In Japan, different stores may offer different purchase bonus CDs. In this case, how should the release group edit it? I think creating a release for each store would be a huge amount of work. For example, Japanese singer-songwriter Eve’s album “Otogi” comes with a different CD depending on whether it is purchased at Animate, Tower Records, or TSUTAYA (source: おとぎ｜DISCOGRAPHY｜Eve - OFFICIAL SITE). If we create a release for the animate, Tower Records, and TSUTAYA editions, each with a limited first pressing and a regular pressing, we end up with six releases!
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Yes, that’s correct. 
It’s not only in Japan, and it does not happen that often, by the way.
Special Fnac editions in France:
we have similar over here in the US with Target exclusives, Walmart exclusives, and sometimes even digital store exclusives, like for iTunes or Google Play Music (RIP)~ these each would get their own seperate releases in the same release group as the “standard” edition
there’s a great example of this in this release group
I think we should make a bonus disc only release. The reason is that it is not in the official discography and is not given a catalog number.
Also,
·Limited Edition
·Normal Edition
･Animate bonus Disc
･Tower Records Disc
･TSUTAYA bonus Disc
It only takes 5 releases.
As they were exclusively sold in bundles with the main CD, they should be 2CD special edition releases.
Don’t split the releases, and it will not make less releases by the way
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How about making the stats on the bonus disc a “promotion” since it is an external bonus and is intended to help the record company increase CD sales?
Your logical make sense but don’t forget how the the system is made: One entity is one release (not a disc) then the reason to add as 2 CDs as seen in upper examples.
I also remember one case where a single release was added to the main album,
The 2 discs also exist as split releases but in this case they were joined with a plastic cover, so entered as one release.
How those bonus CDs were given?
- Part of the main package? Was there any sticker appearing saying “Special version…”?
- Given separately (like at the cashier when you buy it)? Was there another way to get them rather than buying the album in the shop?
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The two CDs are not in the same jewel case. If you buy the CD in certain stores, you will be given a bonus CD at the register.There is no other way to obtain the discs.
Reference URL:【オンライン限定商品】 Eve おとぎ（通常盤）ガラクターモンスター （TSUTAYA特典CD付） 邦楽 - ambassademali.de
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Was it available with any other releases? If yes, then promotion makes sense.
If only available with this release, then it just just a special edition.
Pretty common to see this. Also seen a variation where specifically coloured vinyl is only available from a certain shop.
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For this situation, with each store giving out different bonus discs, I think it makes sense for each of the bonus discs to be added as separate “promotion” releases in the same release group.
There are actually 8 releases:
- LE first press (CD + DVD) TFCC-86664
- Regular press (CD) TFCC-86665
- Pre-order bonus (Promotion DVD)
- Animate LE first press (CD + DVD + Bonus CD) TFCP-86666
- Animate Regular press (CD + Bonus CD) TFCP-86667
- Tower Records bonus CD (Promotion CD)
- TSUTAYA bonus CD (Promotion CD)
- Village Vanguard bonus CD (Promotion CD)
If you check the catalog numbers for the Animate releases on MINC, you will see that the bonus CD is bundled in with the main release. For that reason, you should not separate the Animate bonus CD as a separate release.
Granted, it will be a lot of work, but it is the closest to the truth.
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I don’t think this is what “promotional” means, in MusicBrainz terms. I believe it mostly refers to stuff like copies of a release distributed to radio and TV stations for airplay and the like
either way, if these bonus discs aren’t different versions of the same release, I don’t think they’d belong in the same release group (if they’re seperate releases, which I think the bonus disc should be part of the release it comes with)
Closest to the truth looks like these are all two CD editions. Each with the same first disc. If they are not available separately, don’t list them separately.
I’d put disambigs that match the main titles in your 1 to 8 list.
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That’s an interesting case, reminds me on this talking: https://community.metabrainz.org/t/dealing-with-physical-releases-containing-dl-codes-for-bonus-tracks/ which remains unsolved. Edits being made differently depending on artist instant and content.
As the discs were not physically linked together we could imagine splitting them (except the cases mentioned by @arifer ) but then (as spotted by @UltimateRiff) those extra discs may have to end up in a separate release group(s) depending of their content.
What is exactly on those bonus CDs? (from my searches seems older songs from Eve) If so, yes they will belong to different RGs then it may be clearer to display them as 2 CDs releases along the other ones.
PS: Then for the 2 other releases that offer only goodies (Amazon.jp version and 応援店) it could be mentioned in annotation of main release
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Eve 4th Album おとぎ 特典CD (Otogi Bonus Disc)
Animate edition:Acoustic ver.
1.トーキョーゲットー (This song is included in 4th AL “Otogi”)
2.会心劇 (This song is included in 3rd AL “Bunka”)
TOWER RECORDS
1.チョコレートタウン (Self-cover of a song composed for Sou)
TSUTAYA
1.ガラクタモンスター (Self-cover of a song composed for 天月-あまつき-)
ヴィレッジヴァンガード
1.ぼっちらじお2 (Audio of Eve just talking, NOT song)
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The problem here is that there really is no clear definition of a “promotional release” in the documentations. It can be interpreted the way you explained it here, and at the same time it can also be interpreted the way @yakumo0209 did by saying that it is “intended to help the record company increase CD sales”. I am of the opinion that it is both. Copies of releases distributed to media stations were done so with the intention of increase awareness of the release for the purpose of increasing (CD or online) sales. These may include tracks in the main official release, but it may also be special bonus tracks that are only available through pre-orders, special store tie-ups, etc. What we have here is that the label company that took charge of the marketing for this release probably used the card of having a bonus CD for special (big name) stores in Japan to promote the pre-sales and actual sales of the release.
I disagree with this because it is impossible to justify creating new release groups for the individual bonus releases. Firstly, if new release groups were to be created for the Tower Records, TSUTAYA, and Village Vanguard bonus CDs, it is imperative that the same be done for the Animate bonus CD. However, the Animate bonus CD comes in the same physical package as the main release. Having some of the bonus CDs as separate release group while one be in the original release group is contradictory.
The second reason will only be valid if we can see these bonus CDs as promotional releases for the reasons I provided above. Assuming that to be the case, promotional versions of a release are expected to be grouped into the same release group as the original release (as found in the documentation). Once again, this just boils down to the lack of clarity as to what defines a “promotional release” on MB.
Yep, they are really just different versions of 2 CD editions (LE first press & regular). Some of the bonus CDs are bundled together (specifically for the 2 editions from Animate), whereas the others are only available separately.
Adding a disambiguation to each of the releases will definitely be necessary for sure.
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Doing a quick search on Mercari for “EVE おとぎ 特典CD”, we get a lot more information about the bonus CDs. Firstly, we can see that indeed, the TSUTAYA bonus CD, Tower Records bonus CD, Village Vanguard bonus CD, as well as the pre-order bonus DVD all come in clear jewel cases. Secondly, the catalog numbers for the bonus CDs are printed on the CD itself!
- Tower Records bonus CD PRTF-8557
- TSUTAYA bonus CD PRTF-8558
- Village Vanguard bonus CD PRTF-8559
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I edited it, is it what you say it is?
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It is defined here:
A give-away release or a release intended to promote an upcoming official release (e.g. pre-release versions, releases included with a magazine, versions supplied to radio DJs for air-play).
This case is not included in that example.
I think it’s still missing the pre-order bonus DVD (#3 on my list above).
To be very honest, I’m not sure if the titles for the promotion CDs should be that, I was thinking that maybe they should just be “特典CD” and then the information of the stores should be made clear in the disambiguation. Nevertheless, they will still work, and they make sense too.
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