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[Discogs] Artist Search Bug
PowderPostOctober 24, 2013, 09:46
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March 4, 2013, 18:53
Normal topic[Discogs] Artist Search Bug

When an artist uses an alias as artist name, the release cannot be found under that name.

Example:

Nphonix ‎– Reach Out EP – Nphonix is an alias of N-Phonix.

http://www.discogs.com/Nphonix-Reach-Out-EP/master/596775

This can only be found if I use the most common alias of the artist, in this case N-Phonix.

2MR2PostOctober 24, 2013, 09:56
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August 23, 2012, 19:27
Normal topicRe: [Discogs] Artist Search Bug

I search Discogs on artist and/or album name. If the alias name doesn't work it is not being recognized by the search exposed through the API. There is no way to explicitly search on an alias so I can't even implement a 'back off' algorithm.

PowderPostDecember 12, 2013, 07:01
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Normal topicRe: [Discogs] Artist Search Bug

A back off algorithm could be:

search artist + album
if(none)
__search artist
__for(alias of artist)
____search alias + album

2MR2PostDecember 12, 2013, 08:31
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August 23, 2012, 19:27
Normal topicRe: [Discogs] Artist Search Bug

Okay, I'll look at this. It would require a standard field to store the alias or alternate name.

2MR2PostDecember 12, 2013, 08:42
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Normal topicRe: [Discogs] Artist Search Bug

Actually one solution would be to simply have a 'Common Artist Name' field. When searching via Discogs (or MusicBrainz) that field, if present, would be used, as opposed to {Album} Artist. Does that make sense?

2MR2PostDecember 12, 2013, 14:12
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Normal topicRe: [Discogs] Artist Search Bug

I've done some additional testing and I don't think this can work unless you manually supply the 'common' name.

If I do a query on 'NPhonix' limited to artists I get two results. One for 'N-Phonix' and one for 'Triamer'. Even if I get ambitious and load the artist page for the 'N-Phonix' return it still wouldn't work because 'NPhonix' is not listed as an alias on that page. The only alias mentioned is 'Fedor Stepanenko' which is his real name. I could always simply use the first return but that is overtly data dependent.

If you supply a 'common' name I can use that when performing the search.

So the choices are:

1) on no matches do an artist query and use the first returned value, if any, as the artist. (questionable because the artist may be perfectly valid and the album is incorrect).

2) manually supply a 'common' name and use that. This seems somewhat redundant as you could always do it manually the first time you activate the Discogs wizard for an album. Once the album has a release ID it would not be used again.

3) think about it some more and leave it alone for now 🙂

PowderPostDecember 22, 2013, 12:56
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March 4, 2013, 18:53
Normal topicRe: [Discogs] Artist Search Bug

I think 3 is the best Option then 🙂

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