regarding this album produced by David Lynch, I’m wondering if he should be added to the album artists since he is featured on the cover.
on discogs they credited the album to:
Chrysta Bell produced by David Lynch
I’d say yes, in this case.
He played a prominent role in this release, he’s not appearing on the cover art for some trivial reason.
I’d say no. There have been many releases where the producers are listed on cover art and we don’t typically add them as an album artist. Many, hip-hop & Latin releases. But I’ve never really seen a guideline on this. Just going by what I’ve seen.
I personally would say probably yes? I’ve done similar for “prod.” credits in track titles (moving them to the artist field like a feat, that is)
Yeah, maybe on this one, because it seems to be marketed that way.
Hmm, isn’t the term “producer” on electronic & hip-hop referring to the one actually making the music (the “beats & sounds” when talking hip-hop, the one making the complete music when talking electronic, especially EDM)?
Or are we thinking about something different?
Most hip-hop & electronic music I have laying around, is exclusively credited to the producer. It would appear odd to enter them as [no artist] or [unknown artist].
In some genres, the producer operates in the background (mostly more commercially orientated, as a front (wo)man or group is shifted forward as the face of the production, while the producer is some shady guy with low sex appeal to the target audience), but in other genres this kind of figure is exactly what we expect (as in dark underground acid gabber stuff).
Personally, I would not rule out any role as possible album artist. The rocker expects the band, the gabber expects the producer, the hip-hopper the rapper/producer, etc…, and in some genres the playbacking dancing doll. 
But technically: it’s whoever is presented as most important one(s) on the release. Who are we to overthink the intentions of the artist and/or publisher?
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Hmm. If it was in the same font and size I’d say 100% yes to adding to the album artist. In this case, I’m not sure. Both options would work for me, and I’d say pick one you like the most really.
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I wouldn’t handle David Lynch as a release artist here. I was thinking of suggesting subtitle style here, because that’s how the text on the cover is structured - if Lynch absolutely has to be mentioned prominently in the release data. But Chrysta Bell’s Bandcamp page interestingly just uses the whole thing as a run-on title:
The Bandcamp page for “This Train” gives the title as “This Train produced by David Lynch” (no colon), credited only to “Chrystabell”. (I’m not suggesting this album should be credited to the current artist intent spelling, though, that format seems to have come up recently). Only in the credits at the bottom of the page is the album attributed to “David Lynch and Chrystabell”.
For contrast, the upcoming album “Cellophane Memories” explicitly attributes it to “Chrystabell & David Lynch” in the artist field at the top of the page.
Bandcamp is very rudimentary when it comes to crediting album & track artists.
It’s a bad reference. Sometimes the label is where the artist belongs, and the artist in the title. Track artists are always part of the titles, as there is no better way possible.
The artist most often depends on which artist page the release is available. (This is why Chrystabell is artist in the artist field, and David Lynch is artist in the title field.)
The notes on Bandcamp releases are more often accurate, as it is a free text field.
Bandcamp allows you to explicitly set the album artist (shown at the top of the page below the album title) via a simple text field; if it isn’t set, the account’s display name is used. For “Cellophane Memories”, the field was explicitly set to reflect the release’s artists as shown on the cover. Not so for “This Train […]” although the album artist field could very well have been set to “Chrysta Bell, produced by David Lynch” or similar.
Yes, I know it’s possible, but errors of this kind are very common, depending on who did the input. It’s not all that straight forward for an artist account, it is for a label account (which is not free on BC.)
See the notes & credits:
Chrystabell and David Lynch’s first musical collaboration from 2011.
Album Credits:
David Lynch and Chrystabell: ‘This Train.’
This discrepancy, makes clear the title for sure isn’t “This Train Produced by David Lynch”
I opted to include him as an album artist now. on most digital platforms he is also credited as the album artist besides Chrysta Bell. and because of his prominent involvement (not only writing the lyrics, but also the songs and playing instruments on each of them) I would expect this album to be listed under his discography.
especially in the light of the upcoming album “Cellophane Memories”, it seems weird not to include David Lynch for the predecessor “This Train” as well.