Style/Unknown and untitled/Special purpose artist: Difference between revisions

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{{Official style}}
="Artists" used for handling special cases=


== Purpose of the Special Purpose Artists ==
Status: [[Needs Intertwingling|NeedsIntertwingling]]


Several special artists exist in the database to deal with unusual cases. There always are some unnoticed bogus artists, but those Special Purpose Artists (SPAs) listed here exist officially, used to handle each of these various types of special case artists.
===Special cases===


== List of official SPAs ==
A number of [[Artist]]s are used for special cases; some of them are directly addressed in the [[Style Guideline|StyleGuideline]]<code><nowiki></nowiki></code>s:
* [http://www.musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=1 Various Artists]
* [http://www.musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=41744 [data track]] (see [[Data Track|DataTrack]])
* [http://www.musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=97546 [unknown]]
* [http://www.musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=105725 [no artist]]


* [[Artist:f731ccc4-e22a-43af-a747-64213329e088|[anonymous]]] - The track artist is both unknown and unknowable. If you are not sure whether to use [[Artist:f731ccc4-e22a-43af-a747-64213329e088|[anonymous]]] or [[Artist:125ec42a-7229-4250-afc5-e057484327fe|[unknown]]], use [[Artist:125ec42a-7229-4250-afc5-e057484327fe|[unknown]]].
===Informal special cases===


* [[Artist:33cf029c-63b0-41a0-9855-be2a3665fb3b|[data]]] - Used for data CDs and data tracks (additional tracks on audio CDs that contain data other than standard CD audio). Note that [[Data Track Style|data track style]] should also be used to title data tracks.
Others are used more informally:
* [http://www.musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=15071 [anon.]]
* [http://www.musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=92121 [dialogue]]
* [http://www.musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=137132 [trad.]]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=244574 [gregorian chant]]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=259074 [spiritual]]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=335 Ethnic Music Compilations]


* [[Artist:314e1c25-dde7-4e4d-b2f4-0a7b9f7c56dc|[dialogue]]] - Used for tracks which consist solely of dialogue, and which aren't credited to anyone on the release tracklist. For example, the [[recording:1220c6aa-41a5-47b4-99e1-9dd586e491cc|"Royale With Cheese"]] discussion from Pulp Fiction would be correctly assigned to [dialogue], not to "John Travolta & Samuel L. Jackson", since the tracklist has no artists for that track. Their performances within the track should instead be indicated by a [[rt:0fdbe3c6-7700-4a31-ae54-b53f06ae1cfa|vocals relationship]] (generally ''spoken vocals'').
===Incorrect collection artists===


* [[Artist:eec63d3c-3b81-4ad4-b1e4-7c147d4d2b61|[no artist]]] - There is no artist. (Recorded silence or noise, if it is attributed to any artist, should be assigned to that artist and ''not'' to [[Artist:eec63d3c-3b81-4ad4-b1e4-7c147d4d2b61|[no artist]]].)
Others are kept only to accommodate for the various mistagged releases in the FreeDB. No releases should be added to them; instructions on what to do with the existing ones can be found in the relevant "artist's" annotation:
* [http://www.musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=104 Disney] - has its own wikipage. [[Disney]]
* [http://www.musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=10039 Data CD]
* [http://www.musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=23323 Musical]
* [http://www.musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=36434 MusicBrainz Test Artist]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=287861 MusicBrainz Test Artist] (Yet another test artist) - to test behavior of Various Artists [[Add Release Edit|AddReleaseEdit]] and [[Import Release|ImportRelease]] [[Edit Type|EditType]]<code><nowiki></nowiki></code>s.
* [http://www.musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=139603 Soundtrack]
* [http://www.musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=233138 Classical]


* [[artist:9be7f096-97ec-4615-8957-8d40b5dcbc41|[traditional]]] - Used for writer/composer (and related) credits when the work in question pre-dates any written or recorded version(s), having originally been passed down from musician to musician. Rather than being attributable to one [anonymous] or [unknown] artist/collaboration, this work is better described as having emerged from a musical tradition.
===Collection artists===


* [[Artist:125ec42a-7229-4250-afc5-e057484327fe|[unknown]]] - Used when a particular artist is unknown, but is potentially discoverable with further research. '''Please do some research before using this artist'''; this artist should '''not''' be used simply as a "lazy easy solution" to an artist you don't happen to know offhand.
There are some entries in the database that do not represent artist names, but names of collections for which the real artists are not known, or names of software companies. <br/> These should have their composer(s) found and moved/converted there.
* [http://musicbrainz.org/show/artist/?artistid=81321 Alan Lomax Collection, The]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=207120 Allegro Corporation]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=34230 BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation)]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=165615 BBC Radio Collection]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/artist/84f6ee97-b901-401d-b65d-20fe8db0dfbf.html Bud Light Presents]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=177001 Bungie]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=32758 Christmas Music]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=31175 (The) Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/artist/f51d121e-b2c4-43fd-85ca-6584198b6ed5.html Dancelife]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/show/artist/?artistid=234 Doctor Who]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=229967 Hollywood Edge]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=233856 KONAMI]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=327192 LaserLight Digital]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=32604 Lifescapes]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/artist/f3b9d3aa-ff64-46cd-a4c5-9ffabda34993.html Linguaphone]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=42909 Living Language]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=7777 Looney Tunes]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=9306 Nature Sounds]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=135522 Nintendo]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=58529 Pamplin Music]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=124929 Pickin' On]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=4478 Pokemon]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=306298 Scary Sounds]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=14322 Sega]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/artist/1b479bce-9e24-4866-9f80-c70f9ace6f1b.html (The) Smithsonian Collection]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=37456 Vineyard Music]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/show/artist/?artistid=167979 Warner Classics]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=151923 Wordsound]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=111185 3D Realms]


* [[Artist:89ad4ac3-39f7-470e-963a-56509c546377|Various Artists]] - Used only for compilation-type releases or release groups containing tracks by multiple different artists. This artist shouldn't generally be used for recordings, tracks or works.
==Discussion==


== Subsets ==
Created this page in response to the following moderations, as a better forum for discussion of these artist names. Feel free to expand/improve the documentation above as well...


=== Subsets of [unknown] ===
[http://www.musicbrainz.org/showmod.html?modid=2463580 http://www.musicbrainz.org/showmod.html?modid=2463580] [http://www.musicbrainz.org/showmod.html?modid=2472728 http://www.musicbrainz.org/showmod.html?modid=2472728]


Sometimes it is useful to be a bit more specific when using [[Artist:125ec42a-7229-4250-afc5-e057484327fe|[unknown]]]. You can use one of the following as the artist credit if applicable:
----


* [christmas music]
* [[Artist:66ea0139-149f-4a0c-8fbf-5ea9ec4a6e49|[Disney]]]
* [[Artist:a0ef7e1d-44ff-4039-9435-7d5fefdeecc9|[theatre]]]
* [classical music]
* [soundtrack]


Always include the square brackets ([]) to indicate that this is not the artist as credited.
I think it is counterproductive that artist for anonymous is [anon.] but artist for trad. is <code><nowiki>[traditional]</nowiki></code> they should be the same. either both the abbreviated or both the full word.


As with regular use of [[Artist:125ec42a-7229-4250-afc5-e057484327fe|[unknown]]], these should only be used as a last resort, pending further research.
Someone mentioned something about that on the mailing list, but I do not recall who ~[[User:mo|mo]]
<ul><li style="list-style-type:none">''I thought there was something from [[User:TarragonAllen|TarragonAllen]] saying it should be expanded (à la Volume) and I tend to agree, preferring <code><nowiki>[anonymous]</nowiki></code> to [anon.] for this.'' [[User:Dupuy|@alex]]
</ul>


=== Subsets of [no artist] ===
Where should 'artists' like Nintendo and Microsoft go? --[[User:Zout|Zout]]
<ul><li style="list-style-type:none">In some cases, there are audio tracks for games that are "production music" and there's no proper composer other than "the employees of the game division of XXX Co." In those cases, having Nintendo or Microsoft as the artist is probably as correct as we can possibly get. It's worth noting in an [[Artist Annotation|ArtistAnnotation]] that many games do in fact have a credited composer or music engineer who should be the artist. [[User:Dupuy|@alex]]
<ul><li style="list-style-type:none">I'd like to comment that Nintendo, much like 'soundtrack' is a placement artist type thing for Nintendo game-soundtracks, as Nintendo has yet to make computer games, are all discs under Nintendo, music CD's. Have moved Zelda ones to Koji Kondo for example. to be confusing one Age of Empires disc under 'Microsoft' is not a game CD but an actual soundtrack. IMHO this sould not be under 'Data CD'. so in lieu of all this I have thought to go look over my game CD's to see if there is any music-composing info in the credits.. ~[[User:mo|mo]]
<ul><li style="list-style-type:none">Although I disagree with dupuy, a good example is [http://musicbrainz.org/album/566bfc17-ae76-4afc-a100-653361a7eb6a.html Bungie] here, as that track is just a silly bit of audio of some guy saying "I've got a bad feeling about this" at different speeds. I think [no artist] is more correct. Maybe, though, in this instance it would be possible to find out who did the voice acting for that clip and credit them. Maybe it would be better to credit someone from the sound departmant of the game? At least it's a human rather that a company. ~[[[User:SenRepus|SenRepus]]]
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>


Similarly, it may be useful to be more specific when using [[Artist:eec63d3c-3b81-4ad4-b1e4-7c147d4d2b61|[no artist]]]. You can use one of the following as the artist credit if applicable:
----


* [church chimes]
* [[Artist:80a8851f-444c-4539-892b-ad2a49292aa9|[language instruction]]]
* [nature sounds]
* [news report]


They should only be used if the category is applicable, and if you would otherwise use [[Artist:eec63d3c-3b81-4ad4-b1e4-7c147d4d2b61|[no artist]]].
I think we could build another special Artist, altough I'm generally against this kind of complication. I'm talking about Gregorian music that is quite particular. Strictly following rules it has to be [anon.] because no one knows who wrote it, but it is in fact the born of all occidental music and probably deserves an exception. Moreover it's a very limited and unique type of music that is always grouped together in phisical and online stores. Now on MB we have a lot of release spread under bogus Artist and I wish we could fix it. --[[User:ClutchEr2|ClutchEr2]]
<ul><li style="list-style-type:none">''I'd say to go for it; we, the users build the database. Just add a clear annotation describing what the artist is for...'' --[[User:azertus|azertus]]
<ul><li style="list-style-type:none">''(noting that I didn't quite understand you wanted to create new artist [Gregorian] or similar, an idea I am not *that* much against, really)'' but then comes the other task. of deciding when something is Gregorian or when something is 'anon' ? ~[[User:mo|mo]]
</ul>
<ul><li style="list-style-type:none">You might want to clean up [http://www.musicbrainz.org/showartist.html?artistid=87196 Gregorian Chants]... --[[User:Zout|Zout]]
</ul>
</ul>


{{StyleBox}}
----
[[Category:WikiDocs Page]]


As you can see, some of these SpecialPurposeArtist are in brackets [] and lowercase, that is a good way to quick identify them. I think they all have to be this way; also because there could be easly be a proper Artist named, for example, "Sound of Nature". --[[User:ClutchEr2|ClutchEr2]]
<ul><li style="list-style-type:none">The artists in brackets really represent artists; the other ones, like ''Disney'' and ''Sounds of Nature'', are merely places for badly entered releases to reside. Ideally, they should not exist. This is not the case for ''[anon.]'' and such. --[[User:Zout|Zout]]
</ul>

----


Maybe someone should explain those artists here. E.g. what's the difference between <code><nowiki>[unkown]</nowiki></code> and <code><nowiki>[anon.]</nowiki></code>? --[[User:Fuchs|Fuchs]]

----

Regarding '''Hollywood Edge:''' Judging from the apparently official webpage [http://soundfx.com/HollywoodEdge.htm http://soundfx.com/HollywoodEdge.htm], I think the name should be written "The Hollywood Edge" (including the definite article, just like The Beatles). I don't fully understand if this is the name of a "group", a publisher (seems to be published by SoundFX.com, though) or a product (a series of releases). Probably the latter. Since [[MusicBrainz]] doesn't seem to have a way to group and name a series of releases, I think it would be appropriate to keep this as an artist. --[[User:LA2|LA2]], April 21, 2006

----(for now, eventually Documentation or something)

[[Category:To Be Reviewed]] [[Category:Discussion]]

Revision as of 14:07, 17 June 2021

Status: This is an official style guideline.

Purpose of the Special Purpose Artists

Several special artists exist in the database to deal with unusual cases. There always are some unnoticed bogus artists, but those Special Purpose Artists (SPAs) listed here exist officially, used to handle each of these various types of special case artists.

List of official SPAs

  • [data] - Used for data CDs and data tracks (additional tracks on audio CDs that contain data other than standard CD audio). Note that data track style should also be used to title data tracks.
  • [dialogue] - Used for tracks which consist solely of dialogue, and which aren't credited to anyone on the release tracklist. For example, the "Royale With Cheese" discussion from Pulp Fiction would be correctly assigned to [dialogue], not to "John Travolta & Samuel L. Jackson", since the tracklist has no artists for that track. Their performances within the track should instead be indicated by a vocals relationship (generally spoken vocals).
  • [no artist] - There is no artist. (Recorded silence or noise, if it is attributed to any artist, should be assigned to that artist and not to [no artist].)
  • [traditional] - Used for writer/composer (and related) credits when the work in question pre-dates any written or recorded version(s), having originally been passed down from musician to musician. Rather than being attributable to one [anonymous] or [unknown] artist/collaboration, this work is better described as having emerged from a musical tradition.
  • [unknown] - Used when a particular artist is unknown, but is potentially discoverable with further research. Please do some research before using this artist; this artist should not be used simply as a "lazy easy solution" to an artist you don't happen to know offhand.
  • Various Artists - Used only for compilation-type releases or release groups containing tracks by multiple different artists. This artist shouldn't generally be used for recordings, tracks or works.

Subsets

Subsets of [unknown]

Sometimes it is useful to be a bit more specific when using [unknown]. You can use one of the following as the artist credit if applicable:

Always include the square brackets ([]) to indicate that this is not the artist as credited.

As with regular use of [unknown], these should only be used as a last resort, pending further research.

Subsets of [no artist]

Similarly, it may be useful to be more specific when using [no artist]. You can use one of the following as the artist credit if applicable:

They should only be used if the category is applicable, and if you would otherwise use [no artist].

Style
Overview
Title Style
Entities
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Classical
Special Cases/Misc.
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