[mb-users] Adding releases not yet released

[Aaron Cooper]

On 9/5/07, Philipp Wolfer <phw at rubyforge.org> wrote:
> 2007/9/5, Aaron Cooper <cooperaa at gmail.com>:
> > As Chris has said, we have a Promo release status that can be used and
> > there should be no problem adding promotional versions of releases to
> > MB.  Leaked versions of albums are much more reliable than just a
> > published tracklist because they usually come from promotional CDs and
> > therefore are considered a "release" in MB.
>
> I'm a little bit surprised that you are so strongly against adding
> releases without released tracks since it was especially you who
> convinced me that adding releases before their release date can be OK
> [1]. But I now realized that in all those cases where you were in
> favor of such an edit there were PUIDs or TRMs attached to the tracks
> or there was a promo release you knew about (at least that's valid for
> the edits I've seen and voted on myself).
>
> This is surely a good proof for a coming release and, as Chris pointed
> out, adding a promotional release is safe. Ok. But I'm still against
> making this a condition. Especially if a release is heavily advertised
> by the label and the band itself and the release date is not far away
> the track listing and the release date seldom change. There is no need
> that the editor entering those details must be in the possession of a
> promotional release (and I know promotional releases with shortened
> tracks which aren't of much use in this case anyway).
>
> If we lower the data quality of such a release and add a comment as
> you suggested we should be on the safe side and can later correct the
> details. But we benefit from the fact that we have up-to-date data in
> MB.

I don't like adding releases based on just a tracklist as it happens
too commonly that the order may change or there may be a hidden bonus
track or something else.  These can all be changed, but the fact is
that we're adding a MusicBrainz release from something that is not yet
an audio release in any way, shape, or form.  I think we should wait
until it has been released in some form.

-Aaron