an artist MAVI released an album shadowbox; and when physicals came out, all of the vinyl pre-release orders would receive one of eight flexi-discs containing a secret bonus track; together they form another release, Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt. i want to represent this in musicbrainz, but i honestly have no clue how this should work:
- it was only distributed alongside shadowbox vinyls (does it belong in this release group?)
- it’s completely distinct from shadowbox, and one of the singles (Silent Film) even made it to a later album and a COLORS show (does it deserve its own release group?)
- each single was (kind of?) released individually (does each track deserve its own release?)
Option 2.
I read this as eight promo singles were created. And two albums.
This makes is sound like a shop thing. A buy one get one free thing. Not actually part of the Release.
I would create 8 flexidisc promo singles. Link them all as “Single from” “Beyond Shadow of a Doubt”. And “Shadowbox” would just be one Release with an annotation to note that pre-orders came with a flexi-disc.
This is not part of the Release. It is a choice of the shop to send out a bonus item in the shopping cart.
It also depends on how they were packaged. If you opened the parcel to find two items, then they are clearly two items. If, instead, you opened the parcel and there was a combined item with a unique barcode, a sticker on the vinyl say “includes bonus flexi-disc”, and actually part of that packaging in some way. Then I would consider 8 separate releases. But if the copy of “shadowbox” you hold is identical to the one bought weeks later, then I stay as above as one Release of Shadowbox with a free gift in the parcel.
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that could be the case. it didn’t originally strike me as a “buy one get one free” situation, but i think it’s similar enough that your logic makes sense. here’s an unboxing video on instagram showing how the flexi-disc is packaged alongside the vinyl.
my other question is what kind of relationship the “single from” would be? i can’t find anything like that between releases and recordings