UtaiteDB - Albums

albums editing guidelines documentation utaitedb

Allowed albums

The album must have at least one song with an utaite providing vocals in order to be allowed an entry in the database. Unrelated albums may be deleted from UtaiteDB.

Unofficial, fanmade compilation albums (bootlegs) or mixes, where the authors don’t have permissions to use the songs, are generally not allowed. The staff members reserve the right to remove these entries should they deem it necessary.

Adding artists to albums

When linking artists to albums, at the very least you should add the responsible circle (usually there’s only one) and related vocalists. Individual producers and the associated record label (if any) can be added as well. At the moment all artist types may be linked to albums.

Always enter artists individually. Artists such as “producer feat. vocalist” (for example, “MikitoP feat. Rib”) are not needed. The system will produce these “artists strings” automatically.

Sometimes it’s necessary to credit people that aren’t in the database, and it doesn’t make sense to add an entry for them. For example if the song in the database is a remix/cover of an anime song, the original composer doesn’t need to be added to the database, but should be credited nevertheless. These “extra artists” can then be assigned into roles just like artists that are in the database. However, for all utaite-related artists, it’s necessary to create an entry for that artist.

Artist roles

By default, artist’s role on an album is defined by his or her artist type, However, there are cases where an utaite takes on other roles other than singing, such as composing or writing lyrics. Conversely, a person who mainly produces music will sometimes provide their own vocals for a song. Thus, the roles can be customized on a per-album and per-song basis. Based on these roles, it is determined who is a vocalist for an album and who is not.

Artist support status

For albums, the support status is usually used indicate that this artist had a minor role on this album compared to other artists of the same category.

Support status has a number of effects:

Artists with the support status never appear in the “artist string” of the album. This has been “abused” to make other artists not appear in the artist string, which isn’t completely wrong, but there might be more correct ways to work around that.
On the album entry page, support artists are shown in parenthesis, and after all the other artists.
Albums or songs where the artist has support status never appear on the first tab of artist’s entry page, under recent or popular albums.
These albums also never appear on the artist’s “main albums” tab.

Support status with bands/units

While adding albums with bands/units, make sure to also add all participating artists within the group individually. Albums involving bands/units are usually credited to the group name, and not each member individually. It makes sense to mark the individual artists as support status (with the correct artist roles assigned) for the album.

When an artist participates as a band/unit with others under one name, the album in question should not be counted as a solo work, but rather, a collaboration. Using support status correctly for these types of album entries will make the album appear in the “collaboration” tab for each member’s own artist page, while appearing in the “main albums” tab for the band/unit’s page.

Adding songs to albums

For album entries, you are required to add a complete tracklisting. When adding songs, there is the option to use existing song entries or create a new song entry if it does not exist in the database. Since this is UtaiteDB, these song entries will most likely be cover versions of VOCALOID songs. Make sure you link the right version to the album (the entry for the artist’s cover of the song, and NOT the entry for the original VOCALOID version).

Once in a while, you might encounter albums that have both utaites and unrelated vocalists/artists. You’re allowed to create separate pages for the unrelated artists (under the “other vocalist”/“other individual” role).

Custom tracks

Album types

The possible album types on UtaiteDB are:

Original album - Album that consists mostly of previously unpublished songs.
Single - Contains one or two individual tracks. Alternate versions (instrumentals and remixes) are usually not counted.
EP - Meaning extended play. Contains 3-4 individual tracks. Alternate versions (instrumentals and remixes) are usually not counted.
Split album - Collaboration between two or more (but usually just two) equal artists, where all artists have roughly the same number of songs.
Compilation - Collection of previously published songs, gathered from one or more earlier albums. For example, “best of” collections.
Video - Disc containing mostly music videos, usually a DVD or Blu-Ray.
Other - For albums that don’t fit into anything above.

These are only suggestions, use common sense when determining album type. For example, an album with a single song that by itself is as long as a regular album (the definition on Wikipedia says over 25 minutes), can be counted as “original album” instead of single. If unsure of which type to use, try to find out how the artists themselves call the album. For more elaborate descriptions, please refer to Wikipedia, Discogs or Musicbrainz.

Multiple editions and special albums

UtaiteDB allows the creation of separate entries for multiple versions of albums, such as limited and digital editions. When adding entries for these albums, make sure to include the edition type in parenthesis in the corresponding album title field. For example, (初回限定盤) or (限定版) would be included with the album name in the Non-English field (even if the album name itself is in English), while (Limited Edition) would be used in the Romanized and/or English field.

Special types of albums that are not standalone releases, such as retailer bonuses or package enclosure (such as albums included with books or magazines) discs, should also have its own entries.

Entry status

Completed album entries should meet the following criteria:

The album has at least one name whose language option isn’t “Unspecified.”
All artists responsible of the album are specified. Usually there should be at least one vocalist or group. Whenever it makes sense, each of those artists should have an entry in the database. If you can’t locate some of the artists, please leave the entry as draft.
Album type isn’t “Unspecified.” Try to find the correct type.
The album has has at least a release year.
The album has a complete tracklist.