Wikipedia:WikiProject Discographies/style

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? The following is a proposed Wikipedia policy, guideline, or process.
The proposal may still be in development, under discussion, or in the process of gathering consensus for adoption. Thus references or links to this page should not describe it as "policy".
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MOS:DISCOG

Discography WikiProject style guide proposal(s):

From Drewcifer3000 (talk · contribs)

The following is a series of suggested guidelines for the style and content of discographies. Please note that these guidelines are intended to apply only to artist discographies, not label discographies.

Contents

[edit] Content

[edit] Article-wide

Below is a list of general content that should be included in a discography:

  1. Lead section
  2. Discography infobox
  3. A table-based list of official releases, in chronological order from earliest to latest.
    • Each release is given its own row, with various pieces of information creating a series of columns.
    • Separate types of releases (such as studio albums, live albums, extended plays, etc.) are generally split up into individual sections and tables.
    • Similar columns between sections and tables should ideally be kept a consistent width.
    • See WP:TABLE for help on making tables.
  4. References
    • See WP:CITE as well as the section below detailing the sourcing requirements further.
  5. An External links section
    • Commonly-used links include the artist or band's homepage and/or links to Discogs or Allmusic.
    • See WP:EL.

[edit] Per-release

For each release, the following information, data, and statistics should be included wherever available and applicable. In all cases it is assumed to be information regarding the original release, not re-releases or differing packages released in foreign territories.

Requirements listed below with a † are not expected of singles, music videos, or any other releases featuring a single song.
  1. Title
  2. Earliest release date (year, month, and day, as specific as is available)†
    • To accommodate for differing styles of displaying dates, full dates should be spelled out and wikilinked as either [[Month DD]], [[YYYY]] or [[DD Month]] [[YYYY]], dependent upon the origin of the artist or band. If the artist or band originates from the United States, the American system should be used ( [[Month DD]], [[YYYY]] ). If originating from anywhere else, the International system should be used ( [[DD Month]] [[YYYY]] ).
    • Wherever the full date is not available, whatever date is available should not be wikilinked.
    • Single-song releases should not provide the full release date, only the year.
    • See MOS:SYL.
  3. Record label†
  4. Catalog number (if notable)†
    • This is generally provided along with the record label.
  5. Formats released†
  6. Peak chart positions
    • It is generally discouraged to give an account of a release's entire chart history or trajectory; only its peak position is relevant.
    • Where a release did not chart, but a column for a particular chart or territory exists since another release charted there, a long-dash (—) should be placed in the cell. Additionally, a legend at the bottom of the table should denote the meaning of the dash by saying something like "—" denotes a release that did not chart.
    • Separate charts or territories should be represented by their own column; the artist or band's home country comes first, followed by an English-language alphabetical ordering of countries (with the option to prioritize English-speaking countries before others), then followed by international, multinational, or worldwide charts if available. In the case of multiple charts per country (such as the various Billboard charts), these should also be in alphabetical order order of country-name then chart name.
    • Column headers for chart positions should be an English-language abbreviation of the chart's country of origin, not the name of the individual chart. The exception to this rule, however, is in cases where two columns are from the same country, such a component or competing charts. In these cases, the column header should start with an abbreviation of the country, followed by an abbreviation of the chart name. In all cases, the column header should be wikilnked to the specific chart's page, or if the chart does not have a page, then to the country's page.
    • See WP:CHARTS and WP:INDISCRIMINATE.
  7. Sales
  8. Sales certifications
  9. Any further notes or comments of notable interest that relate to the artist or band's overall body of work†

[edit] What should not be included

  • Tracklistings, B-sides, or any other description of the tracks on a release. Remember, this is a discography not a songography, so we're mostly concerned with the release, not every song on that release.
  • Bootlegs, unless officially released.
  • Unofficial releases of any kind. For example, The Grey Album would not be included in the The Beatles discography or Jay-Z discography.
  • Leaked material.
  • Non-original or previously-released material used on soundtracks, trailers, commercials, or any other compilation releases.
  • Un-released material.
  • Non-musical releases or works.
  • Releases by other artists as a tribute or cover.

[edit] Citations and references

[edit] General references

For the establishment of the general releases in a discography – that a certain release exists, was released in the first place, and is a part of the artist's body of work – general sources, as opposed to in-line citations, are sufficient. For additional non-contentious facts such as release date, record label, and catalog number, general sources are also acceptable.

[edit] In-line citations

Any surprising or contentious notes beyond the aforementioned should be sourced using in-line citations. For data such as peak chart positions, sales, and certifications, in-line citations are preferred. Whenever a single citation applies to an entire set of data, such as a single chart or certifying body, in-line citations should be presented in the column header, rather then each cell.

[edit] Sources

Only reliable sources should be cited as sources of information. Discogs, for example, should be avoided, since it is user-generated and therefore not considered reliable. See WP:RS for more information on sources.

[edit] Useful resources:

General
Charts

For chart positions, the following sites are recommended, since they are considered reliable.

[edit] Sample

The following examples are from Nirvana discography and The Prodigy discography, meant to show examples of an album table and a singles table, respectively. Both tables have been adjusted slightly for the purposes of demonstration. To view the wikicode, click [edit] above.

Year Album details Peak chart positions Sales Certifications
U.S.
[1]		 AUS
[2]		 AUT
[3]		 FIN
[4]		 NLD
[5]		 NZ
[6]		 NOR
[7]		 JPN
[8]		 SWE
[9]		 SWI
[10]		 UK
[11]
1989 Bleach 89 34 26 24 — 30 — 46 — — 33 1.7 million + (U.S.)[12] Platinum (U.S.)[13]
1991 Nevermind 1 2 2 1 5 2 2 24 1 2 7 10 million + (U.S.)[14]
26 million + (worldwide)[15]		 Diamond (U.S.)[16]
2× Platinum (UK)[17]

"—" denotes releases that did not chart.


Year Title Peak chart positions Certifications Album
UK
[18]		 AUS
[19]		 IRL
[20]		 FIN
[21]		 GER
[22]		 NOR
[23]		 US
[24]
1993 "One Love" 8 — 3 — — — — Music for the Jilted Generation
1994 "No Good (Start the Dance)" 4 45 3 — 4 7 —
"Voodoo People" 13 24 7 — — — —
1995 "Poison" 15 — 3 — — 5 —
1996 "Firestarter" 1 22 2 1 6 1 30

UK: Gold[25]
US: Gold[26]

 The Fat of the Land
"Breathe" 1 2 1 1 8 1 —

UK: Platinum[27]
AUS: 2× Platinum[28]

"—" denotes releases that did not chart.

[edit] Fair use materials

It is generally discouraged to include copyrighted materials in discographies, even when Fair use is claimed. This includes but is not limited to album covers, audio samples, and promotional photos. See WP:NFC for clarification on the policy.

[edit] Ignore all rules

Every artist is different, and therefore no two discographies will be exactly the same. Therefore, if there is a reasonable justification for deviating from the above guidelines to most accurately or appropriately document an artist's body of work, then ignore all the rules and go with what's best for the article. It is our goal to provide information in the best way possible, so a strict adherence to the guidelines listed above may not always be the best way to accomplish our goals. In an ideal situation however, any deviations from the guidelines should be with a clear purpose that is unique to the particular artist and situation in question. See WP:IAR for more information on ignoring the rules.