Hi,
I have examples for both of these cases and would like to know how to handle them properly. After having written this post, the condensed version of my question it would be:
Should I add (possibly multiple times) to existing release group(s)? seems relatively straightforward and is nearly accurate.
or should I create new release groups, where I cannot see how I would avoid re-entering all the data for e.g. 15CDs in the new release I own.
In detail:
For the first case, I have (permaturely) created a new release group here: Release âFeuerwerksmusik / Violinkonzert / Doppelchöriges Orchesterkonzertâ by George Frideric Handel; Menuhin Festival Orchestra; Yehudi Menuhin - MusicBrainz although I am pretty sure that this is just CD2 of the following release: https://musicbrainz.org/release/4dece382-00f5-4b45-aa7f-414204b8f811 as I thought the tracks in a release group should be identical.
In hindsight I guess it would have been more adequate to add the CD to the already existing release group, which would have made less work (I still have not all the relationships to the works added), and would have made sure that the recordings entries are really identical.
So: should I delete my new group and add to the existing or should I stick to the way I have started.
Vice versa, I have a couple of CD Boxes of Philips Complete Mozart Edition which I have now identified as the 2nd re-release of the series Series/Mozart Complete Philips - MusicBrainz Wiki. Therefore, in the Box 9, there are 12CDs of piano music which were previously released as volumes 16,17, and 18.
I could just divide up my release into 3 parts and add them to the corresponding release group. The more exact way would be to have a new group, but I do not see how I could harvest all the data already in musicbrainz without a lot of work, and it seems doubtful if this really adds value. Its a bit of a waste to upload the same cover art 3 times..
Any advice is much appreciated!
Iâm a bit confused about the question, but for what itâs worth, keep in mind that most of the data involves reusing the recordings (which if they are the same should always be reused anyway) and have nothing to do with which release group the releases are in.
1 Like
This one!
Unless there is a minimal amount of chopping and changing (e.g. the same with a âbonus discâ would be the same release group, but a repackaging of a 12CD release into a 1CD release would not be the same release group)
As reosarevok mentions, you can use the existing recordings from the other release (if you are sure they are the same). Then you donât have to add all the recording relationships again.
There is no way to do this for images - you have to reupload the images for each separate release. But that is okay 
More detailed instructions (click for larger images):
- Select existing recordings (for new additions) in the âRecordingsâ tab of the release editor, clicking edit. If your tracks are titled very differently you may not get the right results - in that case you can also paste in the URL of the other recording into the search bar to have it matched.
- If the entire disc you are adding already exists, an even quicker way is to use Add medium > Existing medium > Add Medium from the bottom of the Tracklist tab in the editor. This will automatically use all the same titles, artists and recordings. If track titles differ on your release, you can then edit them using that as a base.
- For existing releases, where new recordings have already been created, the best way to merge all the recordings between releases is to use the very excellent âMass Merge Recordingsâ userscript.
- If you would like to indicate that a release group is a superset/subset of another, there is a âincluded in/includesâ relationship you can use to link the two.
3 Likes
thank you for this detailed help, I guess it would be good if this was somewhere in the docs as well to find.
I just tried the 2nd approach. Unfortunately, I guess there is no easy way to have the track names as on the CD without editing them by hand, as they seem to be connected to the previously recorded CD. In this particular case, I suspect an editing/ copy/paste error on the existing release. As one can see from the connected works, the last 5 tracks are NOT a violin concerto, but the âconcerto for due coriâ. So I guess the way forward would be to edit the existing recording, and then to copy over. (In principle, the order shouldnt matter as they would link to the same database entry and should both update on my edit, right?)
As I take a look for a screenshot, I realize that there is also a discrepancy in nomenclature for tracks 10-12, that are dubbed (also on my cd) as âKonzertâ for violin and orchestra, while the work refers to it as âSonataâ!?
I would focus on getting your in-hand copy correct first (reusing or merging with the existing recordings, but changing the tracklist to match your copy). Manual title editing may be needed. Save.
Then (if you are 100% correct that your titles are more correct/canonical, as per MusicBrainzâ classical styleguide - I am not an expert on CSG so I cannot help here), you can edit the release again, and in the recordings tab tick âCopy all track titles to associated recordingsâ at the bottom. This will apply the track changes to the recordings. The works will still have to be edited manually.
Keep in mind that itâs very common for a recording/work to exist on multiple releases, with different titles. Itâs not necessarily a problem to be âfixedâ, MusicBrainz lets all versions happily co-exist. The most âcanonicalâ titles should be used for recording and work.
Any questions (particularly if the tracklist vs recording distinction is confusing), donât hesitate to ask!
