist has told you about.

Therefore a release group could contain:

A release group should not contain:

  • A complete compilations series' consisting of different volumes, released over time. Typical examples are "Café del Mar", "Hitzone", "Ministry of Sound" and "Now That's What I Call Music!". Each release of the series can be a release group though.
  • Different bootleg recordings of a live show, e.g. two bootlegs ([1], [2]) of a Pink Floyd concert 1970 in San Francisco.

Musicbrainz automatically considers every release in the database to be part of a release group, even if this group only contains this one release. You don't have to worry about creating release groups, you only ever need to merge them.