Wikipedia talk:Notability (music)

"WT:MUSIC" redirects here. For the WikiProject discussion page, see Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Music.

For the record

WP:BAND has, as a sub-bullet of criteria one, a clarification that works consisting merely of trivial coverage, such as articles that simply report performance dates, articles giving release information or track listings, or publications of contact and booking details in directories do not establish notability. I BOLDLY removed that subbullet, noting that the sentence was entirely redundant with the initial bullet, which already disallowed non-trivial published works, but was reverted for lack of discussion. So here's the discussion, I guess. Mach61 (talk) 02:58, 22 December 2023 (UTC)

I kind of think that the paragraph above Criterion 1 should be moved underneath the 12 criteria... it's getting in the way of the opening sentence that finishes "...that meet the following criteria", and would then act as a summary of the criteria listed above it. Richard3120 (talk) 16:16, 2 April 2024 (UTC)

Grammy?

Basically having a Grammy or have been nominated meets the guidelines? For example, If we have groups such as the Marvelettes, Honey Cone, and Martha and the Vandellas that are on this encyclopedia that have not won or have been nominated Grammies does this matter such? They had a gold record in the US, but Grammies? TheGreatestLuvofAll (talk) 15:27, 4 February 2024 (UTC)

A Grammy award would certainly count as a notability claim, but it isn't a necessary condition in and of itself. A musician who has won or been nominated for a Grammy would likely be notable on that basis, but a musician who has never won or been nominated for a Grammy still has numerous other notability criteria they can meet besides that. So no, a Grammy is not essential to musical notability, because people without Grammies can still be notable for other reasons despite not having a Grammy on their shelf. Bearcat (talk) 17:04, 25 February 2024 (UTC)

I was just pointing that out when I read a sentence that said

Has won or been nominated for a major music award, such as a Grammy, Juno, Mercury, Choice or Grammis award. Note that this requires the person or band to have been the direct recipient of a nomination in their own name, and is not passed by playing as a session musician on an album whose award citation was not specifically for that person's own contributions.

TheGreatestLuvofAll (talk) 17:50, 25 February 2024 (UTC)

That wording has to do with people who have sometimes claimed that an individual session musician passed the award criterion because they had played on albums that other people got award nominations for. So again, the point of it isn't to say that a Grammy award is a necessary precondition for getting a Wikipedia article — it's just to say "don't try to use this particular criterion as a notability claim if the person you're talking about wasn't actually a nominee or winner themselves, but you are still free to shoot for other criteria if you can". Bearcat (talk) 17:20, 29 April 2024 (UTC)

Just a reminder, (and with some inaccuracy and oversimplification for the sake of brevity), need to meet either this SNG or GNG to have an article. Meeting this SNG isn't a requirement to have an article, it's a requirement to bypass GNG. North8000 (talk) 17:30, 29 April 2024 (UTC)

Notable bands bar too high

I feel that the gold record or higher criteria for music, along with the rest of it is a little too high a bar. I understand that a small screaming punk garage band called “My Nefarious Loins” or something may not be considered notable, however a band that has recorded and published music but is not Green Day size should not be blocked off of Wikipedia, especially if they’re good. This band in question is Young culture, I am not part of the band or know them but I am interested in creating a page for them. Darkheart24 (talk) 18:28, 12 April 2024 (UTC)

Nobody is saying that they have to have sold millions of records to be included on Wikipedia. But "notable" means that someone outside of their social media and friends and family have written about them. We need to establish some criteria for notability otherwise Wikipedia would include literally anyone who's played music. I have three different cousins who have all recorded and published music on YouTube, Spotify, etc. but there's no way I would call any of them notable. If the band has coverage in newspapers, magazines, established online sources that aren't blogs, then they would be considered notable enough for a Wikipedia article. Richard3120 (talk) 21:12, 12 April 2024 (UTC)

Thanks Darkheart24 (talk) 21:14, 12 April 2024 (UTC)

A gold record is one way that a band can attain notability, not the only way. Bands that have never had gold records can still pass other NMUSIC criteria listed here, and can still have enough reliable source coverage to pass the bar. Bearcat (talk) 17:15, 29 April 2024 (UTC)

especially if they’re good is an impossibly subjective standard of no use to Wikipedia editors. Who gets to say any band is good or bad? Professional music critics, not individual Wikipedia editors. Cullen328 (talk) 17:30, 29 April 2024 (UTC)

template message

Is there a template message people can use when they find band spam? I'd like to be able to leave a message on talk pages explaining the criteria and linking here. Is there such a thing? If there's anything good it would be great to add it to twinkle. Secretlondon (talk) 12:06, 1 May 2024 (UTC)

You can use {{Notability|1=music}} to tag bands that may not meet the criteria for inclusion, which links to WP:MUSIC. Chubbles (talk) 08:56, 2 May 2024 (UTC)

Notification of discussion

§ Future material is currently being discussed at WikiProject Albums. Please join the discussion to form a consensus on its language. —TechnoSquirrel69 (sigh) 04:19, 12 May 2024 (UTC)