1 Topic by timbenz (edited by timbenz 2012-07-18 23:51:01)

  • Registered: 2012-07-18

Topic: Searching on composer/writer

Is it possible to do a search from the website where you constrain the query to being a particular song composer during a particular period? For example, say I wanted to do a query for all songs written by Ringo Starr when he was with the Beatles. (Granted, a small number, but you get the picture.)

I have looked at the advanced search syntax, and it's not clear how I would do such a search from there. Do I need to download a local copy of the database and work directly from there instead?

Thanks.

  • From: Singapore
  • Registered: 2007-02-13

Re: Searching on composer/writer

Queries on writers/composers are possible since you search the work and works are kind of special inside MB in that the relationships to writers/composers/lyricists are indexed by the search.

http://musicbrainz.org/search?query=art … d=advanced

gets you all the works where ringo starr is a writer; or at least properly modelled as the writer inside MB's current data. Pretty easy to filter that one by the performing artist of the recordings :-)

You can't easily constrain by something abstract like an artist's membership of a group, but in theory you could filter the results based on the dates of recordings or something, if they were configured - just not in a single query. However since this kind of detail of data (recording dates/periods) is very time consuming to source and then add, it's not there for much of the dataset.

There's also the works page for an artist: http://musicbrainz.org/artist/300c4c73- … 5e13/works but for practical reasons this also displays works where the artist in question is "involved"; i.e. one of the performing/recording artists.

voiceinsideyou's Website

  • Registered: 2012-07-18

Re: Searching on composer/writer

Thanks. Weirdly, that particular search only seems to returns searches post-Beatles, i.e., where Starr was the sole writer, but not when he wrote a song as a member of the Beatles. Similarly for John Lennon, where it returns only songs that he wrote after he left the Beatles. Too bad.

  • From: Singapore
  • Registered: 2007-02-13

Re: Searching on composer/writer

I don't understand what you're talking about? The only result from the first link is Don't Pass me By, which is a Beatles song?

http://musicbrainz.org/search?page=2&am … d=advanced

...also returns, for example, In My Life, All You Need is Love etc.

MB has to actually have had someone add all the data in order for you to search for it. Any open database is only as good a individual's willingness to contribute data to it.

voiceinsideyou's Website