MetaBrainz Blog

MusicBrainz Server update, 2024-11-18

Image editing has been re-enabled after being down for the past month, so it’s now time to upload your backlog of scanned artwork if you haven’t already done so on the beta site! The rest of the changelog is short, but we’ll give a special mention to JadedBlueEyes, whose GSoC project is now being used for sending emails between editors. You’ll notice that a newer, fancier email template is now used for such messages. We hope to convert the rest of the emails we send out to use the new service soon, in future server releases.

A new release of MusicBrainz Docker is also available that matches this update of MusicBrainz Server. See the release notes for update instructions.

Thanks to derat and JadedBlueEyes for having contributed to the code. Thanks to Xythium, jlks82, and roman412 for having reported bugs and suggested improvements. Thanks to ApeKattQuest/MonkeyPython, KenParker_CN, and yyb987 for updating the translations. And thanks to all others who tested the beta version!

The git tag is v-2024-11-18.0.

Welcome Julian45 (and atj)!

I’m pleased to announce that Julian Anderson (julian45) and Adam James (atj) have joined our team as volunteer System Administrators. Julian has just now joined the team, where as Adam has been part of it for nearly 2 years and I failed to post the requisite blog post welcoming him. Mea culpa, Adam! Welcome to both of you!

We welcome volunteers to help us with our infrastructure, which continues to grow and become more complicated. The ListenBrainz project in particular has many moving parts in order to process the user’s data (stats, recommendations, fresh releases, etc.). On top of that, we’re working hard to make sure that our infrastructure is as automated as possible, so we welcome any help from people who know Ansible, like Julian and Adam.

The Strangest Releases in MusicBrainz: Weird and Wonderful

MusicBrainz is a treasure trove. Open the lid and you will find glittering piles of release metadata. Mountains of precious artist information. Gold nuggets of high resolution artwork. Everything you can imagine – provided you mainly imagine music data. And also, at the bottom, tucked into the corners, some really weird shit. And some MusicBrainz editors just having the time of their life, adding to the pile. One of those editors has agreed to have a chat with me.

A photo of a dungbeetle on top of a ball of dung. A lot of strange audio releases are sticking out of the dung ball. — One person’s treasure is another person’s…

Thank you for answering my questions, sound.and.vision! I am really regretting the poop analogy, my deepest apologies. But we are dung-beetle editing buddies, and I know that your additions to the database are a treasure to many. Shall we ‘roll’ with it?

GSoC 2024: Integrating imports into BookBrainz

It really bugged me that it proved impossible to finish the huge BookBrainz importer project last year. Fortunately MetaBrainz (and Google) gave me the chance to continue working on my 2023 project during this Summer of Code, thank you! Our goal is still to import huge external datasets into the BookBrainz database schema.

Last year I worked on the backend services to transform and insert simple entities into the database. This year’s goal was to support importing multiple related entities and exposing the imported data on the website. We can now import entities (on the backend), which can be reviewed and approved by our users with ease.

If you want to know the full story, I recommend you to start with my previous blog post to learn more details about the existing importer infrastructure and last year’s problems. Or just read on if you are only interested in the advanced stuff which I did this year.

MetaBrainz Summit 2024

*MetaBrainz nerds at the Jantar Mantar observatory.* *Left to right: jasje, reosarevok, atj, zas, KasukabeDefenceForce, monkey, yvanzo, lucifer, mayhem, ansh, theflash_, kellnerd, bitmap, akshaaatt, ApeKattQuest, outsidecontext, aerozol*

This year it was New Delhi, India, that was invaded by data nerds from across the globe!

The MetaBrainz team was treated to the glorious chaos, hospitality, sights, noise, sweets, monkeys, traffic, heat, and delicious food of India. We reflected on the last year in MetaBrainz, planned and collaborated for the future, and got a little work done – when we could fit it in between mouthfuls of Indian sweets.

Read on for a comprehensive summit recap, including the annual recap for each MetaBrainz project, as well as breakout session notes, photos, and links to the slides and video recordings.

Withdrawn and Expunged releases in MusicBrainz

In a hurry? Here’s what you need to know: We have a new release status in MusicBrainz, “Expunged”.

Expunged is to be used for “previously official releases that were expunged from an artist or record company’s discography”. If the artist or label have not given a clear indication that they want to disown the release, use the “Withdrawn” status instead. See the style guidelines for examples and a longer description.

If you’re not in a hurry, stick around and let’s dig a little deeper.

MusicBrainz Server update, 2024-10-21

As mentioned in the banner of MusicBrainz website for a week already, images for events and releases are currently unavailable due to the Internet Archive (IA) recovering from a DDoS attack. See the IA’s Mastodon page for follow-up. Both the Cover Art Archive and the Event Art Archive were available from the Internet Archive which is doing its best to restore services safely, that will take as many days as necessary. Meanwhile, today’s server update temporarily disables editing images, until our access to the Internet Archive is fully restored. It also brings some updates behind the scenes. Last but not least, it also features a few improvements and bugfixes, mainly contributed by volunteers without whom this would not have the same significance!

A new release of MusicBrainz Docker is also available that matches this update of MusicBrainz Server. See the release notes for update instructions.

Thanks to derat, Divyansh Gupta, and Serial-ATA for having contributed to the code. Thanks to Dan and HibiscusKazeneko for having reported bugs and suggested improvements. Thanks to Arainuki, Aris_8585, blit, Echelon666, salo.rock, Vaclovas Intas, and wileyfoxyx for updating the translations. And thanks to all others who tested the beta version!

The git tag is v-2024-10-21.0.

GSoC 2024: MusicBrainz – Internet Archive integration: Saving external links in the Wayback Machine

Introduction

Greetings, Everyone!

I am Ashutosh Aswal (IRC nick yellowhatpro), a Computer Science grad from PEC University, India. This is my second time contributing to MetaBrainz as a GSoC contributor, and unlike the last time, when I contributed to the ListenBrainz Android app, this year, I took a challenge to learn a new language and framework (Rust and Postgres) to create this delightful project, Melba, which stands for MusicBrainz’s External Links wayBack machine Archiver.

As the name suggests, the project saves external webpages linked in the MusicBrainz database to the Internet Archive using Wayback Machine API. Let me walk you through the making of Melba.

Let’s begin!! ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

Major upgrade for mirrors: November 25, 2024

MusicBrainz is announcing a major mirror upgrade for November 25, 2024. The minimum required version of Docker Compose will change from v1.21.1 to v2. Search will be upgraded from Solr 7 to Solr 9. Mirrors will likely require a reinstall from scratch, we will provide instructions by release day.

This upgrade is not going to break replication for existing mirrors, even mirrors that have enabled live search. However, Solr 7 dumps will no longer be available.

You are invited to MetaBrainz Summit 24

MetaBrainz Summit 24 is upon us! September 23-27 in New Delhi, India.

We would love for you to join us remotely. If you are reading this, you are qualified to attend. Congratulations! Read on for more information.

	aerozol on MusicBrainz Server update,…
	George on The Strangest Releases in Musi…
	aerozol on Welcome Julian45 (and atj…
	aerozol on GSoC 2024: Integrating imports…
	ApeKattQuest, Monkey… on Towards Fair Streaming: Introd…