Style/Relationships

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Status: This is an official style guideline.

This page outlines general guidelines that should be followed when adding relationships. Many relationships also have their own guidelines which, should they conflict, supersede the ones on this page.

For relationships which link an entity to a URL, see the URL guidelines as well.

For assistance in determining the correct relationship types to use when describing compiling, DJ mixing, mastering, mixing, remastering, remixing and sampling, please refer to Mix Terminology.

Don't Make Relationship Clusters

Crediting an artist's role at the track vs. the release level

There are multiple levels at which an artist's role on a song or album can be noted:

  1. If the relationship is applicable to all tracks on a release, apply it to every work or recording on the release.
  2. If the relationship applies to only a few tracks, and you know which ones, apply it only to those works or recordings.
  3. If you are unsure which tracks a relationship applies to, put it at release level. A basic effort to determine to which tracks the relationship is applicable is appreciated.
  4. If the credit is release level, and does not apply on a track by track basis (e.g. graphic design for the album's cover), then apply the relationship to the release, not the tracks.

If you find a release which has release level relationships and you know which tracks the relationships apply to, please fix them.

Personal and business relationships

It not part of MusicBrainz' mission to capture all the aspects of the personal life of artists nor the economic life of the recording industry.

A person should not be added to the database only to allow a link to indicate that they went out with, were married to, or were related to an artist. The only exception is when a non-musical person can be connected to two or more artists, allowing those artists to indirectly be linked together.

Label entries should not be added solely to represent investors, share-holders, etc. Relationship types which would represent fine-grained ownership details (or the entire economic macrocosm) have not been created, and the existing relationship types should not be misused for the purpose.

While proposals for new relationships are always welcomed by the Style Council, be forewarned that proposals which would add relationship types to allow tracking finer-grained personal details or company or economic details will face a greater degree of scrutiny.