Artist and label directories

Artists and labels are shared records. Releases point at them, so editing one reaches everything attached to it.

Artists

An artist record is the identity a release attaches to at stores. That makes it the highest-consequence record type in your catalog.

Before editing one, know how many releases reference it. Renaming an artist changes how delivered releases are credited. Remapping an artist to a different store profile moves the catalog to a different artist page, which is visible to the public and slow to reverse.

Duplicates are the usual problem. Two records for the same artist split the catalog across two store pages and fragment listener data. Search before creating.

Labels

Label records are what releases are issued under. Releases fall back to your organization's default label name when a customer sets none.

Keep label names exactly consistent. "Night Shift Records" and "Nightshift Records" are two labels as far as stores and reporting are concerned.

Before any bulk change

1. Establish how many releases reference the record.
2. Change one and verify the result end to end.
3. Only then apply it more widely.
4. Know how you would reverse it.

What your customers see

Artists manage their own profiles and mappings on their side. Artist profiles is what they read, and it explains why a mapping error is so costly once music is delivered.