So here is the situation: after the release of a live album, the band released extra tracks that were recorded at the same concert but not included in the album as “bonus tracks” on their website.
I considered three possible ways to handle the situation:
Adding a second medium to the existing release for the official album.
Adding a new release group for the bonus tracks
Adding a new release in the same release group as the official album
I went with the latest, adding a new release in the same release group, mostly because it allowed the bonus track to have their own metadata (cover, download page, status, etc) while still being “connected” to the main album.
Here’s the album:
And the bonus tracks:
But reading the official guideline for release groups, I’m thinking that it can also be seens as two volumes in a series, and that it would be better to have a different release group.
Has anyone encountered this before? How would you handle it?
Do the additionally released recordings actually have their own cover art? I think I’d be inclined to just add them as standalone recordings, ie. not as part of a Release.
I’ve done it similar to how you did for this album:
I could also see adding it as a second medium if it is freely available such that everyone who owns the album could also download the bonus tracks. If it’s available to absolutely everyone I would make it a separate release in the same RG (because someone could download those tracks alone and have the bonus tracks without the base album.
There the release contained a download code, so the extra tracks were only available to those owning the release. If it is generally available I would also go with a separate release.
