I entered an edit to merge Candi into Candi and the Backbeat based on the following note from wikipedia:
Candi & The Backbeat (initially named Candi) was a Canadian pop band fronted by lead vocalist Candita “Candy” Pennella.
I’m now starting to wonder if the merge should have been the other way (into Candi rather than Candi and the Backbeat), or whether they should be merged at all.
Any advice?
The direction shouldn’t matter, unless you choose to rename artist credits (and you didn’t). Does this Candi perform solo using that name? It may become a bit complicated if she does (because then there would be a person Candi and a group Candi), but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
@mfmeulenbelt, thanks for your response. I appreciate hearing your thoughts on the matter.
Actually, it will make a difference depending if you’re using standardized or credited artist names for file naming and tagging. That aside, I was wondering if there was some sort of standard (official or otherwise) as to whether to merge into the latest name or the earliest name of the artist. I haven’t been able to find anything in that regard. I guess I should have made that clearer in my original post. Sorry about that.
As to your other points, I don’t think she performed or released anything under the name Candi, so (as you indicated) that shouldn’t be an issue.
Thanks again.
I am quite sure that there is no difference. 
If you use standardised artist names, Picard will simply use the current main artist name regardless of editing history and else it will only use the artist credit if it differs from the main artist name. Of course you can always merge into the oldest MBID to be sure, I think some userscripts capable of merging entities do that by default.
Perhaps I’m not being clear in what I’m saying because I’m pretty sure that there is a difference. For example, two members of Walk Off The Earth have released some singles under the name Gianni and Sarah. When I entered them into the database, I created a new artist by that name. I later merged Gianni and Sarah into Walk Off The Earth after discussing it with the band’s management company. When I did the merge, I did not rename the artist credits.
In Picard, if I leave the “Use standardized artist names” option unchecked, both the artist and album artist tags are Gianni and Sarah, whereas if I check the option they are both Walk Off The Earth. If I had done the merge the other way (Walk Off The Earth into Gianni and Sarah), then the tags would always show as Gianni and Sarah, regardless of the “Use standardized artist names” setting. Of course, this would now change the artist and album artist tags contents for releases by Walk Off The Earth.
I actually ended up developing a plugin for Picard to provide both standardized and credited artist names because I had a need for both in my file naming script.
As you say, the direction will make a difference immediately in that the targeted artist will decide the new “main artist name” (in @mfmeulenbelt’s words). The standardized artist name is not an effect of editing history, but only of the current artist name. Thus the solution to your original problem would be to simply change the name of the artist Candi and the Backbeat into Candi (same artist entity).
For the record, the guidelines for which name the artist entity should have can be found here.
Thanks. I had reviewed that Style Guide before entering my edit, but it provides no guidance as to whether the merge should be into the new name or the original name (unless I missed it). This band performed and released as Candi originally and later as Candi and the Backbeat. I suspect that the standardized artist name should be their most recent name (i.e.: Candi and the Backbeat), which is how I set up the merge.
Yes, that should be right. I think the relevant part is the present tense (“performs”) here:
Generally, use the name the artist mainly performs under as the artist name.
Your merge seems correct, unless you know something Wikipedia doesn’t.
Just curious (because I am still learning), do we need a 2nd artist listing? Can’t we link to “artist 1” but say they were credited as “artist 2”?
We don’t need a second artist entity, that’s why they were merged.