Wikipedia:WikiProject Music Standards

Wikipedia has developed a large repertoire of articles about music. However, many music-related articles require significant improvement; MUSTARD (MUsic STAndaRDs) is a project to develop guidelines for achieving high quality in music-related articles. These guidelines are a set of standards that WikiProject: Music uses as a benchmark for quality assurance. They are largely based on Wikipedia policies and guidelines, and common practice. Users should also refer to the Wikipedia:Manual of Style (music), which the present page is not intended to duplicate.

Abbreviations

Capitalization

Categorization

Top-level categories, such as Category:Songs and Category:Guitarists, should not be populated. (Their category pages can be marked with the {{catdiffuse}} template.) Specific subcategories should be used such as Category:Jazz guitarists.
Articles should not generally be in both a category and a subcategory of it. For example, do not put someone in both Category:Canadian musicians and Category:Canadian music, because the first is a subcategory of the latter. (For exceptions to this rule see SUBCAT.)

Disambiguation

All articles should be at natural titles, if possible. Do not disambiguate unless necessary.
In general, terms that need to be disambiguated should involve the most simple, basic category possible; for example, do not use (70s concert promoter) when (concert promoter) is sufficient, or (Romantic concerto) when (concerto) will do.

Popular music

The most common disambiguators should be created using (band), (album), (musician), (record label), (song) or (composer). If further disambiguation is needed, use:

Countries for performers: X (American band) and X (Australian band) (if this does not resolve the ambiguity, use genre or time period); and
Performers for albums/songs/etc: Down to Earth (Ozzy Osbourne album) and Down to Earth (Stevie Wonder album). If this does not resolve the ambiguity, use the year as well. See Wikipedia:WikiProject Albums#Naming and Wikipedia:Naming conventions (music)#Bands, albums and songs for more detailed guidelines for article names.
Others include: (EP), (concert promoter), (DJ), (manager), (record producer), (sound engineer), (songwriter), (talent scout).

Classical music

Musician disambiguators: (conductor), (pianist), (violinist), (ensemble), (orchestra), etc.
Compositions: normally (composer's name), but sometimes (cantata), (concerto), (sonata), (symphony) etc.
Others: (musicologist), (music critic) etc.

Operas

If the name of the opera has already been used (e.g. for an article on a mythological deity or a play etc), the word opera should be added to the title in parentheses. For example: Macbeth (opera) refers to the work by Verdi to distinguish it from Macbeth which is the play by Shakespeare.
If there are two (or more) operas with the same title, subsequent articles on operas of the same name take the name(s) of the composer(s) in parentheses. For example: Otello is the opera by Verdi, and Otello (Rossini) is the one by Rossini. (Normally, the first article to be created is also on the opera that is more well-known.)

An example combining both guidelines would be: Miss Julie, the play, Miss Julie (opera), the opera by Rorem, and Miss Julie (Alwyn), the opera by Alwyn. The various works should also be listed on any disambiguation page.

Opera biographies

Singer disambiguators are (soprano), (mezzo-soprano), (contralto), (tenor), (baritone), (bass-baritone), and (bass).
Other disambiguators include (director) (for stage directors), (librettist), and (opera manager) (impresarios and administrators).

Discographies

Formatting

Names of songs and singles are in quotes, name of albums and EPs are in italics. The names of tours are not formatted beyond ordinary capitalization.
1. Generic titles refer to those based on musical forms, such as the concerto or symphony as well as liturgical titles like Agnus Dei or Kyrie. These should not be formatted beyond simple capitalization; e.g., Piano Concerto No. 5, Sixth Symphony
2. True titles are specific to a work, and are always italicized; e.g., From me flows what you call time or Pelléas and Mélisande
3. Titles of songs, albums and other media that are not in English, or are in a non-standard variety of English, should follow ordinary rules of capitalization and punctuation for that variety. This guideline does not supersede other Wikipedia:Naming conventions, and only applies wherever foreign language titles appear.
The title of an article should be in bold text on its first appearance in that article. The name should be in either quotes or italics as appropriate, but quotes surrounding a title should not be in bold text, e.g., use "'''Hey Jude'''" not '''"Hey Jude"'''. Important redirects should be in bold text on their first appearance, preferably in the lead section.
Regarding the use-mention distinction, words should be italicized when they are referred to; e.g., "They chose the name The Supremes" or "They called their style jelly rock" rather than "They became The Supremes" or "They play jelly rock")
Unless a word meets one of these criteria, or another standard English usage criterion, it should not be in italics or bold text.
Use either Unicode flat (♭= &#x266D;) and sharp (♯ = &#x266F;) symbols, or the words "flat" and "sharp". Do not use "b" for "flat" or # (the number sign) for "sharp". The template {{music}} allows these and other symbols to be entered more easily with greater cross-browser support.

Images and notation

Links

External links

External links should be used sparingly.

Articles on performers should have a link to their homepage(s), or other official pages (e.g., the record company's page for that artist, if there is one, or an official fanclub)
Articles on record labels should have a link to the company's official homepage.
Anything used as a reference from within the "References" section is acceptable.
External pages that include significant information that could not be placed on Wikipedia (e.g., copyrighted content that is not posted in violation of copyright law) should be linked to:^{[clarification needed]}
1. External pages containing information that could be incorporated into the Wikipedia article (posted on the talk page); or
2. Respected databases of relevant information, where there is a significant quantity of information that is inappropriate for incorporation into Wikipedia. This may include such pages as fansites, provided that they are an established organization or a recognized fan community and are clearly more informative and more useful than most fansites. For example:
  1. a fansite that includes an exhaustive database of tour dates and setlists;
  2. a rights holder-approved lyrics site;
  3. a large repository of relevant images;
  4. a large repository of other trivia that may not be appropriate for Wikipedia; and
  5. forums or other community pages, only if such pages are unusually established and recognized institutions with an important focus.
Articles on music genres should not have links to the homepages of an individual artist, unless it otherwise meets a criterion for inclusion.
Fansites and unofficial fan clubs (subject to the above), online stores, and similar sites should generally not be linked.
Music of articles (e.g., Music of Maryland) may link to community-based music sites, provided that they are well-established and versatile. A page that lists local shows, for example, should be reasonably comprehensive, regularly and reliably updated, and specifically based around the topic place (e.g., Maryland).
1. Local bands and other performers that do not have articles should not be linked to in any section unless their notability is established by a cited, reputable and independent source. Do not create external links to specific performers on music of articles, unless they are being cited or otherwise qualify.
2. Some performers may be sufficiently "notable" to include in an article on the music of a time, place or genre, yet without enough verifiable information for an article. Pages on these performers can be merged and redirected to an article or list, and should not generally be linked unless the target contains significantly additional useful information (e.g., a List of minor California punk bands of the 1970s with properly cited information)
It is reasonable to remove a link that does not obviously prove itself under these guidelines. For example, do not remove a link to a band's official page from the band's article, but any other external link that is not cited as a reference or justified on the talk page may be removed. In general, when linking to a fanclub, unofficial community page or other such website, it may be wise to provide a justification on the talk page.

Internal links

In general, do not link to non-existent articles about recordings, e.g., songs and albums, unless those articles are likely to be created. Better still, create the article before linking to it. See also: #Notability
Do not use piped links to years in music (e.g., do not write: The Beatles Please Please Me came out in 1963). Instead, sparingly use parentheses after years mentioned in the article, such as The Beatles released Please Please Me in 1963 (see 1963 in music). In discography charts or other specialized forms, it is acceptable to use non-piped links to the 'year in music' articles. Generally avoid linking non-dated chronological items, such as "1988", "1920s" and "20th century".
Do not link to self-titled albums like this: The New York Dolls released their debut in 1978. Instead, use some variation of "The New York Dolls released their self-titled debut, New York Dolls, in 1978".
Songs that appeared in an album should be redirected (or disambiguated) to point to the album on which they were first released, unless the song itself has an article. (This may not apply to artists from the pre-LP era.)

Lists

Lyrics

Names

Names (definite article)

Names (foreign language)

Nationality (biographies)

Neutrality

Opinions can be useful if and only if they can be attributed to a reliable source.
If you want to mention whom a band or album sounds similar to, do so in a prose format (as in Operation Ivy has a ska punk sound similar to The Specials), not in a list. Making a list of "related bands" constitutes using your ideas and opinions, which violates both WP:NPOV and WP:OR.
Do not link to 'similar performers' or 'related genres' in a 'see also' section.
Claims such as popular, critically acclaimed and well-received should be cited to a reputable source.

Notability

Punctuation

When putting titles in quotes or italics, put the punctuation outside the quotemark or italicization. For example, "I listened to "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", one of my favorite songs, from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, one of my favorite albums."
Sentences should end in periods. Exclamation marks are an example of unencyclopedic tone outside of direct, cited and described quotations. Question marks are also rarely appropriate in encyclopedic writing (e.g. do not write: What was grunge music? It was a youth subculture ...). This also applies to section headings.
Things that are not sentences should not end with a period. If you make a list and it includes descriptions that are not complete sentences, do not use a period. If the list does use complete sentences, use periods. Be consistent.

Record charts

Sounds and other multimedia

Wikipedia needs to use music and video samples. Fair use is usable only in certain circumstances.
1. Fair use music samples must be used sparingly. Each instance must contribute specifically, uniquely and irreplaceably to the article. The tag {{Music sample}} is not per se sufficient to establish fair use.
2. Music samples should be integrated into the article rather than placed at the end of the article. Generally, reference to a sample should be made in the text; fair use is partly justified by the educational value of the sample, which can be reinforced by such reference.

Spoiler warnings

The use of spoiler tags before synopses (plot summaries) of musical works that tell a story (musicals, operas etc.) has often been regarded as unnecessary and distracting. Consensus should be obtained on relevant talk pages before using them.

Tables

Titles and section headings

Only proper nouns (and the first letter) should be capitalized in article and section titles.
Music genres are not proper nouns.
Capitalization should follow standard practice for English capitalization, except for special cases in abundant evidence from multiple independent and reliable sources. This includes the use of all-upper-case or all-lower-case usage in album or song titles, stage or personal names, and the use of lower-case short prepositions, conjunctions and articles in the titles of albums, songs and other compositions or recordings.

Titles (bands)

Bands whose names are in the format "X and the As" (e.g., Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Bob Marley & the Wailers) should use an ampersand and lowercase the. Redirects should be created for the forms Bob Marley And The Wailers, Bob Marley and the Wailers and Bob Marley & The Wailers. There should also be a redirect or disambiguator at The Wailers and Wailers. In most cases, backing bands do not need their own articles; there are exceptions, such as The Wailers and E Street Band.

This may not apply in certain circumstances, such as when the lead performers and the band are not considered one unit. For example, if Eddie Vedder conducted a tour with The Temptations, they might be billed as Eddie Vedder and The Temptations. In these circumstances, do not use Eddie Vedder & the Temptations, but Eddie Vedder and The Temptations.

Titles (classical music and opera)

The capitalization of 'true name' (as opposed to 'generic name' ) titles of classical music and operas should follow the style used in the leading reference works: New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, New Grove Dictionary of Opera, The Oxford Dictionary of Music, The Oxford Dictionary of Opera and The Viking Opera Guide:

For English works, and works well-known in translation under an English name, capitalize the first word and all major words e.g. The Wand of Youth, Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, Ride of the Valkyries (music); The Barber of Seville, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (opera).
For titles in their original foreign language, the style used is "sentence capitalization". That is, the title is capitalized as it would be in a sentence in that language. This is the style used, not only by the major music reference works, but also by the Chicago Manual of Style. While there may be occasional exceptions, general rules can be given for various languages which hold true in the vast majority of instances:
- For Italian, French, Spanish, and Portuguese titles, capitalize only the first word and any proper nouns (names of particular people or places) in that language, e.g. Al gran sole carico d'amore, Cinque variazione, Quatuor pour la fin du temps, Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus, Le martyre de Saint Sébastien, El amor brujo (music); Ugo, conte di Parigi, Le nozze di Figaro, Les mamelles de Tirésias, Les contes d'Hoffmann, Margarita la tornera, La vida breve, Veinticinco de agosto, 1983 (opera).
- For German work titles capitalize the first word and all nouns, but (with a few exceptions such as "Sie") only the nouns, e.g. Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Ein deutsches Requiem (music); Die tote Stadt, Die ägyptische Helena (opera).

Trivia

Trivial information (anecdotes, unrelated cultural influences, and other peripheral content etc.) is not appropriate on Wikipedia. It should only be included if the information can be reasonably expected to be of interest to a typical reader of the article in question.

If a particular fact is worthy of inclusion, it should be placed in a proper context, in the body of the article. Do not use the ==Trivia== (or an equivalent, such as ==Miscellany==) subheading except on a temporary basis.

Collectibles

Images of collectibles (coins, banknotes, postage stamps, souvenirs and similar items) in music articles should meet the following conditions:

Images should be free of copyright, or have a valid fair use rationale that satisfies WP:NFCC, specifically 'Criteria 8' (Significance): "Non-free content is used only if its presence would significantly increase readers' understanding of the topic, and its omission would be detrimental to that understanding."
Inclusion should contribute to information about the subject of the article, not be used to obtain credibility and value for the collectible by associating it with the subject.
The information should be of interest to the average reader of the music article. It should not be trivia.

Coins, notes, stamps etc. in general circulation are more likely to meet these criteria than 'collectors' issues.