How to handle re-release by switching digital music distributor

rinsuki · December 4, 2024, 10:15pm

sometimes, label will decided to switching digital music distributor.

in this case, they will choose one of those method:

just takedown old albums distribution
keep already exists album with previous distributor
or migrating to new distributor (without changes ID/URLs on each services)
- I’m not sure about this can be done
or even just takedown albums on old one and create as a new album on new one
- with this method, previous URL will not work anymore (unless some cases).

example, Lantis switching distributor in last 3 years:

2022 (Unknown → ADA Japan)
2023 (→ Sony Music series; The Orchard?)
2024 (→ Space Shower Fuwa)

also they changed some album’s ID on each switching and old links are now not working (note some albums are still provided from old distributor), and ADA Japan era is using different barcode (starting from 1) than other era (starting from 4, using same barcode with physical release if exists), this means ADA Japan era’s release can’t have a same release on MusicBrainz.

How we should treat it?

first my opinion is:

as long as their URL is not changed, treat as same release
if their URL is changed, treat as new release even barcode is same

but sometimes hard to know which one is new release if barcode isn’t changed:

in Spotify, sometimes old link is still working (maybe they are matching with new release’s track by ISRC or barcode or wave or something? idk)
sometimes they are providing same album from both distributors (maybe only during switching)
- e.g. https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nNdzoiW4uz8V20mQSA_og8S5egbw654sY (Space Shower Fuwa) and https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mc8ltCUm-X8WQl19OyxWy5qzmh868RE1Q (Sony Music series?)

because of this, If someone says “we should treat as a same release (in MB) as long as barcode is same”, I will agree it.

tigerman325 · December 5, 2024, 12:17am

Even if the URL is the same, if there is a new distributor, or any other involved label change, it’s a new release. When this happens, just mark the links as ended on the release that has the old info. Add a new release with a release date of when this change occurred (not the date of the URL). On Spotify, they never end URLs, but the API will show no countries. You can even play them usually, but what’s really happening is they are just forwarding the recordings to a release that have the same recording. In other words, the ISRC is the same as that on a VA comp, it’ll play it. However, if all instances of the recording with that ISRC are no longer available, it won’t. Having the same barcode isn’t enough to insist it’s the same release. Sometimes artwork changes, sometimes labels change. Even when the URL is the same. These are all reasons for new releases. Sometimes, the copyright labels on Spotify, may differ than those on Apple Music. Same artwork & barcode, but different copyright labels are enough for separate releases.