Untitled Release Style

Status: This is a ProposedStyleGuideline and an OpenStyleIssue. It is not yet agreed on.

Style for Untitled Releases

For untitled releases, enter "[untitled]" as the name. These are usually official releases that have not been given a name by the artist.

1. If the release is widely known under an unofficial name, you can use that name between square brackets (conforming to the CapitalizationStandard) as release name instead, e.g. "[Unofficial Name]".
2. If the above does not apply, you can enter a brief descriptive name between brackets in all lowercase, e.g. "[demo]", or "[untitled]".

Exceptions: The "unofficial name rule" above does not apply to unofficial releases (bootlegs): their name is always unofficial, thus it doesn't need brackets. However, you may use brackets if a bootleg is only described, not titled, e.g. "[rare tracks]".

For live bootlegs, always use LiveBootlegStyle. For split releases, always use SplitReleaseTitleStyle.

Please note that this guideline only applies to release titles. For a similar guideline for track titles see UntitledTrackStyle.

Rationale

Many less-important releases do not really have a name. Common examples are early band demos or promotional excepts of a release. However, this may apply to a proper album, too.

Examples

1. An example of a release with no name is this untitled album.
2. Examples of described releases are this demo and this sampler from Rude Awakening. For the last one, notice that Rude Awakening is a title (of another release), thus it is kept capitalized, but the rest of the description is not.

Discussion

Remember that ArtistIntent always outweighs the StyleGuidelines. The rules above are intended mostly for situations where the artist ommited naming a release rather than deliberatly releasing it untitled. This distinction is somewhat fuzzy, so editor judgement is necessary. The descriptions are intended mostly for demos and other promotional releases.