Duplicate Artists

[RFNAPLES]

These two artists need to be merged:
Big Brother & The Holding Company
Big Brother And The Holding Company
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[albummaster]

good spot - now merged...

[Bork]

This might have been discussed before, but I don't think the splitting up of John Mellencamp into two artists is correct. Would be better to list all of the albums under one name, whether that is John Cougar Mellencamp or John Mellencamp.

[albummaster]

Now merged. Thank you for pointing out.

[RFNAPLES]

These should be merged:

Jimi Hendrix
The Jimi Hendrix Experience

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[albummaster]

I think this case is a bit different since Jimi Hendrix released albums in his own name as well as part of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. This is different to the case with the previous examples where there is an inconsistent spelling.

There are clearly two extremes:
1. Where a solo artist is also a member of a group, the band and the solo artist should be treated separately e.g. solo albums by John Lennon shouldn't be listed under The Beates.

2. Where a solo artist releases albums under different names (e.g. the John Mellencamp example earlier on in this thread), this should appear under the same 'parent' artist (since this is really the same solo artist).

I think the Jimi Hendrix example falls somewhere in the middle of the two extremes.

[RFNAPLES]

I understand what you are saying but this case is not the same as John Lennon and The Beatles. Both titles emphasize the same artist-Jimi Hendrix. Similar to Miles Davis. Would you have separate listings for all the variations of Miles Davis-and Horns, and the Modern Jazz Giants, Quintet, Sextet, etc.? Would you list all the Miles Davis collaborations separately and every different band arrangement separately? Miles with Charlie Parker, Sarah Vaughan, Cannonball Adderley, Michel Legrand, Chaka Khan, Quicny Jones, Jacke Nitzshe, John Lee Hooker, Shirley Horn. The fact is the main artist is Jimi Hendrix whether with or without Experience or the Band of Gypsies. To label them as different bands/artists weakens his statistical showing and makes it difficult to find his recordings.
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[Bork]

I agree with Naples on this one, however there is a bit of a greyzone which means that it needs to be handled on a case by case basis. Jimi Hendrix and The Jimi Hendrix Experience are clearly the same artist, same way as Bruce Springsteen is the same artist whether he is playing with the E Street Band or not, and Prince is the same whether backed by the Revolution or the New Power Generation.

More difficult artists to decide include Santana and Alice Cooper (which were clearly bands to start out but have afterwards morphed into solo artists). Personally I list these, too, under the same artists, but I wouldn't yell at someone who don't.

[Bork]

Another merger required:

Tom Petty
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

[albummaster]

There are many examples across the site, Frank Zappa as well. At the moment, the albums are generally attributed to the artist as listed on the album artwork.

It sounds like we need to tweak things slightly. We still need to list the album as stated on the artwork as otherwise it will be factually incorrect to say 'Are You Experienced' was by 'Jimi Hendrix' (and not by 'The Jimi Hendrix Experience').

I think we'll add some type of container to hold the different name variations for any given artist and then we can continue to list the 'correct' artist for an album, but attribute the points to the 'containing' artist. e.g. if you click on an artist name, you will land on the containing artist page where it will list all the different albums for the different name combinations and the total points for the artist will be the sum total of all albums produced under all of the different performing names.

I think we'll need to tighten the rules a bit if we do this because in the cases where one or more solo artists are named separately on an album, we currently do not award points individually to all of the contributing artists - and if we started to do that, it would open up a giant can of worms. TBH, I'd rather not be changing things and just leave things as they are.