P2023, P2022 etc. labels

MusicBrainz
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1

Labels in question:
P2023
P2022
P2021
P2020
P2019

These seem to be pseudo-labels just meant to represent the phonographic copyright date. However, these seem to be also be used by artists representing major labels. There also aren’t that many releases on Spotify when doing a label search, and it seems to be predominantly hip hop releases.[1]

Does anyone know what’s up with this? My initial thought was to merge it to [no label], but the genre focus of most releases being by American hip hop artists makes me wonder if this is more legitimate. It seems to have some association with Warner Music Group, based on the “sped up nightcore” pseudo-artist associated with the label group[2] having a presence in these label searches. Also, this single, which I just added, being licensed to Atlantic (which is under Warner).

[1] Spotify album search by label: P2023
[2] Demopoulos, Alaina (Jan 10, 2023). “Why is Spotify full of faster versions of pop hits? Let’s bring you up to speed”. The Guardian.

3 Likes
2

I would them as is. May not be a REAL label, but they are tagged in a common group by Spotify. It is a seems to be a pseudo label in use by Spotify.

Easier than converting it all to a Series as removing it will only see it pop up again.

Do I assume this same grouping does not appear on iTunes, Deezer?

3

Spotify provides a simple way to search for releases on a certain label. The labels appear on other services as well.

I don’t think this is a valid series. It just seems to be what a certain major label group uses when they don’t specify any labels. “It might get added again” is a pretty weak argument for keeping it. It’s a trivial merge labels edit to [no label] if that happens.

4

They aren’t labels. Just use [no label]. I’ve noticed some independent releases just have that because the sites require a label, so that is used sometimes instead of the artist name.

5

Merge edit submitted: https://musicbrainz.org/edit/98674020