Disc ID / Release ambiguity

MusicBrainz
#1

Newbe. On trying to add my first disc ID, I encountered a situation where one existing Release in MB is extremely close, but is it close enough? As I have no experience in these matters I’m asking for advise.

CD Album: Best Of The Doobies, Warner Bros 1976 Canadian release. Catalog number: CD 3112.

This matches one Canadian release in MB exactly, except for the following differences:

Cntry/Date CD: CA 1976 (no doubt)
Cntry/Date MB: CA 1986

Barcode CD: 07599273352
Barcode MB: 075992733526
A 1986 US release matches the CD barcode exactly.

All 11 track times: match within 1 second to those of the release in MB. (They only match within 6 seconds to the times listed in the CD booklet.)

My question is: Is the CD release the one listed already in MB, in spite of two contradictory bits of data?
It it is, how do I resolve these differences?
If not, how do I duplicate all the existing release data into a new release?

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#2

Silly question, but were there actually CDs in 1976? According to Wikipedia, CDs were invented in 1982.

I think that it is your CD that is faulty or this is the copyright date e.g. of the vinyl release rather than the release date of the CD version.

So I think you have the right Release selected. If you want the date that the album was first released (the Original Date / Year is the earliest date of all Releases in the Release Group) of 1976 then you can use a script to set Date to Original Date, and Year to Original Year.

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#3

Some of those releases have good, complete sets of cover art. Compare the fine print on your release with the release you think is a match. Any difference in artwork probably means a different release.

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#4

Just to add to the replies… the date on the CD is likely the copyright. As @Sophist point out there were no CDs in '76.

The barcodes are different purely on the check digit - 6. Sometimes this is in small on the far right of the barcode. Other times I have seen editors add it because this is what the barcode would say with a barcode reader.

Sometimes having a check over at Discogs at artwork can help. If there really is no 6 at all on the barcode it may be a different release from USA with no known year:


Compare the rear covers to those two. The first one is a USA release with the printed barcode missing its check digit. The second one is the Canadian release we have here at MB.

The problem with a release that has been printed for many years like this one is there are often many different variants. Discogs list runs to 199 versions!

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#5

We’re supposed to do that:
https://musicbrainz.org/doc/Style/Release#Barcode

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#6

Sorry, I didn’t make that clear. Yes - I agree this is the correct way of doing things. The bar code should be as a reader would read it. If I only see a barcode written without the check digit I’ll often add the missing check digit (doesn’t MB calculate it for you?)

In this example though it may well be that it is a significant difference that it could be written differently on the rears of the two examples I found on Discogs. Something that should be flagged up in the Annotation if this is the case here.

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#7

This is very unfortunate.
It makes me create a duplicate release, because I am a human reader. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
We really need multiple barcodes MBS-3978.

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#8

Thanks guys for all your feedback.
First, I was unaware of the difference between release date and copyright date. Now I know. Clearly, ‘1976’ was the copyright date, especially as CDs did not exist then, But who knows what the real production date of the CD was. I guess the manufacturers try and hide that detail.

Second, the bar code. When I scanned the bar code on the back just now with NeoReader, it displayed the same code including the check-digit ‘6’ which is missing from the printed barcode number. My CD rear artwork looks identical to that of the US equivalent release in Discogs, except for the manufacturing shpeel below the barcode. My Canadian CD 3112 artwork is different from that for the Canadian CD 2112 release in MB/Discogs, except for the track list.

Bottom line: I’m going with the assumption that my CD 3112 is the same as the CD 3112 release listed in MB.
Should I add my DiscID to that release? Are there any special notes I should add at that time?.

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#9

If I were you I would not. Different DiscID suggests you have a different version. Discogs has 4 different Canadian CD 3112 releases listed: https://www.discogs.com/search/?type=release&title=Best+Of+The+Doobies&catno=CD+3112&format=CD&country=Canada
Besides cover artwork, please look at the different disc matrices there, maybe you find a match to yours? Or it could be you have even another version.

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