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Glossary

A

  • Adaptation
    • Work that is based on another work.
  • Answer song aka Response song
    • Song made in answer to a previous song, normally performed by another artist.
  • ASIN
    • Amazon Standard Identification Number, a unique identifier for each product on Amazon. Example: B07D31BQHX
  • Author
    • Artist who wrote the lyrics of a work

B

  • Broadcast
    • Movie, TV show, TV commercial, radio show, radio commercial

C

  • Case
    • A submission, an error report or an edit review
  • Combined Adaptation
    • An adaptation that takes music from one work, and lyrics from another work, and has no additional writing credits
  • Composer
    • Artist who wrote the music of a work
  • Content type
    • Classification of releases: Album, EP, single or video.
  • Contrafact
    • A musical work consisting of a new melody overlaid on a familiar harmonic structure.
    • Contrafacts are not considered adaptations at SecondHandSongs, but we might mention it as trivia.

D

  • Digital lead single
    • Performances available for download, but only through a webpage of an album that has not yet been released.
  • DP
    • Domaine publique = Public domain
  • Double A-side
    • A release without an explicit A-side

E

  • EAN
    • European Article Number. Also known as bar code.
    • Serves on SHS as unique identifier for releases.
  • Entry
    • Entry or database entry is any object in the database. It can be an artist, a release, a work, a performance or a label.
    • Do not confuse with Entry Attributes. For example: Artist country, Work language, Label visual, etc...
  • External Recording
    • Audio sample from a source outside of SHS, linked to a SHS Performance. Currently Youtube videos, Spotify tracks and Internet Archive audio

F

  • Format type
    • Subclassification of releases based on physical characteristics. Examples: 7'', CD, Tape, etc...

G

  • GitHub
    • Tracking system used in this project for enhancements and bugs.

I

  • (In)transitive credits
    • The credits of the root work are (not) transposed into the credits of the adaptation.
  • IPI
    • Interested Parties Information. International identification number assigned to songwriters and publishers to uniquely identify rights holders.
  • ISRC
    • International Standard Recording Code: a unique universal identifier for performances.
  • ISWC
    • International Standard Musical Work Code: a unique universal identifier for works.

L

  • Label can refer to
    • A record label or record company: A brand or trademark of music recordings, or the company that owns it.
    • A release label or release sticker: The sticker that is on the LP, single or CD
  • Label series
    • Set of releases which belong to the same number sequence. Example: CK 45012, CK 45013, CK 45014, etc...
  • LC
    • Label Code. Unique identifier for labels, created in 1977 for releases commercialized in Germany.
  • Live show
    • Stage production, concert, stage musical, ballet, opera or public event

M

  • Medley
    • A performance based on multiple work parts, with these parts structured sequentially.

O

  • Original
    • The first performance of a work, either first performed live, broadcasted, recorded or released.
  • Out of the Vault
    • Performances released more than 10 years after they were recorded.
  • Owner
    • The owner of a database entry is the editor who gets the error reports regarding that entry. He also has full editing rights on this entry.

P

    • Sound recording copyright symbol. Provides notice of copyright in a sound recording (known as "performance" on SHS), embodied in a phonorecord (known as "release" on SHS). See Wikipedia.
  • Part(s)
    • The work(s) of which a performance is a version of.
    • Similar to the "version" relation, it describes the relation between a performance and a work, but in the opposite direction.
  • Performance
    • A version of a work performed by one or more performing artists.
  • PRO
    • Performing Rights Organization. Examples: ASCAP, BMI, GEMA, etc...

R

  • Root work
    • Work that is not based on another work.
  • Release
    • The physical or digital carrier of a performance. Think of a vinyl single, a CD album, a digital track, etc...
  • Romanization
    • Replacing text written in one script with the characters of the Roman alpabet.

S

  • Scat
    • Improvised vocal performance with non-sensical words ("Ski-bi dibby dib yo da dub dub Yo da dub dub")
  • Submission
    • A cover any user suggests to be added to the database. A submission has to be processed by an editor to become a database entry.

T

  • Ticket
    • Enhancement or bug filed in GitHub.
  • Transliteration
    • Replacing text written in one script with the characters of another script.

U

  • UPC
    • Universal Product Code. Also known as bar code. Unique identifier, in this context used for releases.

V

  • V-Discs
    • LPs produced during the 1940s for the U.S. military personnel.
  • Version
    • A performance of a work
    • Versions can be covers as well as originals
    • NB : On reggae singles, "Version" is the instrumental B-side of the main track. (not SHS terminology)
  • Virtual duet
    • A performance presented like a duet (=joint performance), but where one of the artists was sampled and didn't actually co-perform.
    • Example: Cold Heart by Dua Lipa - Elton John
  • Vocalese
    • Vocal jazz work or jazz performance adding lyrics to an instrumental work.
  • Vocalise
    • Vocal performance singing the tune of a work just vowel sounds ("lalalala lalalalala ooooo oooo lalalala").

W

  • Web covers
    • Cover song released on Youtube, but not commercially.
  • Work
    • The immaterial concept of a musical piece of art, limited by what's defined in advance ("the score").