I think the “These examples would not automatically qualify for ‘Withdrawn’ status” sentence may need to be reworded or removed, since it now sounds like it might be referring to the new list of actually-withdrawn examples. The “For instance …” bit is also a sentence fragment, so maybe the whole paragraph could be shortened to something like this:
Withdrawn is to be used for previously official releases that were actively withdrawn from circulation. This does not include releases that have reached the end of their ‘natural’ lifecycle, such as an album that was sold out, replaced by a shinier version, or retired from a streaming service. The artist (or label) also needs to consider it expunged from their discography.
I also find the use of the word “cancelled” in the 100 gecs example potentially confusing, since “cancelled” is a different status. Maybe something like this would be clearer?
An attempt was made to cancel Play Date (100 gecs remix) before its release because of allegations against an involved artist, but it was available briefly in at least one time zone before being removed.
I actually like it, because the artist or label in this case may still refer to it as ‘cancelled’. But if it was accidentally available for a brief time, then in MB we should always call it ‘withdrawn’ anyway, which this example makes clear to me (but then again, I formatted the wording…)
If you still think it’s confusing I’ll update that text as well
I agree. Normally when things are cancelled, they never happened. For example, a planned autobiography (Mick Jagger). In this case, it was never published.
As I understand it - Cancelled means it was never released to the public. Withdrawn means it was released for a time, and then taken off the shelf.
It is hard enough to make sense if one should use “Cancelled” or “Withdrawn”. And especially as these will translate differently. I agree that any description of a “withdrawn” item should not have the word “cancel” used in that description. (OR at least say “but it was available briefly in at least one time zone before being withdrawn.” )
Personally I don’t see why there is a need to include the allegations bit at ALL. That kinda gossip only confuses the definition.
Can we get that detail included in the withdrawn\cancelled summary. Or even better on the Release Date page. Just to note that a cancelled release is not used to give a “first release” date, but a withdrawn is. Would be nice to have this clarification on the guideline.
I think that isn’t even needed there - whatever the reasons were, the important bit is that they tried to cancel it but failed I’d drop it from the example (but leave it on the release annotation where people who care about the details can still find it).
Otherwise, the current text looks good to me - does anyone still have issues with any other part of it?
One or two for “Cancelled” wouldn’t hurt I guess, as a comparison (I see we don’t mention Cancelled at all there though, probably because it seems obvious enough…). Pseudo-release already has them.
A variation on the “Label or artist withdrawals after ‘feedback’ or allegations” is that the artist may have changed style or for some other reason wants some of their tracks removed from streaming and download services.
What is the view on an album that was cancelled by the record company because it wasn’t good enough, but later found it’s way into circulation as a bootleg?
There is a Kate Bush album like that. The bootleg appeared with a slightly different track list. This is common as sometimes the bootlegs get out without names on the tape that was “borrowed”
The “For instance …” bit is also a sentence fragment, so maybe the whole paragraph could be shortened to something like this:
