[mb-users] iTunes store as label

[Kuno Woudt]

On Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 09:31:25PM +0200, Gioele wrote:
> Are there cases where it is OK to conside the iTunes store a distributor
> label instead of a store? Even for iTunes-only tracks, shouldn't the
> current label of the artist be used?
> 
> It seems to me that people are using iTunes store as label to
> mean "available at", not "produced by".
> 
> iTunes store: http://musicbrainz.org/show/label/?labelid=253 

I usually tend to match the imprint/label with the catalog id (with
the sort of music i listen to... this is a reasonable thing to do :).

For iTunes, we currently use the iTunes ID as a catalog #, so my
first instinct is to use iTunes as the label too.  But you're probably
right that this is not correct, and should be discouraged.  The iTunes
id should probably be treated more like an ASIN.

However, it may be difficult to figure out the real label.  It is
reasonably easy for anyone to get their music on iTunes, you don't
need a label at all.  If you do have a label, they probably want
to be the guys who distribute to iTunes -- but then you're guessing
what the agreement between the artist and the label are, there is
no way you can reliably determine this from the information
available at the iTunes store.

-- kuno / warp.