Using youtube for track times?

if someone has added an album to youtube can you use it to add track times to an album or is it frowned on?
i am importing Scott Wesley Brown One Step Closer from discogs and i found the album on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQwah0tbLxA and i could not fined it with times any other place i found album art but it has no times a. vinle seames like hit and miss with times.

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Add a note as to the source of the times into the annotation. And add the YouTube link as one of the links.

If this is a hard to find album, then YouTube has become a good (only) resource.

When this would become a problem is if YouTube has a different version to the copy in MB. This can happen with reissues of an album. Looking at the images in the links you supply I think you are fine here.

If you note where your times came from in an annotation, then a later editor who knows they have the CD or Vinyl can correct them if they are wrong.

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@IvanDobsky is there a way to add a writer to a song or can they only be added to the release there are three people that wrote a song each on the album (2 wrote the same one)

You’ll need to link the recordings (tracks) to works. Make sure they don’t exist before adding new ones :slight_smile:

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As @reosarevok says, you link or make a Work.

Think of a “Work” like the written sheet of music and lyrics. So this will be written once by someone but could then be performed by many different people.

An easy way this is done is from the Edit Relationships tab that you see on a Release. Have a look at someone like Steve Green and one of his records: https://musicbrainz.org/release/78a2d0a9-4f4b-4520-ae7a-c263a4363d20/edit-relationships and you will see that on the right hand side all the tracks have “Works” made for them, and for each Work a writer is added.

You have a choice of “Writer”, “Lyricist” or “Composer”. Generally a “Composer” does the tune, “Lyricist” the words or you use “Writer” when you don’t know which parts that person wrote.

Also notice on that Edit Relationships page you have a few tick boxes on the top row to more quickly make a full set of new works for a release, and for quickly adding the same writer credits to many tracks.

As @reosarevok says, it is important to have a check first to see if the Work already exists. Either by using the Add Related Work link and the search, or go and look at the Writer’s artist page under the Works tab.

Give it a go on the Wesley Brown release, and come back ask if you need more help.

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thanks Ivan and reosarevok. some of his songs are on other albums but some have different them up to about half a min some times. what would the the longest time difference you would link together like one or 2 seconds they are probably the same but where should the cut off be?

If they are singing the same words to the same music then it is the same Work. It is quite common for one person to write a song, then many people perform it. (If it is someone else singing it, then it is a “cover”)

Half a minute is not a huge time difference when it comes to singing a song. As long as the words are still the same then you would just have the one Work for both versions. It is quite normal for someone to add a few more “twiddly bits” into a tune when performing it. As long as they are sticking to the original song then MB sees that as the same Work.

If they add a new verse, or play a different tune, then it becomes a different Work.

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ok thanks for that it has given me something to work with :slight_smile: if im not shure ill leave it as 2 separate works and let someone eles who may know that thay are not fix it up

The way I look at it is John writes the words and music to a new song. He puts that into a song book. This is the Work.

He then makes a Recording of the song.

And Charlie then comes along and makes a different cover Recording of the song. He sticks to the same words, but repeats the chorus on his guitar.

That is the same Work in both cases, but two separate recordings of it. This means if we look a the Work in MB we see that it was written by John, but two people have Recorded it with their own versions.

And I agree that it is better to make two separate Works when you are not sure. It is easy to then merge them if it does turn out they are the same song.

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what if it is a song like Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing some times when people record it that call it Come Thou Fount and some times they may skip a verse or two would that be the same Work as they are not adding to it?

That would be one single Work. If people have a copy of the song sheet in their hand, and choose to skip a few verses, then they are still singing the original song. If they skip a LOT of verses then you can tick a box to say they are singing a “Partial” version.

The key aim here is to give credit to the person who wrote the original song. And then show how many other people have then Recorded that song.

Also when a song has a full name like Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing but some people recording it and call it Come Thou Fount then you will name the Recording with the short form, but point to the full version of the Work.

The Work always keeps the title that the Writer gave it, even if the person recording it shortens the name on the cover of their CD.

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Also, for works that are commonly known by more than one title, you can add an Alias to the work.

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