Album types and artist participation

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This page aims to explain the nuance between different album types. Vocaloid/Voice synth artists collaborate a lot more than average “normal” artists. Thus there is need to display the artists’ “main” albums separate from these collaboration albums.

Album type (disc type)

Album type is the single most obvious variable affecting the album classification. One problem with album types is that there’s a certain level of overlap, and only one album type can be specified per album. Thus, multiple album types might apply, but the most significant must be chosen. For example, the “Split album” type usually overrides “Single” or “EP”. The second problem is that the terms are more or less informal and might be understood differently by different people. “Compilation” is especially problematic, because according to Wikipedia, it can mean both a collection of artist’s old songs (also called a retrospective album or “best of” compilation), as well as collaboration of multiple artists, consisting of entirely new songs. On VocaDB, the “Compilation” album type is intended to represent a collection of songs by multiple music producers/artists.

Album type description & examples

Original album:

Album that consists of multiple (more than a single/EP) original tracks or only remix tracks by one music producer.

Alternate versions (instrumentals by the same producer and remixes by other producers) are usually not counted.

Single:

Contains one or two original tracks or only remix tracks by one music producer.

Alternate versions (instrumentals by the same producer and remixes by other producers) are usually not counted.

EP:

Meaning “extended play”. Contains 3-5 original tracks or only remix tracks by one music producer.

Alternate versions (instrumentals by the same producer and remixes by other producers) are usually not counted.

Split album:

Collaboration between two equal music producers, where both artists have roughly the same number of songs.

Compilation:

Collection of songs by multiple music producers/artists.

Video:

Disc containing mostly music videos, usually a DVD or Blu-ray.

Artbook:

Book consisting of drawings by one or more illustrators. Can contain a disc/CD of songs.

Other:

For albums that don’t fit into any available category. Should be avoided.

Artist string

Artist string cannot be edited directly. It is constructed automatically based on the list of artists through rather complex rules. When determining an album’s main artists, what matters is the number of artists considered to be in the music producing role. Currently, if this number exceeds 3, the artist string will be “Various artists”.

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