Names of track artists for digital releases

When creating a release from a CD, the convention is to enter names of performers as they are printed on the CD cover. For example, for a US release of Tchaikovsky, the name of the composer shall be entered in Latin script, whereas for a Russian release the name shall be entered in Cyrillic script, that is as printed on the CD cover. The rule totally makes sense since a CD release represents a particular physical media where a particular script is used.

But it is more complicated with digital releases. Consider these:


Links point to the same album (the same numerical ID) available for customers from different countries (US vs. Russia). The first link shows names of composers in Latin script, the second one in Cyrillic script.

Theoretically it is possible to create 2 separate digital releases in this case, but probably thatā€™s a wrong way: the publisher (Apple in this case) provides them with the same ID, the same cover image etc. They have even used English names of tracks in the Russian release for works by Russian composers. Just names of composers are shown in Cyrillic script on the Russian release.

What would you recommend? Shall names of track artists for this release be entered in Latin script, in Cyrillic script, or left ā€œby defaultā€ in a script in which the composerā€™s name exists in Music Brainz?

Related MusicBrainz entry:

1 Like

Normally I would follow whatā€™s on the cover instead of on the store page. The composerā€™s name is not mentioned, but the rest of the cover is in English, so I would use the English store page as reference. You could add a pseudo-release for the Russian version, and if we ever get alternative tracklists, you could use that.

1 Like