[mb-users] Group had to change there name - two artist entries?

[Chris B]

On 26/02/2008, Alexander Kiel <alexanderkiel at gmx.net> wrote:
> Hi Chris
>
> > legally forced name changes are usually adopted, with the previous
>  > stored as an alias - see http://wiki.musicbrainz.org/ArtistAlias
>  > (point 15)
>  >
>
> Its point 14 but anyway. What is with Walter/Wendy Carlos as mentioned
>  in point 14? Why there is a Walter Carlos and old releases are filed
>  under him.

well, i voted against that change :) it was the result of a pretty
recent decision (i'd link you to it but nabble appears to be down) and
one that i still disagree with, but there you go.

i'm not aware of any legally 'forced' name change that exists as a
separate entity in the database, though (excluding ones that also
herald changes beyond just the name), other than those that have been
neglected!

>  I think. If you have a CD cover with nimmzwei on it and it is filed
>  under superzwei with a not in first place noticeable nimmzwei alias, it
>  would alienate most. Why we can't file nimmzwei and superzwei as two
>  different Performance Names of Jakob Friedrichs and Volker Schmidt-Bäumler?

the same can be said for any MBz alias. the idea is to centralize
discographies where possible, unless there's good reason to split
them. normally name changes alone aren't a good reason to split up the
discography, so there is no 'change name to' AR. perhaps if an artist
didn't release anything under the legally forced name, then there
would be no reason to use it as it would just confuse the majority of
users who would be more familiar with the old ('illegal') name, but
still you wouldn't need to have two artists.