Improve MusicBrainz Data

MusicBrainz is a free music encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Music Assistant uses it to recognise your music. When something is missing or wrong on MusicBrainz, you can fix it yourself. Every fix helps all Music Assistant users, and everyone else who uses MusicBrainz.

You need a free MusicBrainz account to make edits.

Why MusicBrainz matters

Music Assistant uses MusicBrainz to:

• identify your artists, albums and tracks, so the same item from two sources becomes one item in your library
• link items to your other music services, using the streaming links stored on MusicBrainz
• fill in details such as life dates, countries and the year a recording was made
• organise classical music by composer and work. See Classical Music

Music Assistant finds items on MusicBrainz in this order: the MusicBrainz IDs in your file tags, the streaming links on MusicBrainz, barcodes and ISRC codes, and finally a search by name. The first three are reliable. A name search is not, so adding links and codes on MusicBrainz makes the biggest difference.

What the log hints mean

When Music Assistant cannot find something on MusicBrainz, it often writes a hint in the log with a link to fix it. Each hint is written only once. Some are only shown with debug logging turned on.

Hint in the log	Log level	What to do
Album "..." (barcode ...) is not on MusicBrainz, add it for example with Harmony: ...	Info	Add the album with Harmony. The link opens Harmony with the barcode filled in
Album "..." is not on MusicBrainz, add it for example with Harmony: ...	Info	The same, with the streaming link filled in
Composer "..." is not on MusicBrainz through <link>, add <link> to their MusicBrainz page: ...	Info	Add the streaming link to the composer’s MusicBrainz page. The link goes to the composer, or to a search when there is more than one candidate
Artist "..." has no link to <service> on MusicBrainz, so it is not added ...; add one at ...	Info	MusicBrainz names an artist, such as a performer on a recording, that has no link to your service. Add the link, then use Update metadata on the album
Artist "..." is not on MusicBrainz through <link>, so it cannot be told apart from the other "..." on <service>; add <link> to their MusicBrainz page: ...	Info	Your service has two different artists with the same name, and Music Assistant can only keep them apart when MusicBrainz knows both pages. Add the streaming link to the correct artist’s MusicBrainz page. The link goes to that artist when it is known, or to a search
Titles "..." and "..." share <catalogue number> but name different keys, so they are kept as separate works; check which is right and link its recording to the correct work on MusicBrainz: ...	Info	One of the two titles is probably wrong. Check the albums and link the recording to the right work
ISRC ... of "..." is not on MusicBrainz, add it to the track's recording: ...	Debug	Add the ISRC codes with MagicISRC
ISRC ... of "..." is on MusicBrainz recording ..., which credits other artists, so it needs album "..." identified, add its streaming link or barcode to the release of that recording	Debug	The code is used for more than one recording. Add the streaming link or barcode to the album’s MusicBrainz release

Add a missing album with Harmony

Harmony reads an album from Spotify, Tidal, Qobuz, Deezer, Apple Music and other services, and fills in the MusicBrainz “Add release” form for you. It also adds the album’s streaming links, barcode and ISRC codes.

1. Open the Harmony link from the log, or go to Harmony and paste the album’s streaming link or barcode
2. Check what Harmony found. It compares the services and warns when they disagree
3. Select Import into MusicBrainz
4. MusicBrainz opens with the album filled in. Check the artists are linked to the right MusicBrainz artists, then enter a short note on where the data came from and submit
5. Back in Harmony, follow its suggestions to add any missing links and ISRC codes

Add streaming links

Music Assistant links artists and albums to your services through the links on their MusicBrainz page.

1. Find the artist or release on MusicBrainz
2. Select Edit
3. Under External links, paste the artist’s or album’s Spotify, Tidal, Qobuz, Deezer, Apple Music or YouTube Music link and select the type if necessary
4. Submit the edit

TIP

Harmony can also add the links for a release that already exists on MusicBrainz. Paste the release’s streaming link in Harmony and follow its suggestions.

Single tracks can have a link too. Open the recording on MusicBrainz, select Edit, and add the track’s link under External links (for example https://open.spotify.com/track/...). Music Assistant checks a track’s links before its ISRC code, so this identifies the track even when its title differs from MusicBrainz. It is most useful for Spotify, which does not share ISRC codes with Music Assistant. It takes one edit per track, so ISRC codes are usually the quicker way for a whole album.

Add ISRC codes with MagicISRC

An ISRC is a code that identifies a recording. Music Assistant uses it to match streaming tracks to MusicBrainz. MagicISRC adds the codes for a whole release in one go.

1. Find your release: Open MagicISRC and paste your MusicBrainz release link or ID
2. Log in: Connect your MusicBrainz account when prompted
3. Extract the ISRCs:
   • For Spotify or Deezer URLs: Paste the album link into a web tool like Chartmetric ISRC Finder or Soundcharts ISRC Finder to instantly grab the 12-digit codes.
   • For Tidal, Qobuz, or Apple Music: Use the search bar on Chartmetric ISRC Finder and enter the Artist Name + Track/Album Title to fetch the codes from their global database.
   • Copy the generated list of codes.
4. Paste into MagicISRC: Paste the text block of codes into the input box on MagicISRC
5. Verify: Double-check that the codes align with the correct tracks in the tracklist
6. Submit: Click submit to apply the codes to MusicBrainz

TIP

If you manage metadata frequently, install a browser extension like Tampermonkey and download the MusicBrainz Enhanced Tracklist (MET) userscript. This adds a native “Send to MagicISRC” button directly inside the web players for Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music, and Tidal.

Link a recording to its work

For classical music a recording needs a link to the work it performs. This gives Music Assistant the composer, the work and its movements.

1. Open the release on MusicBrainz and select Edit relationships
2. Select the tracks, then Batch-add new works to link them to existing works or create new ones
3. For a movement, link the recording to the movement’s work. The movement work should itself be a part of the main work
4. Submit the edit

Tag your local files with Picard

MusicBrainz Picard writes the MusicBrainz IDs into your files, which is the most reliable way for Music Assistant to recognise them.

1. Install Picard and add your music folder
2. Cluster the files, then Lookup or Scan to match them to MusicBrainz releases
3. Check each match, then Save

For classical music, turn on these options before you save:

• Options > Metadata > Use track relationships and Use release relationships. These add composers, conductors, performers and works
• The option that writes the movement tags (Movement Name, Movement Number and Movement Count)

If Picard cannot find your album, add it to MusicBrainz first with Harmony.

When will Music Assistant see my edit?

Not right away.

• Music Assistant reads MusicBrainz through its own copy of the database. This copy follows musicbrainz.org with a delay
• Answers from MusicBrainz are kept for up to 30 days
• Some edits go to a vote, which can take up to 7 days before the edit is applied
• Items that were not found are looked up again later on their own. Use Update metadata on an album or artist to try again sooner

NOTE

Please only add data you can check, such as the album cover, the streaming service or the booklet. Read the MusicBrainz style guidelines before bigger edits, and the classical style guide for classical releases.