Wikipedia:Notability (music)/rewrite

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This page gives some guidelines to help decide whether a musician: composer, performer, group, teacher, or otherwise, is a notable topic for inclusion as an article at Wikipedia.

See also the Wikipedia:Criteria for inclusion of biographies for notability guidelines for biography articles in general.

Contents

[edit] Notability Criteria applicable to all musicians

  1. Generally, a musician or group is notable enough for inclusion in Wikipedia if there has been significant coverage of the subject from reliable sources that are independent of the subject and most importantly verifiable. If the depth of coverage is not substantial, then multiple independent sources should be cited to establish notability. Trivial or incidental coverage of a subject by sources is not generally sufficient to establish notability; however, many lesser sources can cummulatively demonstrate notability. This criterion includes published works in all forms, such as newspaper articles, books, magazine articles, internet, and television,2 except for the following:
    • Media reprints of press releases, other publications where the musician/group talks about themselves, and advertising for the subject.
    • Works comprising merely trivial coverage, such as newspaper articles that simply report performance dates or the publications of contact and booking details in directories.
    • An article in a school or university newspaper (or similar) would generally be considered trivial but should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
  2. Has had a charted hit on any national music chart.
  3. Has had a record certified gold or higher in at least one country.
  4. Appears at reasonable length in standard reference books on his or her genre of music.
  5. Has won a major music award, such as a Grammy, Juno or Mercury award.
  6. Has won or placed in a major music competition.
  7. Has been placed in rotation nationally by any major radio network.
  8. Has been the subject of a half hour or longer broadcast on a national radio or TV network.
  9. Is cited in reliable sources as being influential in style, technique, repertory or teaching in a particular music genre.
  10. Has established a tradition or school in a particular genre.
  11. Has composed a number of melodies, tunes or standards used in a notable genre, or tradition or school within a notable genre.
  12. Is frequently covered in publications devoted to a notable sub-culture.
  13. Has been a significant musical influence on a musician or composer that qualifies for the above list.

The following special cases generally warrant inclusion independently of the above.

[edit] Special Cases

[edit] Performing musicians and ensembles

A musician, singer, rapper, ensemble, band, orchestra, hip hop crew, DJ, musical theatre group, etc. is likely to be notable if it meets any one of the following criteria:

  1. Has gone on an international concert tour, or a national concert tour in at least one large or medium-sized country,3 reported in reliable sources.4
  2. Has released two or more albums on a major label or one of the more important indie labels (i.e. an independent label with a history of more than a few years and a roster of performers, many of which are notable).
  3. Contains at least one member who was once a part of or later joined a band that is otherwise notable; note that it is often most appropriate to use redirects in place of articles on side projects, early bands and such.
  4. Has become the most prominent representative of a notable style or of the local scene of a city; note that the subject must still meet all ordinary Wikipedia standards, including verifiability.
  5. Has performed music for a work of media that is notable, e.g. a theme for a network television show. (But if this is the only claim, it is probably more appropriate to have a mention in the main article and redirect to that page.)

[edit] Composers and lyricists

A composer, songwriter, librettist or lyricist is likely to be notable if it meets any one of the following criteria:

  1. Has credit for writing or co-writing either lyrics or music for a musician or ensemble that qualifies above, a notable theatre, or has been taken up by a musician or ensemble that qualifies above.
  2. Has written musical theatre of some sort (includes musicals, operas, etc) that was performed in a notable theatre that had a reasonable run as such things are judged in their particular situation and time.
  3. Has had a work used as the basis for a later composition by a songwriter, composer or lyricist who meets the above criteria.
  4. Has written a song or composition which has won (or in some cases been given a second or other place) in a major music competition not established expressly for newcomers.
  5. Has been listed as a major influence or teacher of a composer, songwriter or lyricist that meets the above criteria.

[edit] Albums & songs

  1. If the musician or ensemble that made them is considered notable, then their albums have sufficient notability to have individual articles on Wikipedia.

[edit] Resources

A good online resource for music and musicians is the All Music Guide (http://www.allmusic.com/), which gives a level of indication as to what a band or musician has done. Another good source (while often out-of-date) is Discogs (http://www.discogs.com).

[edit] Footnotes

  • Note 1: Self-promotion and product placement are not the routes to having an encyclopaedia article. The published works must be someone else writing about the musician, ensemble, composer, or lyricist. (See Wikipedia:Attribution#Self-published sources for details about the reliability of self-published sources, and Wikipedia:Conflict of interest for treatment of promotional, vanity material.) The barometer of notability is whether people independent of the subject itself have actually considered the musician, ensemble, composer, or lyricist notable enough that they have written and published non-trivial works that focus upon it. The rationale for this is easy to see -- someone simply talking about themselves in their own personal blog, website, book publisher, etc. does not automatically mean they have sufficient attention in the world at large to be called notable. If that was so then everyone could have an article. Wikipedia is not a directory.
  • Note 2: What constitutes a "published work" is deliberately broad.
  • Note 3: There are, at present, no precise definitions of a "small", "medium" or "large" country in this context. However, a very limited definition of "small" will generally be used, excluding only a few of the world's smallest countries.
  • Note 4: The application of this criterion is disputed; see discussion on talk page.


[edit] See also

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