I created this page for "discussion on guiding principles and philosophies" as I noticed there are some questions of philosophy on data collection and purpose etc. that should probably be meta-factors driving other decisions.

• ArtistIntentVsFacts - ArtistIntent vs. The Facts

  • Should MusicBrainz be concerned with recording the facts, or the artistic expression?

• CompletenessVsCorrectness - Completeness vs. Correctness

  • Should MusicBrainz allow to enter content he is not entirely sure is correct, or should only verified information be added to the database?

• SubjectiveVsObjectiveData - Subjective vs. Objective Data

  • So far, MusicBrainz has concentrated on recording objective facts, but eventually, we want to include some subjective data simply because it's too valuable to users of the site

• WhoDeservesCreditForAWork - Who Deserves Credit For A Work?

  • Which is the artist of an album: Original composer, original performer, performer of a given work or something else

• WhatDefinesAUniqueRelease - New Release, or Variant of Another Release?

  • When does a work actually become a "separate record" from MusicBrainz point of view?

• ScopeOfMusicBrainzData - What data should we store?

  • What data is relevant and should be stored in MusicBrainz, and what data is best left to other databases and encyclopedias, e.g. parentage and marriage information about artists or information about the movies of soundtracks.

• QualityVersusQuantity and QualityAndQuantity

  • Philosophical and technical debate whether MusicBrainz should store as much data as possible or as correct data as possible, or both (and how this would be possible).

Other pages deal with the philosophy in community aspects:

• CodeOfConduct - General set of rules for behaviour the members in the community should stick to.

CategoryPhilosophy CategoryDiscussion - Authors: MatthewExon, Shepard