Content removal guidelines
VocaDB operates based on publicly available information. Content removal requests on notable entries will be rejected in most cases.
This page lists the exact requirements that the entry must pass in order to get deleted. These naturally do not apply to entries that are outside our content policy.
General guidelines
Most of the time, the original source of information should be deleted or privated first to avoid someone adding it again on VocaDB.
If artist wants to create music without a VocaDB presence, they can request their name in the forbidden artists -page. This is one way of making sure that users do not add their entries to the site.
For entries that already exist, check the following list(s) and leave an entry report or communicate to us in some way to have the content removed. Do not remove the information yourself.
Deleted artist and song entries stay visible if accessed through the direct entry URL, but are hidden from the search and other website functions. The entry revisions can also be hidden, if they contain sensible information.
Users relevant to the deleted entry (entry follows/likes) get a notification when the entry is deleted.
Content removal requests must always be verified in some way. Having a verified artist account on VocaDB is one way of doing it.
Song removal checklist:
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No public official media available.
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No song ratings by other users.
- Cover entries are an exception
You can alternatively request the do not reupload -tag to your artist/song entries, which disables existing or new reprint links.
Album entry removal checklist:
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All album tracks (song entries) fulfill the song removal checklist and are deleted.
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No official information available (crossfades/store links).
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Not in any user collection.
Artist entry removal checklist:
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Voicebanks: Never removed, regardless of the voicebank engine. Voicebank connections (associated artist link) are removed when requested from discontinued voicebanks.
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Music producers: Removable if no song or album entries. If only one entry —> Artist entry gets replaced with a custom artist credit on the song/album entry. Also applies to other artist types that are tagged with music producer. (= Artist entry is not eligible for deletion if they have 2 or more rated original song entries).
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Cover artist: Cover song entries are always removed when requested (assuming no official media available) —> Artist entry will be deleted when no song entries left.
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Other vocalist, illustrator, lyricist, instrumentalist, other invidual: Removed and replaced with custom artist credits if there are less than 5 entries where they participate.
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Animator: If the animator has song entries with types “Music PV” or “Drama PV”, same rules as *Music producer. Otherwise, same rules as illustrator.
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Circle, Label, Other Group: Can be deleted if all the relevant entries are deleted. Alternatively, solo circles can be merged with the producer artist entry.
Information that the artist can freely remove without asking:
Make sure to verify your artist entry first!
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Names:
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Uncommon aliases that are not in use. Name should not be visible on any official accounts or on any album cover.
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Real-life names are always removed when requested, as long as there is some other name to use instead.
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Images:
- Images can be removed (replaced) in all cases.
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External links:
- In most cases, links should be marked as “unavailable” instead of removing them.
- Music-related links (Niconico, Youtube, etc.) should stay.
- Social media links (especially Twitter/X) are useful for searching and handling duplicates.
- Old blogs/websites can be removed (prefer marking as unavailable).
- Links containing personal information can be removed.
In the real world, things are not usually this simple. There can be exceptions to all of these, and we encourage communication in all of the cases.
Having to erase songs or albums from users’ collections is something we would like to avoid as much as possible.
Similar sites such as Wikipedia, Metal archives, VGMdb, Discogs, Musicbrainz have very strict removal policies. VocaDB’s policies are also based on those, but we don’t need or want to be overly strict. More of this topic is written here: https://vocadb.net/discussion/topics/103