User:TenPoundHammer/Writing better music articles
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This is an essay; it contains the advice and/or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. It is not a policy or guideline, and editors are not obliged to follow it. |
Here are some of my thoughts regarding the writing of better music-related articles -- specifically on artists, albums, and songs.
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[edit] Songs
Just because a song has charted doesn't mean that it's automatically notable enough for its own page. As with just about anything else on Wikipedia, a song has to be the subject of multiple reliable third-party sources to be considered notable. In the case of a song, this means sources about the song itself, not just the artist(s) who recorded it. If all you can write is "this song is 3 minutes and 47 seconds long, it was released on June 24, 1996 on MCA Records, and it peaked at #14", then you're better off not writing a page on said song.
As a general rule, a song that has peaked higher on a national music singles chart (not an iTunes chart or a sales chart) is more likely to be the subject of a few good sources. That's not to say that this rule is set in stone, however. For example, "The Bumper of My SUV" by Chely Wright peaked only at #35 on the country music charts, but it was the subject of controversy back in 2005 when the head of Wright's fan club got in trouble for planting fake requests for the song. On the other hand, "Sittin' on Go" by Bryan White was a Number One, and I have yet to find any verifiable info on it other than song length, label, and writers. (Heck, I have yet to even find a station on Mediabase's panel that even plays the song.)
[edit] Example
I have made an example page on a fictional singer at User:TenPoundHammer/Fictional Singer.
[edit] Notability of individual members
Individual members of a band don't necessarily warrant their own pages, unless they are notable independently of the band. For instance, an individual member who has charted a solo single of his own might be notable enough for his or her own page. For example, Brady Seals and Tim Rushlow, both former members of the band Little Texas, have sufficient notability per WP:MUSIC to warrant their own pages. Seals had two major label albums and a handful of solo chart singles; Rushlow had only one album but a couple chart singles of his own.
[edit] A few more rules of thumb
- A good rule of thumb for album pages is: If you can't easily find the album's cover art anywhere, and the album's under ten years old, it's probably not a notable album. Some older, out-of-print albums may not have had their album covers make it to the Internet, so they should probably treated as individual cases.
- Lack of coverage at All Music Guide does not always equal non-notability. I have written pages on at least a few musical acts who, despite lacking AMG biographies, are still quite notable: Robert Ellis Orrall, James House (singer), Kostas are a few that come to mind.
