Artist Field Summary Adding Artists Special Artists Artist Naming Conventions Artist Name Variation (ANV) The Join Field and Artist Collaboration Main Artist Credits Eponymous Artists Crediting Non-Specific Groups

Artist Field Summary

The artist field at the top of the submission form is where we put the main artist for the release. This is considered to be the artist or artists named on the front cover of the release, or otherwise billed as such.

More than one main artist can be entered by adding another artist field. This is done by clicking the large + button (the large x button removes the field). When you add another artist field this way, you will see that another field is added beside the existing artist field, this is called the join field, and is for adding words or symbols that join the two artists together, for example 'And', 'Featuring', '/', ',' etc.

The small plus sign is for the Artist Name Variation function, which is explained further down the page.

Adding Artists

1. Entering an artist name that is not in Discogs will create a new artist page. It is important that we try to keep artist names as organised as possible, so please use the search function for all of the artist names you enter on your submission.

2. Try to reflect the names as they appear on the release. Use the join field to link multiple artists as they are linked on the release, with a comma between them if there is no joiner on the release itself. Use the ANV function for name variations. Abbreviations follow the usual rules.

Special Artists

1. The following artist names are used as generic pages when the credit isn't for a specific artist:

• "Various" can be used when there are several different artists on a release, and no one is billed as the main artist.
• "Unknown Artist" is to be used for music releases which are not credited to an artist.
• "No Artist" should be used as an artist on releases where there is no musical artist performing, such as radio / TV advertisements, movie samples, blank tracks, sound effects, and so on.
• Traditional - Used for traditional songs that are credited as such on the release.
• Anonymous - Used for artists who are credited as 'anonymous' on the release.

Artist Naming Conventions

1. Different Artists with the same name -- For example, two artists named "John B" should be entered as "John B" and "John B (2)". The (2) is not part of the name but is used to distinguish the two artists. If you need to create a third, use (3) and so on.

2. Artists beginning with "The" -- "The Artist" should become "Artist, The". Example: "RZA, The".

Artist Name Variation (ANV)

In order to link variations of an artists name, but keep the same artist profile, Discogs uses a system called Artist Name Variation, or ANV. The ANV is set directly on the submission form, click the small plus sign beside the artist field to open the ANV field. Please see the Quick Start ANV guide for an example of how ANVs are created.

Please follow the following rules:

1. Artist Name Variations (ANV's) should be used for variations in an artist name such as changes to nicknames, language based differences, abbreviations, different initials etc. The existing Artist Name MUST be entered as it currently appears in the database as well, with any variation on the release added as the ANV (the ANV cannot exist on its own).

2. ANVs should not be used if the artist uses the name to differentiate their work, in this case an Alias is more appropriate.

3. The ANV should link to the most relevant version of the Artists Name.

4. Normal capitalisation rules apply. ANV's should NOT be created for variations in capitalization.

5. If there is a case whereby there are two Artist Name Variations present on a release for the same credit (for example there is D. Bowie on the cover for a vocal credit, and D. H. Bowie on the label for the vocal credit), only one can be entered. The submitter should choose one based on such things as viability of the names, clarity and fullness of the data, and existing names already used in the database.

6. Typography and punctuation - ANV's can be entered to reflect what is on the release. Variations in punctuation, spelling, spacing, etc., are allowed, providing they exist on the release. Variations in accents are allowed. However, using Cyrillic and other such Unicode fonts to reflect graphic design decisions such as reverse letters should not be done.

7. If the ANV artist has 'The' in the title, then it should be listed with 'The' after the name, the same way it is done for main artists, for example 'Artist, The'.

The Join Field and Artist Collaboration

1. The join field is used for the words such as "vs.", "Meets", "And", "&", "w/", "With" that link two or more artist names together. Abbreviations are accepted if they appear that way on the release. Lower case joins are accepted only for the abbreviations "vs." and "w/".

2. Artists which commonly collaborate together should be listed as one artist. Examples: "Ed Rush & Optical", "Dom & Roland" (it's really one person), "Giovanni & Mosler" and "Olga+Jozef".

3. Artist collaborations which are one-off recordings should be listed as separate artists. If this one-off collaboration becomes an ongoing recording team then they can be updated to one artist entry later.

4. Do NOT attempt to split artists who regularly collaborate. (Regular collaboration consists of 3 or more collaborations (different releases), excluding remix EPs).

Main Artist Credits

1. Main artists are the artists listed at the top of the Add Release form, and the ones added - if needed - to the Tracklisting artist fields. Credits should be given for the following:

• DJ Mix
• Compiled By
• Composer (Composed By)
• Conductor
• Orchestra
• Soloists
• Featured Artist (Featuring)
• Presenting Artist (Presenter)

Eponymous Artists

1. Artists with the same name as their groups, bands, or projects should be listed in the database as separate artists - (for example Marilyn Manson and Marilyn Manson (2), Alice Cooper and Alice Cooper (2)). Solo artists with backing bands (for example Ozzy Osbourne or Frank Sinatra) should not be treated as bands, 'In Groups' for the backing musicians should not be applied to them.

Crediting Non-Specific Groups

1. If a group of people are credited that aren't specific (for example: tribes, nations etc), credit them as an artist, and place the following in the artist profile:

Discogs notice: This artist does not refer to a specific group of named individuals (such as a band or musical group) but rather defines the collective term for [details of group].

Please use this "artist" name (or any language variation thereof, via an ANV) for the [group name].

2. The 'In Groups' function can be used if the non-specific group is a subset of a larger non-specific group, but specific artists and groups cannot be linked as part of a non-specific group