MusicBrainz

aid: musicbrainz
name: MusicBrainz
description: >-
  MusicBrainz is an open-source, community-maintained music encyclopedia operated by the MetaBrainz Foundation, a US
  501(c)(3) non-profit. It collects metadata about artists, releases, recordings, works, labels, places, areas, events,
  instruments, series, URLs, and the relationships between them, then exposes the catalog through a free public REST web
  service at https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/. The dataset itself is released under CC0 (core data) and CC-BY-NC-SA
  (supplemental tables), the schema is open, and full database dumps and a live replication feed are available. The web
  service is read-mostly with authenticated submission endpoints for tags, ratings, collections, barcodes, and ISRCs,
  and is rate-limited to one request per IP per second with a mandatory descriptive User-Agent header.
specificationVersion: '0.20'
created: '2026-05-28'
modified: '2026-05-29'
x-type: opensource
x-source: public-apis/public-apis
x-category: Music
x-governance: MetaBrainz Foundation (501(c)(3) non-profit)
x-license-data: CC0 (core) / CC-BY-NC-SA (supplemental)
x-license-code: GPLv2 / LGPL / MIT (varies by repo)
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/musicbrainz/main/apis.yml
tags:
  - Music
  - Metadata
  - Encyclopedia
  - Open Data
  - Catalog
  - Identifiers
  - ISRC
  - ISWC
  - MBID
  - DiscID
  - Artists
  - Releases
  - Recordings
  - Works
  - Labels
  - Cover Art
  - Open Source
  - Non Profit
apis:
  - aid: musicbrainz:musicbrainz-web-service
    name: MusicBrainz Web Service v2
    description: >-
      The MusicBrainz Web Service v2 provides a free read-mostly REST API over the entire MusicBrainz catalog of music
      metadata. It supports three primary access patterns - lookup (fetch one entity by MBID), browse (list entities
      linked to a parent entity), and search (Lucene query across the indexed catalog) - across twelve core entity types
      (artist, release, release-group, recording, work, label, place, area, event, instrument, series, url, genre).
      Non-MBID lookups are available for ISRC (recordings), ISWC (works), disc IDs (releases), and URLs. Authenticated
      submission endpoints (HTTP Basic or OAuth2) allow clients to submit tags, ratings, collection membership,
      barcodes, and ISRCs. Responses are returned in XML (default) or JSON via the `fmt=json` parameter. The service
      enforces a strict one-request-per-second-per-IP rate limit and requires a meaningful User-Agent header on every
      request.
    humanURL: https://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_API
    baseURL: https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2
    tags:
      - Artists
      - Releases
      - Release Groups
      - Recordings
      - Works
      - Labels
      - Places
      - Areas
      - Events
      - Instruments
      - Series
      - URLs
      - Genres
      - ISRC
      - ISWC
      - DiscID
      - Browse
      - Search
      - Collections
      - Submission
    properties:
      - type: Documentation
        url: https://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_API
      - type: OpenAPI
        url: openapi/musicbrainz-web-service-openapi.yml
      - type: GettingStarted
        url: https://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_API
      - type: Authentication
        url: https://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_API/Authentication
      - type: RateLimits
        url: https://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_API/Rate_Limiting
      - type: Search
        url: https://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_API/Search
      - type: Examples
        url: https://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_API/Examples
      - type: Schema
        url: https://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_Database/Schema
      - type: Identifiers
        url: https://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_Identifier
      - type: JSONSchema
        url: json-schema/musicbrainz-artist-schema.json
      - type: JSONSchema
        url: json-schema/musicbrainz-release-schema.json
      - type: JSONSchema
        url: json-schema/musicbrainz-recording-schema.json
      - type: JSONSchema
        url: json-schema/musicbrainz-work-schema.json
      - type: JSONStructure
        url: json-structure/musicbrainz-artist-structure.json
      - type: JSONLD
        url: json-ld/musicbrainz-context.jsonld
      - type: SpectralRules
        url: rules/musicbrainz-rules.yml
      - type: Vocabulary
        url: vocabulary/musicbrainz-vocabulary.yml
      - type: Plans
        url: plans/musicbrainz-plans-pricing.yml
      - type: RateLimitsSpec
        url: rate-limits/musicbrainz-rate-limits.yml
      - type: SDK
        url: https://pypi.org/project/musicbrainzngs/
        title: Python SDK (musicbrainzngs)
      - type: SDK
        url: https://www.npmjs.com/package/musicbrainz-api
        title: Node.js SDK (musicbrainz-api)
      - type: SDK
        url: https://github.com/metabrainz/libmusicbrainz
        title: C++ Client Library (libmusicbrainz)
      - type: SDK
        url: https://github.com/metabrainz/mbdata
        title: Python SQLAlchemy Models (mbdata)
      - type: SDK
        url: https://github.com/metabrainz/mb-rngpy
        title: Python RELAX NG Bindings (mb-rngpy)
      - type: Schema
        url: https://github.com/metabrainz/mmd-schema
        title: MMD RELAX NG Schema
    features:
      - type: EntityLookup
        description: >-
          Fetch any of twelve entity types (artist, release, release-group, recording, work, label, place, area, event,
          instrument, series, url) by MBID with configurable sub-resource includes.
      - type: BrowseRelationships
        description: >-
          List all entities linked to a given parent entity (e.g. all releases by an artist, all recordings on a
          release) with pagination.
      - type: LuceneSearch
        description: >-
          Full Lucene query syntax across all indexed entities with per-entity searchable fields, scoring, and
          100-result pages.
      - type: IdentifierLookups
        description: >-
          Direct lookups by industry identifiers - ISRC for recordings, ISWC for works, DiscID for releases, and
          arbitrary URLs.
      - type: RichRelationships
        description: >-
          First-class typed relationships between entities (composer, lyricist, performer, member-of-band,
          location-of-event, etc.) returned via `inc=*-rels` parameters.
      - type: CommunityTagsAndRatings
        description: >-
          Public folksonomy tags and aggregate 1-5 ratings on every entity, plus per-user tags and ratings for
          authenticated users.
      - type: UserCollections
        description: >-
          Authenticated users can maintain typed collections (release, recording, work, etc.) and clients can add or
          remove entities via PUT/DELETE.
      - type: SubmissionEndpoints
        description: >-
          Authenticated POST endpoints for submitting user tags, ratings, release barcodes, and recording ISRCs without
          going through the editor UI.
      - type: GenreTaxonomy
        description: Dedicated `/genre/all` endpoint returning the full curated genre taxonomy in XML, JSON, or plain text.
      - type: FormatChoice
        description: All responses available in MMD-2 XML (default, supports submission) or JSON (`fmt=json`, read-only).
    useCases:
      - type: MusicLibraryTagging
        description: >-
          Look up canonical artist, release, recording, and work metadata to tag local music libraries (Picard, beets,
          MusicBee, Roon).
      - type: DiscographyEnrichment
        description: >-
          Pull complete discographies, credits, and relationships for an artist or label into a music app, store, or
          knowledge graph.
      - type: AcousticIdentification
        description: Combine MusicBrainz IDs with AcoustID fingerprints to identify unknown audio files and retrieve full metadata.
      - type: CDIdentification
        description: >-
          Use libdiscid + the `/discid` endpoint to identify physical CDs from their TOC and fetch the corresponding
          release.
      - type: ISRCAndISWCResolution
        description: >-
          Resolve industry identifiers (ISRC, ISWC) to canonical recording and work metadata for rights management and
          analytics workflows.
      - type: KnowledgeGraphIngestion
        description: >-
          Ingest MusicBrainz dumps or the live replication feed into a property graph or RDF store for music research
          and recommendation systems.
      - type: WikidataCrossReference
        description: Bridge between MusicBrainz MBIDs and Wikidata QIDs / Wikipedia articles via stored URL relationships.
      - type: CoverArtRetrieval
        description: Use MBIDs returned by the API to fetch high-resolution release artwork from the companion Cover Art Archive.
    integrations:
      - name: MusicBrainz Picard
        description: Official cross-platform music tagger built on the MusicBrainz API; canonical end-user client.
        url: https://picard.musicbrainz.org/
      - name: AcoustID
        description: Open audio fingerprinting database that returns MBIDs for identified recordings.
        url: https://acoustid.org/
      - name: Cover Art Archive
        description: Sister project that stores release artwork keyed by MusicBrainz release MBID.
        url: https://coverartarchive.org/
      - name: ListenBrainz
        description: >-
          MetaBrainz sister project for listening history; uses MusicBrainz MBIDs as the canonical identifier for tracks
          and artists.
        url: https://listenbrainz.org/
      - name: Wikidata
        description: >-
          Bidirectional cross-references via the MusicBrainz MBID external identifier on Wikidata and URL relationships
          in MusicBrainz.
        url: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P434
      - name: Discogs
        description: Cross-referenced via stored URL relationships; many MusicBrainz releases link to a Discogs release.
        url: https://www.discogs.com/
common:
  - type: Website
    url: https://musicbrainz.org/
  - type: Foundation
    url: https://metabrainz.org/
  - type: GitHubOrganization
    url: https://github.com/metabrainz
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_API
  - type: Developer
    url: https://musicbrainz.org/doc/Developer_Resources
  - type: Forum
    url: https://community.metabrainz.org/
  - type: IRC
    url: ircs://irc.libera.chat/#musicbrainz
  - type: Blog
    url: https://blog.metabrainz.org/
  - type: TermsOfService
    url: https://metabrainz.org/social-contract
  - type: PrivacyPolicy
    url: https://metabrainz.org/privacy
  - type: License
    url: https://musicbrainz.org/doc/About/Data_License
  - type: Donate
    url: https://metabrainz.org/donate
  - type: Database
    url: https://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_Database
  - type: Schema
    url: https://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_Database/Schema
  - type: Download
    url: https://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_Database/Download
  - type: Replication
    url: https://musicbrainz.org/doc/Replication_Mechanics
  - type: Mirror
    url: https://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_Database/Mirror
  - type: Identifiers
    url: https://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_Identifier
  - type: StyleGuide
    url: https://musicbrainz.org/doc/Style
  - type: API
    url: https://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_API
  - type: RateLimits
    url: https://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_API/Rate_Limiting
  - type: Authentication
    url: https://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_API/Authentication
  - type: GitHubRepository
    url: https://github.com/metabrainz/musicbrainz-server
    title: MusicBrainz Server (canonical implementation)
  - type: GitHubRepository
    url: https://github.com/metabrainz/musicbrainz-docker
    title: MusicBrainz Docker (self-hosted replica)
  - type: GitHubRepository
    url: https://github.com/metabrainz/musicbrainz-docs
    title: MusicBrainz Documentation Source
  - type: GitHubRepository
    url: https://github.com/metabrainz/mmd-schema
    title: MMD RELAX NG Schema
  - type: CLI
    url: https://github.com/metabrainz/libdiscid
    title: libdiscid (DiscID computation)
  - type: Tools
    url: https://picard.musicbrainz.org/
    title: MusicBrainz Picard (Tagger)
  - type: Tools
    url: https://github.com/usercourses63/musicbrainz-mcp-server
    title: MCP Server (community)
  - type: SourceCode
    url: https://github.com/metabrainz/musicbrainz-server
  - type: Mobile
    url: https://github.com/metabrainz/musicbrainz-android
    title: MusicBrainz Android
  - type: Mobile
    url: https://github.com/metabrainz/musicbrainz-ios
    title: MusicBrainz iOS
  - type: SisterProject
    url: https://listenbrainz.org/
    title: ListenBrainz
  - type: SisterProject
    url: https://coverartarchive.org/
    title: Cover Art Archive
  - type: SisterProject
    url: https://critiquebrainz.org/
    title: CritiqueBrainz
  - type: SisterProject
    url: https://bookbrainz.org/
    title: BookBrainz
  - type: PublicAPIsListing
    url: https://github.com/public-apis/public-apis
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com