Work

In MusicBrainz terminology, a work is a distinct intellectual or artistic creation, which can be expressed in the form of one or more audio recordings. While a work in MusicBrainz is usually musical in nature, it is not necessarily so. For example, a work could be a novel, play, poem or essay, later recorded as an oratory or audiobook.

See also

Musical composition at Wikipedia.

Distinctiveness

A work’s distinctiveness is based on the artists who contributed to its final output, and whether a work is derived from another original work. Examples of works that are distinct:

• a work that is written by an individual songwriter

• a work that is the result of a collaboration between composer and lyricist

• an instrumental work where an artist later adds lyrics

• translation of an original work into a different language

• a parody of an original work with differing lyrics

• a medley of multiple original works

• a mashup of multiple original works

Types of works

Works are represented predominantly at two levels:

Discrete works

An individual song, musical number or movement. This includes recitatives, arias, choruses, duos, trios, etc. In many cases, discrete works are a part of larger, aggregate works.

Aggregate works

An ordered sequence of one or more songs, numbers or movements, such as: symphony, opera, theatre work, concerto, and concept album. A popular music album is not considered a distinct aggregate work unless it is evident that such an album was written with intent to have a specifically ordered sequence of related songs (i.e. a “concept album”).

Style guidelines

Please see the guidelines for works.

Properties

Name

The canonical title of the work, expressed in the language it was originally written.

Type

The type of work.

Aliases

If a discrete work is known by name(s) or in language(s) other than its canonical name, these are specified in the work’s aliases.

ISWC

The International Standard Musical Work Code assigned to the work by copyright collecting agencies.

MBID

See the page about MBIDs for more information.

Disambiguation Comment

See the page about comments for more information.

Annotation

See the page about annotations for more information.

Relationships

A work is associated with artists, recordings and other works through advanced relationships.

Work-to-Artist relationship

A work can be associated with one or more composer, arranger, instrumentator, orchestrator, lyricist, librettist, translator and publisher.

Work-to-Recording relationship

A work can be associated with one or more recordings. This provides the indirect association between a work and its performance and production artists.

Work-to-Work relationships

A work can be associated with one or more other works. There are two types of work-work relationships:

Part-of-work relationship

A work can be expressed as a part of another work.

Derivative work relationship

A work can be expressed as being derived from one or more other works. Examples: instrumental work with lyrics added later, translation of a work into a different language, mashup.

Artists

Works do not have an artist of their own, all artists are derived from the work’s relationships. A work will show up under the works tab for any artist directly linked to a work (e.g. composers, lyricists). Any works linked to the artist’s recordings will also be shown there.

External databases

Provider	Service	Main areas covered	Notes
CISAC	ISWCNet database	Many countries 1
SACEM	Search engine	France
GEMA	Search engine	Germany
SIAE	Search engine	Italy
SGAE	Search engine	Spain
JASRAC	Search engine	Japan
KOMCA	Search engine	South Korea
SUISA	Search engine	Switzerland
BMI	Search engine	USA
ASCAP	Search engine	USA
SESAC	Search engine	USA	No ISWCs
CASH	Search engine	Hong Kong	No ISWCs
e-License	Search engine	Japan	No ISWCs?
MÜST	Search engine	Taiwan	No ISWCs
SACM	Search engine	Mexico
SOCAN	Search engine	Canada	No ISWCs
APRA	Search engine	Australia/New Zealand	No ISWCs
SAZAS	Search engine	Slovenia	No ISWCs
SABAM	Search engine	Belgium
ZAIKS	Search engine	Poland
MACP	Search engine	Malaysia	No ISWCs
RAO	Search engine	Russia	No ISWCs
OSA	Search engine	Czech Republic
AKM	Search engine	Austria
BUMA/STEMRA	Search engine	Netherlands
CCLI	Search engine	Many countries 2	Account required; No ISWCs
HFA	Search engine	USA?	No ISWCs
AKKA/LAA	Search engine	Latvia	No ISWCs

Notes

1

Argentina, Australia, Barbados, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Ireland, Jamaica, Mexico, Norway, Panama, Peru, St. Lucia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, USA (repertoire represented by BMI), Uruguay and Venezuela

2

Australia, Belgium, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Lesotho, Luxembourg, Malawi, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States and Zimbabwe