Quick Start Guide
How to enter information into Discogs
Note: This is a simplified walk through. For more in-depth details about how to submit, and how to deal with more sophisticated entries, please make sure you check out the full guidelines.
1 - Getting Started.
Place the item you want to submit in front of you, so it is easy to read and enter the information (Please note that you must have the exact release in your possession when you submit it!). The first thing to do is to use the search engine to check that your item isn't already in the database, otherwise you'll waste your time trying to enter it all again! If it isn't here yet, you can enter the information. Depending on the release, it could take from 10 minutes to many hours to do this. It is recommended that your first submission is a reasonably simple release, so you can learn the process before moving on to complicated releases with many tracks and artists. Let's say it is going to take you 30 minutes to enter a simple release. For this guide, we are using Depeche Mode - Love In Itself•2 And Live Tracks as an example. To get started, go to to the add release form.
2 - Main Artist
Start with the Artist. On this example release, the main artist is straightforward,
we enter "Depeche Mode" into the artist field:
We don't need to do anything else here. The small plus icon 
is for adding an ANV, which will be explained later. The large plus sign
is for adding another artist for releases with more than one artist, we
don't need that in this example. note: we use 'Various', 'Unknown Artist',
and 'No Artist' as standard special artists, more explanation of this
and other aspects is at Guidelines - Release - Artist.
3 - Title
Work down the form, filling in each field as needed. The next field is
the title. We try to enter the title as close to what is on the release
as we can:
We don't enter anything into Discogs as ALL CAPS, so all the text on this
release is entered by only capitalizing the First Letter Of Each Word.
Note the use of the "•" character as used on the release. It may be necessary to use the Character Map (on Windows, Start - Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Character Map), or another other program or function to enter these type of things. If you get stuck, remember you can always ask in the Adding & Updating forum!
note: Sometimes the title is different on the cover, on the spine etc. It is best to use the title on the cover, but also consider what is going to be most useful to other users, so the most complete title is better if it is on the spine. You should use the notes field to mention any important differences (this applies to anything else on the release as well).
4 - Label & Catalog Number
The release has "Mute Records" on a lot of the artwork. "Mute Records" is regarded as the same entity as "Mute Records Ltd." at Discogs, so we enter that. This can be found by doing a search for label name. This is a very simplified explanation of how labels are dealt with and organized - generally, we try to avoid changing label names these days. If in doubt, please ask in the forums to figure out the correct one to use!
5 - Format
This is where we enter the physical details about the release (for example
if it's a record or a CD), and other general details. This example is
one vinyl 12" record, so we use the drop down boxes to select this:
Once you press the "Add Format" button, the data will be added
to the form:
Note the "Add Description" button beside your newly entered details. If you click that, you can add more descriptions to your entry, as many as you need! For this example, we want to add 45 RPM, and 33 1/3 RPM to the item, as it plays at different speeds on both sides, and we also want to add Maxi-Single, as this is what it was released and marketed as:
Once the description you want is selected from the drop down list, simply click "Add". Repeat this for additional descriptions:
Until we end up with all the needed descriptions:
Now you have built up the format and description as necessary. You can keep on adding other formats (for example if the release came with a 12" record and a CD) and descriptions for them as you need, each item of the release needs to be described on a separate format line. .
6 - Saving
You can (and should!) save your work at any time, by clicking "Save Draft" (the button for this is top right). This will put your work so far in your Draft Releases folder.
Always remember if you get stuck, ask in the Adding & Updating forum - you can link to your draft release simply by copying the link, and pasting it into your forum post.
7 - Country
This is where you enter the country the release was primarily distributed and sold in. For this example, it is the UK:
Remember that a lot of releases can be 'imports', so where you buy the item from may not be the country it was released in. Also remember that an item can be manufactured in a separate country from the country of release. The guidelines have more details, and as always, ask others if you get stuck.
8 - Genres and Styles
In Discogs, the genres are large, general categories that should be reasonably easy to select. Remember you can select more than one if needed. The styles are a drop down list that can be selected after the genre/s have been ticked. Try to choose the closest style for your release. Again, you can add more than one style if needed. For the example, we only need one genre and one style:
9 - Credits
This main credits section is used to enter release wide, as well as track specific credits. Credits can also be added on a per-track basis, as explained in section 10. It is up to the submitter to decide the easiest and clearest section to enter the credits into, except for release-wide credits, which must be entered into this section.
The roles must be chosen from the credit list so we can index them properly in the future:
Note the "Track Position(s)" field, where we list the tracks each credit applies to. If a credit applies to all the tracks, leave this blank. Notice the Artist Name Variation (ANV) used for Vince Clarke, and the Engineer [Front Of House] credit, using the box brackets to add more detail to the credit role. These are explained in more detail in Section 10 below.
The track positions used in the fields here match exactly those used in the tracklisting section. The track position joins are standardized, using the word 'to' for continuous sequence: "B1 to B4", and commas for separate tracks: "B1, B3, B4".
Multiple credits can be entered into credit fields, and should be separated by commas.
10 - Tracklisting
This large section is where we enter all the information about the names of the tracks, their lengths, and any artists or other credits associated with the tracks. Apart from credits that apply to every track on the release (release wide credits), you can enter credits either on every track OR in the main credits section, as you see fit.
This release has 5 tracks. The submission form has 4 tracks as default, so we want to add one more:
We can then fill in the track numbers and the track titles. The artist fields are not used here, as there is only one artist on this release. The release doesn't really have distinct track numbers, so we use the standard A, B1, B2 etc. Note the use of the parentheses on the side A track for the sub-title, this is the standard way for doing this at Discogs:
We can continue to fill in the information, you can click the small arrow on the left to add a couple of index tracks that are noted on the release, and fill in the durations (track times):
To enter credits for each track, click the + button in the ExtraArtist fields on the tracks you want to add credits to.
Then fill them in. Note the use of square brackets for the "Engineer [Tonmeister]" credit role. The brackets can be used to enter any free text descriptions that are additional to the standard Discogs credits. In this example, Tonmeister is German for sound engineer, and was credited as such on the release. Detail such as this is nice to have:
Artist Name Variation (ANV)
For the B2 track, we use a Discogs function called ANV (short for Artist Name Variation). This lets us enter the artist names as they appear on the release, and still link to the main artists page, keeping everything clear, correct, and neat. In this case, "Martin L. Gore" is credited as "Gore". To enter this, simply click the small plus icon next to the name field,
This displays in the final tracklisting like this:
11 - Images
Click the 'Upload New Image' button to bring up a pop-up box that allows you to add images to your submission. The submission needs to be saved as a draft before you add images, see section 6 above. Make sure you follow the image guidelines!
12 - Release Notes
This free text field can be used to note anything else about the release that doesn't fit into the other fields.It is very useful for packing in more information, and also for noting errors and differences of information that appear on the release.
13 - Preview
Almost there! Clicking the preview button will display all the information the way it will look on the Discogs page. Here goes:
Well, the info looks ok, but what are the red error and warning about? And what is the blue highlight for? The Discogs submission form has some built in error checks, which looks for common mistakes to try to help you get the information all correct. looking at the warnings in greater detail:
This warning tells us a new artist has been entered. Reading through, we can see that "Depeche Mod" is the new artist, and looking up at the release, we can see this has been highlighted in blue. This is because the "e" has been omitted from "Depeche Mode". Artists names must be identical for Discogs to function correctly. This is easy to fix, just scroll down to the mistake, and correct it. Click preview again, and this warning will disappear.
Double-check to ensure no errors remain on your submission. If you tick off any warnings, be sure to clarify why the warnings are incorrect in your submission notes.
Submission notes must be used to explain all aspects of your submission, particularly where anything is unusual that might be questioned by other users. If your submission is unclear it may not be accepted into the database. Remember that other users may be unfamiliar with the content of your release so you should be as clear as possible. Spending a few moments to explain your submission layout to other users will decrease your waiting time for submissions to be reviewed.
You should also tick any of the tick boxes that are relevant for you (Add to My Collection, Rating, and Watchlist).
14 - Submit!
One final preview, the error has been corrected, so you can now press submit!
We then get this page, telling us we have submitted it, and giving some links:
You can view and manage your pendings at http://www.discogs.com/pending, where you have options to edit, view, and cancel your submission. If everything is correct, all you have to do is wait patiently for a voter to review your submission.
Please note this was a fairly standard submission that didn't address
special cases. For more in-depth details about how to submit and how to
deal with more sophisticated entries, please make sure you check out the
full guidelines.
