Currently dealing with MEGAREX’ physical releases that includes QR codes to download additional bonus tracks or unmixed versions of a track, as this is guaranteed to be present if you buy the release in question, should I just include them as a separate medium in that release?
for context, this release of RAVE TAISEN ANTZHEMS '22 is currently wrong as the sixth track in question is actually only on the DL code.
I don’t think we should add download codes as separate media. From a practical perspective, that would mean that every physical release sold on Bandcamp would need an additional digital medium.
I’m not sure if that would be correct though, in the case of these MEGAREX’ releases in question, these “bonus” tracks aren’t present at all in the physical CDs, but rather in the form of a QR code printed on the booklets that one can scan and get the tracks from.
If it is bonus tracks that just come with that physical copy/purchase, I would add them as a separate digital medium to the same release (as in this case?)
I wouldn’t add a second digital medium if the download was just a copy of all the same tracks as on the physical medium.
Sometimes inconsistent is somehow the most logical
@UltimateRiff@aerozol just one last question to top this off, if there’s a case where the DL codes actually contains both the same tracks + bonus tracks, instead of just the bonuses, I suppose it would be ideal to just ignore the same tracks and only include the bonus? I wonder what that would mean for the track orders though.
(though if the first release I mentioned, RAVE TAISEN ANTZHEMS '22, actually does this, then it would also be technically correct, just the wrong medium type, heh)
In that case I would probably add a new digital release, with an annotation (maybe a disambiguation) saying that it came with X release. It would have all the album tracks + the bonus tracks, as included in the download.
I wouldn’t add any digital medium to the physical release in that case, just probably an annotation with a link to the digital one.
p.s. I don’t know what the guidelines are, if any… I’m firing from the hip here!
(that’s in regards to a bundled download code that contains a copy of the album, and whether it should be in the same release or not, not just bonus tracks - imo)
edit: maybe @reosarevok can clarify if something has changed in the meantime?
I’ve decided to go ahead and edited the two releases in question as I feel that we’re better off being partially incorrect about how these download codes should be handled over none at all (deferring it and eventually forgetting about it)
this can be edited again later, we still need to figure it out really
I don’t think we should create a separate release without the download code. It was originally sold this way.
We don’t create a release duplicate once a release is no longer sold, either. Or if you purchase only one disc from an original two disc set (maybe on a flea market or so) we don’t create a new release with “one disc lost” annotation
Due to the deadline, or if you have no computer, for most people it will be bought like this (even brand new) and they don’t own the missing recording nor maybe even the missing work in their collection.
It’s the same as if you buy the first print edition, versus the regular edition of another release.
You don’t own the same thing, yet you bought it officially new, as it was released at the time, you took this official label, still sealed release, from the legit shelves, in an official shop.
It is not the same as when you are lacking some physical elements (second CD, booklet, case), because they were lost in between.
Personnaly I won’t add them to the main release as stricto sensu what we got is a piece of paper/plastic giving you a right to exercise, not records. I would rather add it to a different release with relationship.
The fact that it is free and limited makes us feel it should be added but would you do:
If it was just a discount price on some Digital content to buy
if the right was to receive for free another CD previously released
If it is the exact same content
Also as previously said not every person will download the content due to:
Personal choice
Links being revokable in time
Links may have location restrictions
Ps: @jesus2099 regarding the releases for Avenged Sevenfold shouldn’t one of the two flagged as pseudo release?
For those digital albums that are actually available for download as separate albums, it seems reasonable to me to add those as releases separate from any physical counterpart. This provides most flexibility for people owning only either the digital or physical release. Only in cases where the downloads are unavailable in any other form except by redeeming some download code coming with a physical album would I consider uniting them in a single release entry.
If the download link is just a copy of the Digital version of the same album, then I would say list it separate. You are just getting a bonus item from the shop. I’d just note it in the annotation.
Similar if the link is to something available as a single or separate purchase.
But if the link is to some unique bonus tracks, then I would add these to this release. Especially because it will disappear in the future. MB should be a record of how the item was released. The fact the digital bonus extras were only available for a short time is a thing of note.
But in this case you didn’t buy a different thing, you bought the same. You even said the download card was included in the box. I don’t really see the point of adding a separate release. You can just add an annotation to the original one that the download is no longer available.
How is it a requirement that everyone downloads the files for them to be listed as part of the release? With that logic we would need to add every pemutation of possible track combinations for each digital release, because not everyone might download all the tracks.
Yes, the download card is in the box, but no traces of the bonus track anywhere.
It’s just like if the box contained a free ticket for a concert in the past or located at the other side of the planet.
So if we want to be factual, then I tend to agree with @ulugabi and @biocv to not include the download track at all in the MB physical release.
But yes to include the download card in the cover art scans.
If we include something that cannot be obtained in any ways, in an owned release (legit bought, first hand, sealed), it defeats the MB collection concept.
It seems better to make a separate release that could be linked with the old may have this next medium kind of (new?) release-release relationship type.
So, if the person wanted and was able to download the optional digital thing, they can add this additional release in their MB owned release collection.
