artist Begin Date

Begin Date of an Artist

The "begin date" property of an Artist stores the date when it started its existence. The meaning of the date depends on the ArtistType:

• For persons it means the DateOfBirth. Please note that there is discussion about whether to duplicate those dates on PerformanceName artists: DateOfBirthStyle.
• For groups it means the date when the group first formed. So if a group dissolved and then reunited, the date is still that of when they first formed. It is currently not possible to store multiple periods of time for groups (you could describe such facts in the ArtistAnnotation). Note that there is no guideline saying which date should be preferred when the group first performed under a different name and/or line-up.

Like ReleaseDates and dates in AdvancedRelationships, the begin date of an artist can vary in its accuracy from just a year to the exact day, you cannot enter just a day without specifying a month or just a month without a year though. The begin date can also be empty, meaning it is unknown.

The begin date of an artist corresponds with the ArtistEndDate.