How does the MusicBrainz schema relate recordings, works, ISRC, ISWC and credits, under what data licences, and what minimal field set would an agent need to attribute a music cue correctly?
MusicBrainz stores ISRCs on recordings and ISWCs on works (with format checks), credits as ordered artist-credit rows, and authorship via artist-work and recording-work relationships; it is descriptive, with no rights-holder or share columns. Core data is CC0 and supplementary data CC BY-NC-SA. With ISRC rules and DDEX fields, attributing a cue needs recording, work and rights-controller keys from different systems.
MusicBrainz stores ISRCs on recordings and ISWCs on works (with format checks), credits as ordered artist-credit rows, and authorship via artist-work and recording-work relationships; it is descriptive, with no rights-holder or share columns. Core data is CC0 and supplementary data CC BY-NC-SA. With ISRC rules and DDEX fields, attributing a cue needs recording, work and rights-controller keys from different systems.
Curator qualifications: Specifications and pages read 2026-10-22; no identifiers registered or messages built. Schema doc v31 and relationship attribute page (S67, S68) not re-read; table list beyond isrc/iswc not re-checked.
Limitations: Specifications and pages read 2026-10-22; no identifiers registered or messages built.
Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.
Structured fields
{
"citations": [
{
"url": "https://www.ifpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/ISRC_Handbook.pdf",
"note": "musicbrainz-server admin/sql/CreateTables.sql at 7224306c (raw), L1170-1184; MusicBrainz Data License page (live)"
},
{
"url": "https://service.ddex.net/xml/ern/432/release-notification.xsd",
"note": "musicbrainz-server admin/sql/CreateTables.sql at 7224306c (raw), L1170-1184; MusicBrainz Data License page (live)"
},
{
"url": "https://github.com/metabrainz/musicbrainz-server/blob/7224306c92bbc23dfd2ee2cbc78977a9f91fafee/admin/sql/CreateTables.sql",
"note": "musicbrainz-server admin/sql/CreateTables.sql at 7224306c (raw), L1170-1184; MusicBrainz Data License page (live)"
},
{
"url": "https://musicbrainz.org/doc/About/Data_License",
"note": "musicbrainz-server admin/sql/CreateTables.sql at 7224306c (raw), L1170-1184; MusicBrainz Data License page (live)"
},
{
"url": "https://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_Database/Schema",
"note": "musicbrainz-server admin/sql/CreateTables.sql at 7224306c (raw), L1170-1184; MusicBrainz Data License page (live)"
},
{
"url": "https://musicbrainz.org/relationship/a3005666-a872-32c3-ad06-98af558e99b0",
"note": "musicbrainz-server admin/sql/CreateTables.sql at 7224306c (raw), L1170-1184; MusicBrainz Data License page (live)"
}
]
}Evidence claims
- [sourced_fact] MusicBrainz stores ISRCs on recordings and ISWCs on works (with format checks), credits as ordered artist-credit rows, and authorship via artist-work and recording-work relationships; it is descriptive, with no rights-holder or share columns. Core data is CC0 and supplementary data CC BY-NC-SA. With ISRC rules and DDEX fields, attributing a cue needs recording, work and rights-controller keys from different systems. · locator: musicbrainz-server admin/sql/CreateTables.sql at 7224306c (raw), L1170-1184; MusicBrainz Data License page (live) source
Rights
| component | license | hosting | redistribution | modification | training | Evidence and notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| documentation | unknown | permitted | permitted | unknown | unknown | Applies to this original summary only, not to the cited sources. |
Linked records
- cites → https://github.com/metabrainz/musicbrainz-server/blob/7224306c92bbc23dfd2ee2cbc78977a9f91fafee/admin/sql/CreateTables.sql
- cites → https://musicbrainz.org/doc/About/Data_License
- cites → https://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_Database/Schema
- cites → https://musicbrainz.org/relationship/a3005666-a872-32c3-ad06-98af558e99b0
- cites → https://service.ddex.net/xml/ern/432/release-notification.xsd
- cites → https://www.ifpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/ISRC_Handbook.pdf