 | This page documents an English Wikipedianotability guideline. Editors should generally follow it, thoughexceptions may apply.Substantive edits to this page should reflectconsensus. When in doubt, discuss first onthis guideline's talk page. |
 | This page in a nutshell: This page lists the specific criteria for whether musicians, ensembles, composers, lyricists, albums, singles, and songs arenotable. These criteria inform the decision whether an article should be dedicated to these people or works. |
| Notability |
|---|
| General notability guideline |
| Subject-specific guidelines |
| See also |
This page provides a guideline for editors in applying the concept ofnotability to topics related to music, including artists, bands, albums, and songs. Failing to satisfy the notability guidelines isnot acriterion for speedy deletion. An article on an artist or band that does notindicate that the subject of the article is important or significant can be speedily deleted undercriterion A7. A mere claim of significance, even if contested, may avoid speedy deletion under A7, requiring a fullproposed deletion orarticles for deletion process to determine if the article should be included in Wikipedia.
Many who spend significant time improving Wikipedia's musical coverage feel that notability is required for a musical topic (such as a band or musical theatre group) to deserve an encyclopedia article. Please note that the failure to meet any of these criteria does not mean an articlemust be deleted; conversely, meeting any of these criteria does not mean that an articlemust be kept. Rather, these are rules of thumb used by some editors when deciding whether or not to keep an article that is listed atarticles for deletion.
To meet Wikipedia's standards forverifiability andnotability, the article in question must actually document that the criterion is true. It is not enough to make unsourced or poorly sourced claims in the article, or to assert a band's importance on a talk page or AfD page – the article itself must document notability through the use ofreliable sources, andno criterion listed in this page confers anexemption from having to reliably source the article just because passage of the criterion has been claimed.
See alsoWP:NBIO for notability guidelines for biography articles in general.
Musicians or ensembles (this category includesbands,singers,rappers,orchestras,DJs,musical theatre groups,instrumentalists, etc.) may be notable if they meet at least one of the following criteria.
Note that regardless of what notability criterion is being claimed, the claimmust be properly verified byreliable sourcesindependent of the subject's own self-published promotional materials. It is extremely common for aspiring musicians who want a Wikipedia article for the publicity to make inflated or false notability claims, such as charting hits that did not really chart (or which charted only on a non-notableWP:BADCHART) or nominations for awards that are not prominent enough to pass criterion number 8 (below). Thus, notability is not determined by what the article says, it is determined by how well the article does or does notsupport the things it says by referencing them to independent verification in reliable sources.
Composers, songwriters, librettists or lyricists, may be notable if they meet at least one of the following criteria:
Where possible, composers or lyricists with insufficient verifiable material to warrant a reasonably detailed article should be merged into the article about their work. When a composer or lyricist is known for multiple works, such a merger may not be possible.
Composers and performers outside mass media traditions may be notable if they meet at least one of the following criteria:
All articles on albums or other recordings should meet the basic criteria at thenotability guidelines, with significant coverage inreliable sources that areindependent of the subject.
Specific to recordings, a recording may be notable if it meets at least one of these criteria:
Notability aside, a standalone article is only appropriate when there is enough material to warrant a reasonably detailed article; articles unlikely ever to grow beyond stubs should be merged into the artist's article or discography.
An album requires its own notability, and that notability isnot inherited andrequires independent evidence. That an album is an officially released recording by a notable musician or ensemble is not by itself reason for a standalone article. Conversely, an album does not need to be by a notable artist or ensemble to merit a standalone article if it meets thegeneral notability guideline. Album articles with little more than a track listing may be more appropriately merged into the artist's main article or discography article,space permitting.
A single requires its own notability, and that notability isnot inherited andrequires independent evidence. That a single is an officially released recording by a notable musician or ensemble is not by itself reason for a standalone article. Even if otherwise notable, material about a single may be more appropriately merged into the artist's main article or discography article, space permitting.
Unreleased material (including demos, mixtapes, bootlegs, promo-only recordings, and related items) is only notable if it hassignificant independent coverage inreliable sources.
A currently unreleased album with an unconfirmed future release datemay qualify for an article if there is sufficient verifiable and properly referenced information about it. For example,Guns N' Roses' 2008 albumChinese Democracy had an article as early as 2004 because it was already receiving a very large volume of reliable coverage about its development. That pre-existing article thus only needed minor modifications when the album was finally released.
A cancelled album likeStreet King Immortal by50 Cent can qualify for an article due to reliable media coverage of its development as well as its cancellation by the record label. Other instances in which an artist merely began working on a new album that was cancelled, left incomplete, or transformed into a different project – before it had a confirmed release date, title, and track listing as confirmed by reliable sources – would not qualify for an album article and can be described in the musician's biography.
An article about a near-future but not yet released album qualifies for inclusion if it has been covered by multiple non-trivial, published works appearing in sources that arereliable, notself-published, and areindependent from the musician or ensemble who created it.
For high-profile artists, upcoming works may be notable months in advance, and the date at which an article for that album becomes viable is not directly related to its eventual release date.
A future album whose article consists solely of blog or fan forum speculation aboutpossible titles, or songs thatmight be on the album, is a violation of Wikipedia'scrystal ball policy. The fact that a new album is in development can be described at the musician's article in the meantime.
Songs and singles are probably notable if they have receivedsignificant coverage as the subject[1] of multiple,[2] non-trivial[3] published works whose sources areindependent of the artist and label. This includes published works in all forms, such as newspaper articles, books, television documentaries or reviews. This excludes media reprints of press releases, or other publications where the artist, its record label, agent, or other self-interested parties advertise or speak about the work.[4]
A song meeting notability criteria does not guarantee that it will necessarily be handled as a separate, stand-alone page, and the question ofwhether to create standalone pages about individual notable songs is subject to editorial judgment. This decision should always be based upon specific considerations about how to make the topic understandable. Sometimes, notable songs can be covered better as part of a larger article, where there can be more complete context that would be lost on a separate page. At other times, several related notable songs can be collected into a single page, where the relationships between them can be better appreciated than if they were each covered separately. Notability aside, a standalone article is appropriate only when there is enough material to warrant a reasonably detailed article; articles unlikely ever to grow beyond stubs should be merged to articles about an artist or album.
A standalone article about a song should satisfy the above criteria. Any of the following factors suggest that a song or singlemay be notable enough that a search for coverage in reliable independent sources will be successful.
Notable covers are eligible for standalone articles, provided that the article on the cover can be reasonably detailed based on facts independent of the original.
Concert tours are probably notable if they have received significant coverage in multiple independent reliable sources. Such coverage might show notability in terms of artistic approach, financial success, relationship to audience, or other such terms. Sources that merely establish that a tour happened arenot sufficient to demonstrate notability. Tours that cannot be sufficiently referenced insecondary sources should be covered in a section on the artist's page rather than creating a dedicated article. A tour that meets notability standards does not make all tours associated with that artist notable.Michael Jackson's 1988Bad is an example of a notable concert tour.
A good online source for recordings is theAllMusicsearch engine. To find ownership information on song texts copyrighted in the US, theASCAP ACE Title Search andBMI Repertoire Search utilities are invaluable. When looking in depth, a search onGoogle Books orInternet Archive items may turn something up. For material that has captured the attention of academics, a search onGoogle Scholar orInternet Archive scholar may work.
An experienced editor also providesa guide on ensuring that articles meet criteria.
Wikipedia should not have a separate article on a person, band, or musical work that does not meet the criteria of either this guideline or the general notability guideline, or any subject, despite meeting the rules of thumb described above, for which editors ultimately cannot locateindependent sources that provide in-depth information about the subject. Wikipedia's goals include neithertiny articles that can never be expanded, nor articles based primarily on what the subjects say about themselves.
Information about such subjectsmay be included in other ways in Wikipedia, provided that certain conditions are met. Material about a musician, group, or work that does not qualify for a separate, stand-alone article can bepreserved by adding it into relevant articles if it:
For example, material about individual members of a musical group is normallymerged into larger articles about the group. Songs may be described in a discography or one of the manylists of songs. Appropriate redirects from the subject's name and entries in disambiguation pages can be created to help readers find such information.
