How to Contribute

This page has not been reviewed by our documentation team (more info).

This page is about contributing to the MusicBrainz project, which you can do in many ways.

You can donate, enter or edit data, write code and documentation, draw up designs, and run tests.

Data

Adding Data

There are several ways that you can contribute data to MusicBrainz:

  • Use the web interface to add artists, albums and tracks:
  • Download Picard – the official MusicBrainz tagger – and use it to identify and clean up your digital music collection.
    • Using Picard's "Add Cluster as Release" plugin, use your existing tags as a starting point for adding releases with the web interface
    • Pop an audio CD into your CD drive, click the lookup button, and follow the instructions from there to contribute Disc IDs
    • Help others match their files by setting up AcoustID with Picard and submitting fingerprints
  • Use MusicBrainz for Android to submit barcodes, ratings, and tags.

Maintaining Data

While new data is important to MusicBrainz, existing data can always be improved. Improvements can take the form of correcting mistakes, or updates as new information becomes available, style guidelines are changed or are added to, or new server features are implemented.

To help maintain data, use the search page to find data to review. If you spot mistakes, missing data, or duplications in the database, then please use the Edit, Delete and Merge links on the relevant pages.

You can also subscribe to Artists, Labels, and other editors in to keep yourself apprised of changes and to vote on changes. There are reports that deal with specific data maintenance tasks. We also have community projects.

Reviewing Data

Each change that is made to the database is entered into the MusicBrainz editing system. MusicBrainz editors then have the opportunity to make sure that changes are correct and in accordance with our style guidelines, and to vote or comment. Reviewing and voting is important to ensure data entered into MusicBrainz is correct.

Check out Introduction to Editing and Introduction to Voting for more information, or go straight to the open edits or edit search to find edits to review. There is also a list of voting suggestions.

Donations

If you feel that MusicBrainz is a worthwhile effort, please consider contributing money to the MetaBrainz Foundation. The MetaBrainz Foundation is a 501.(c).3 tax-exempt non-profit based in California that operates the MusicBrainz project. All of your donations will be tax-deductible in the United States; you will receive a receipt to use with your taxes.

Your donations will be used to help cover the operating costs of the MusicBrainz project. This includes paying for ongoing expenses like hosting, hardware, maintaining a modest office, and perhaps even a pittance to those working on the project.

To send money, please head to over to this dedicated page on the MetaBrainz web site.

Code / Design / Testing / Documentation

We invite you to contribute your talents to the development of MusicBrainz. MusicBrainz is dedicated to the Open Source software development model, and thus the server and client libraries are available under the GPL (GNU General Public License) and LGPL (GNU Lesser General Public License), respectively.

  • If you are a programmer, you can write some code for the server, Picard, or for client libraries. If you're looking for a place to start, the bug tracker has endless things that need doing, or come talk to us in IRC. If you are writing server code, you might be interested in Server Setup.
  • If you are a designer, we always need help and advice on UI and UX, and we can always use a few more aesthetes as well.
  • If you are neither, you can still help — we need people to help test new features (on the beta server or on the test server) and write documentation for things we have already created.

To jump into any of these, join the MusicBrainz forums and come talk to us in IRC.

This page is transcluded from How to Contribute.