# MusicBrainz

**Canonical:** https://apis.io/providers/musicbrainz/  
**Website:** https://musicbrainz.org/  
**APIs profiled:** 16

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.

## Kin Score — 44.0 / 100 (developing)

Scored 2026-08-20 under rubric 0.12.0. Trend: flat (+0.0 from 44.0).

| Facet | Score |
|---|---|
| Discoverability | 68.5 |
| Contract Quality | 35.4 |
| Governance | 9.8 |
| Contract Governance | 9.8 |
| Operational Transparency | 34.2 |
| Developer Ergonomics | 28.6 |
| Commercial Clarity | 52.6 |
| Access Clarity | 52.6 |

Regulatory layer — **Government & Public Sector**: 64.8 (matched via tags).

## Agent readiness — 35.0 (agent-ready)

| Dimension | Value |
|---|---|
| Spec Presence | yes |
| Agentic Access | derived |
| Reversibility Documented | no |
| MCP Server | no |
| Auth Clarity | yes |
| Idempotency | no |
| Error Semantics | no |
| OpenAPI Examples | partial |
| Rate Limit Signal | verified |
| Event Surface Described | no |
| Agent Skills | no |
| Well Known Catalog | no |
| Consent Identity | no |
| Agent Card | no |
| Dry Run Mode | no |

## Access

Paid · Open access — onboarding: open, pricing: paid, trial: no (confidence: high).

## APIs (16)

- **MusicBrainz Areas API** — Lookup, browse, and search for geographic areas (countries, cities, etc.).
- **MusicBrainz Artists API** — Lookup, browse, and search for artists (people, bands, orchestras).
- **MusicBrainz Collections API** — Authenticated user collections of entities.
- **MusicBrainz Events API** — Lookup, browse, and search for music events (concerts, festivals, etc.).
- **MusicBrainz Genres API** — List the curated genre taxonomy.
- **MusicBrainz Identifiers API** — Non-MBID lookups by ISRC, ISWC, and DiscID.
- **MusicBrainz Instruments API** — Lookup and search for instruments used in recordings.
- **MusicBrainz Labels API** — Lookup, browse, and search for record labels.
- **MusicBrainz Places API** — Lookup, browse, and search for places (venues, studios, etc.).
- **MusicBrainz Recordings API** — Lookup, browse, and search for recordings (distinct audio captures of a performance).
- **MusicBrainz Release Groups API** — Lookup, browse, and search for release groups (logical grouping of releases).
- **MusicBrainz Releases API** — Lookup, browse, and search for releases (specific issues of an album).
- **MusicBrainz Series API** — Lookup, browse, and search for series (ordered groups of entities).
- **MusicBrainz Submission API** — Authenticated submission of tags, ratings, barcodes, and ISRCs.
- **MusicBrainz URLs API** — Lookup URLs linked to other MusicBrainz entities.
- **MusicBrainz Works API** — Lookup, browse, and search for musical works (abstract compositions).

## Agentic access (1)

- **Musicbrainz Agentic Access** — 36 operations · 6 acting

## Security (2)

- **Musicbrainz Authentication** — http/oauth2 · 2 schemes
- **Musicbrainz Domain Security** — TLSv1.3 · DMARC

## Plans (1)

- **Musicbrainz Plans Pricing**

## Tags

Music, Metadata, Encyclopedia, Open Data, Catalog, Identifiers, ISRC, ISWC, MBID, DiscID, Artists, Releases, Recordings, Works, Labels, Cover Art, Open-Source, Non-Profit

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Profiled by [API Evangelist](https://apievangelist.com) and published on [APIs.io](https://apis.io/providers/musicbrainz/). Scores are computed from the provider's own public artifacts under a published rubric.