Style/Principle/Error correction and artist intent

Artist intent describes whether an artist intended the ArtistName, ReleaseTitle or TrackTitle to contradict the language they're in (e.g. spelling errors) or state something that would contradict the StyleGuidelines.

Artist intent is a very fundamental concept, however, it is not clearly defined at all. The general idea (as stated in the StylePrinciples) is that, if an artist intended something to be written in a very special way, then MusicBrainz should follow this intent. Unfortunately it is very difficult to find out what an artist intended. ArtistIntentVsFacts discusses this problem in more detail.

If you want to claim that some deviation of the OfficialStyleGuidelines should be considered artist intent, the burden of proof lies upon you. You are encouraged to discuss the issue on the UsersMailingList.

Agreed Upon Artist Names

The MusicBrainz community has agreed that the following ArtistNames are considered to be styled this way according to the artist's intent:

• 2raumwohnung (all lowercase)
• k.d. lang (all lowercase)
• a-ha (all lowercase)
• lostprophets (all lowercase)

Discussion

Artist Intent is one of the most powerful arguments we have here so I think we need to define when exactly it applies. In many cases we're claiming "Artist Intent" based solely off an album cover or artist's official page, I know I do it all the time. But this leads to alot of people going against capitalization guidelines because the font on the CD cover doesn't use capitals anywhere, or vice versa. I think we all need to remember that as the most powerful argument in an edit, Artist Intent should be the one requireing the most proof. In many situations the artist intent is obvious such as Linkin Park's Reanimation but we have to differentiate actual Artist Intent from a web or CD cover designer that thinks a certain font "looks cool". --Kerensky97