Misspelled artist credits

MusicBrainz Style
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The guidelines currently state that artist credits should be as printed on releases, which is generally a sensible rule to follow, however, I believe this is something we should review when it comes to clear misspellings, especially on (massive/mainstream) compilations (that may not be all that concerned about accuracy other than including their tracks with enough details for identification), or perhaps for typographical limitations. This is obviously excluding known former or intentional variations of an artist’s name.

Right now, I have this edit (among other similar edits) open to correct (IMO) the misspelled names of two artists: Boris Dlugosch (on release as Dlugosh) and Róisín Murphy (on release as Roisin Murphi). Another editor has (arguably correctly) voted no, backed by the guidelines. I think my edit is not incorrect if we agree it’s more important for data to be correct or exact, and not a copy of mistakes or incompleteness.

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I think this would be a question of artist intent.

Is it a typo, or is the strange presentation an artistic choice?

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That is indeed what the guidelines say:
“… it often makes sense to fix errors and standardize irregularities, valuing correct spelling, punctuation and grammar over faithfulness to the printed release cover.”

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IMO, missing diacritics should always be put back.

Celine Dion => Céline Dion

It doesn’t change the AC, IMO, as it doesn’t change the words, nor even the letters, it’s just missing diacritics.

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Thanks for the clarification. I’ve usually treated albums as the “only source of truth”, but that doesn’t make sense when errors occur, such as with the use of ASCII or grammatical mistakes. Discogs generally treats them as a digital 1:1 copy of the cover. In that case, I might have to correct some of my compilation entries.

There are a few examples that are confusing: C.C.Catch - Aliases - MusicBrainz (C.C.Catch → C. C. Catch, CC Catch, C. C.Catch and so on…)

One more example: Mark ’Oh - Aliases - MusicBrainz (Mark Oh’, MARK OH, …)

Most of the different writings are included in compilations. Given this, is it better to standardise all the different spellings, even if they are associated with each other?

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Thank you all for your input. I was a little busy and hadn’t had the time to reply.

For some reason, the error correction principle guidelines didn’t cross my mind in the moment. Thanks!
Should adding a line regarding this in the AC guidelines be considered?

I think they should be corrected if it’s a misspelling or an error. If the compilation matches an official variation of the name, I think it’s fine to keep it as it is. I would look at the artists’ releases to see the spellings they have used.
In your examples, it can be tricky when it’s small variations like spaces or punctuation. I see Mark ‘Oh seems to officially have used both Mark’Oh and Mark ‘Oh, as well as Mark’ Oh and Mark Oh, and at least one release as Mark Oh’. Same is the case with C.C. Catch: I’m seeing official releases as C.C. Catch, C. C. Catch, CC Catch, and C.C.Catch.

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