Verve / Universal 'jazzclub': series or label?

MusicBrainz Style
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1

Hi folks,

So, we have three entities representing the Verve “jazzclub”:

  1. A label, this has more entries against it: Jazz Club - MusicBrainz

  2. A series, this has fewer entries against it, but it also has the sub-series entered against it, these are ‘jazzclub | originals’ &c.: jazzclub - MusicBrainz

  3. A second series, this is a release group series rather than a release series as above: Jazzclub - MusicBrainz

I decided to make a forum topic as it isn’t wholly clear to me what should be done about this.

To my mind this should clearly be a series. All of the CDs which I’ve seen have a label specified against them, e.g. EmArcy, and then they have the jazzclub logo, and usually a sub-series like jazzclub|originals.

Currently, the jazzclub label entity on Musicbrainz has label code LC 00383, but this is just the Verve label code, so I don’t think that’s good evidence in favour of a separate label.

So, the strategy which I would probably employ would be, add a series relationship for every entity listed under the label (to the release-level series) and then merge the JazzClub label into a label. I’m not sure which one to merge it into, though. Probably Verve or Universal, but it’s not clear to me who actually runs the jazzclub.

As regards to the release group-level series, I think that must be wrong. For instance, this release group is entered against it: Release group “Electric Jazz Lounge” by Various Artists - MusicBrainz. However, there are releases listed on the Discogs page which do not appear to be in the jazzclub series, e.g. one in Japan.

So, I was wondering if I could get some feedback about this proposal to merge it into the parent label.

2

Not passing judgment on whether the #3 series is right or not, but the cover art on CDJapan and Amazon.co.jp show that the Japan release is a JAZZ CLUB / Boutique release too.

Amazon.co.jp specifically claims that “Jazz Club” is a compilation series:

ジャズの老舗名門レーベルVerveの廉価版、`Jazz Club`コンピレーション・シリーズ。

3

I typically lean towards a release group series over a release series, unless it’s obvious that only certain releases from a group belong to the series, such as a special editions series, collections of previous releases, and whatnot.

I’m pretty sure there’s quite a few labels that should be converted to series out there, such as Classical Gallery. the label entity was created in 2009, about five years before series were a thing. very similar to the Jazz Club label, entity created in 2008.

after a brief look at the label, there seem to be a couple straight album reissues in the group, including So Nice!, Soaring, and Chariots of the Gods?. that said, the bulk of releases appear to be compilations. I’d say it’s a tossup between release series and release group series.

4

Yes, I see now it’s mostly compilations. The only CDs I have from it are the non-compilation CDs. The Mark Murphy one and Dizzy in Berlin. (I think one or two others.)

So it seems that either we move the majority of releases to be linked by release group, keeping the release series for the exceptions, or we link them all to the release series. I think the latter could be valid/practical assuming that these don’t get reissued in the future more than they have been already.