MusicBrainz Submission API

openapi: 3.2.0
info:
  title: MusicBrainz Web Service v2 Areas Submission API
  version: '2.0'
  description: 'The MusicBrainz Web Service v2 is the free public REST API to the MusicBrainz open music encyclopedia,

    operated by the MetaBrainz Foundation (a US 501(c)(3) non-profit).


    The API supports three primary access patterns over twelve core entity types

    (artist, release, release-group, recording, work, label, place, area, event, instrument, series, url, genre):


    - **Lookup** — fetch one entity by its MBID with configurable sub-resource includes.

    - **Browse** — list entities linked to a given parent entity, with pagination.

    - **Search** — full Lucene query syntax across the indexed catalog.


    Non-MBID lookups are available for ISRC (recordings), ISWC (works), DiscID (releases), and URL.


    Responses are returned in MMD-2 XML by default or JSON via the `fmt=json` query parameter.


    The API enforces a strict rate limit of **one request per IP per second** and requires a meaningful

    **User-Agent** header on every request (e.g. `MyApp/1.0.0 ( contact@example.com )`).

    Submission and user-specific endpoints require HTTP Basic or OAuth 2.0 authentication.

    '
  contact:
    name: MetaBrainz Foundation
    url: https://metabrainz.org/
    email: support@metabrainz.org
  license:
    name: API access is free; data licensed CC0 (core) and CC-BY-NC-SA (supplemental)
    url: https://musicbrainz.org/doc/About/Data_License
  termsOfService: https://metabrainz.org/social-contract
  x-generated-from: documentation
  x-last-validated: '2026-05-29'
servers:
- url: https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2
  description: Production MusicBrainz Web Service v2
- url: https://beta.musicbrainz.org/ws/2
  description: Beta MusicBrainz Web Service v2 (pre-release schema changes)
tags:
- name: Submission
  description: Authenticated submission of tags, ratings, barcodes, and ISRCs.
paths:
  /release:
    post:
      operationId: submitBarcodes
      summary: Submit Release Barcodes
      description: Submit GTIN/EAN/UPC barcodes for one or more releases (XML body, requires authentication).
      tags:
      - Submission
      security:
      - HTTPBasic: []
      - OAuth2:
        - submit_barcode
      x-microcks-operation:
        delay: 0
        dispatcher: FALLBACK
      parameters:
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/Client'
      requestBody:
        required: true
        content:
          application/xml:
            schema:
              type: string
              description: MMD-2 XML metadata document with release barcode entries.
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Submission accepted
        '400':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/BadRequest'
        '401':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
        '403':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/Forbidden'
        '429':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/TooManyRequests'
  /recording:
    post:
      operationId: submitISRCs
      summary: Submit Recording ISRCs
      description: Submit ISRCs for one or more recordings (XML body, requires authentication).
      tags:
      - Submission
      security:
      - HTTPBasic: []
      - OAuth2:
        - submit_isrc
      x-microcks-operation:
        delay: 0
        dispatcher: FALLBACK
      parameters:
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/Client'
      requestBody:
        required: true
        content:
          application/xml:
            schema:
              type: string
              description: MMD-2 XML document with `<recording>` entries and `<isrc-list>`.
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Submission accepted
        '400':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/BadRequest'
        '401':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
        '429':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/TooManyRequests'
  /tag:
    post:
      operationId: submitTags
      summary: Submit User Tags
      description: Submit one or more user tags (upvote/downvote/withdraw) on entities (XML body, requires authentication).
      tags:
      - Submission
      security:
      - HTTPBasic: []
      - OAuth2:
        - tag
      x-microcks-operation:
        delay: 0
        dispatcher: FALLBACK
      parameters:
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/Client'
      requestBody:
        required: true
        content:
          application/xml:
            schema:
              type: string
              description: MMD-2 XML with `<user-tag>` elements (vote attribute optional).
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Tag submission accepted
        '401':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
        '429':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/TooManyRequests'
  /rating:
    post:
      operationId: submitRatings
      summary: Submit User Ratings
      description: Submit one or more user ratings (integer 0-5, with 0 meaning withdraw) on entities (XML body, requires authentication).
      tags:
      - Submission
      security:
      - HTTPBasic: []
      - OAuth2:
        - rating
      x-microcks-operation:
        delay: 0
        dispatcher: FALLBACK
      parameters:
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/Client'
      requestBody:
        required: true
        content:
          application/xml:
            schema:
              type: string
              description: MMD-2 XML with `<user-rating>` elements.
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Rating submission accepted
        '401':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
        '429':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/TooManyRequests'
components:
  responses:
    TooManyRequests:
      description: Rate limit exceeded - clients must throttle to 1 request per second per IP
      headers:
        Retry-After:
          schema:
            type: integer
          description: Seconds to wait before retrying.
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error'
    Forbidden:
      description: Authenticated but not authorized
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error'
    BadRequest:
      description: Malformed request or invalid parameters
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error'
    Unauthorized:
      description: Authentication required or invalid credentials
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error'
  parameters:
    Client:
      name: client
      in: query
      required: true
      description: Application identifier in the form `name-version` for submission requests.
      schema:
        type: string
        example: my-tagger-1.0.0
  schemas:
    Error:
      type: object
      properties:
        error:
          type: string
        help:
          type: string
  securitySchemes:
    HTTPBasic:
      type: http
      scheme: basic
      description: HTTP Basic authentication using MusicBrainz editor credentials. Required for submission and user-specific endpoints.
    OAuth2:
      type: oauth2
      description: OAuth 2.0 authentication via the MusicBrainz OAuth server.
      flows:
        authorizationCode:
          authorizationUrl: https://musicbrainz.org/oauth2/authorize
          tokenUrl: https://musicbrainz.org/oauth2/token
          scopes:
            profile: Access user profile
            email: Access user email
            tag: Submit tags
            rating: Submit ratings
            collection: Manage collections
            submit_barcode: Submit release barcodes
            submit_isrc: Submit recording ISRCs