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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.
  • Artist alias
    • Exist because of an artist's musical career.
    • Are names used by a peformer in the context of a performance or a release.
  • 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
    • An input by a user regarding the database, that needs to be processed by the editor team. There are three types: Submissions, Error reports or and Edit reviews.
  • 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.
  • Edit Review
    • A type of case that is generated when a user adds or changes data of an existing entry.
    • Example: A user adds a Youtube video to a performance
  • 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, Apple Music, Bandcamp and Internet Archive audio tracks
    • An External Recording is a special type of External Link

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 catalog 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
  • Long quote
    • Adaptation type whre a new or existing melody is fitted to existing lyrics or a poem
  • Lyricization
    • Adaptation type using the music from the root work in combination with new lyrics

M

  • Mash-up
    • A performance based on multiple work parts, with these parts structured non-sequentially.
  • 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.
  • Personal name
    • Exist indepently from an artist's musical career.
    • Are names known under which a person is known to the authorities at some point in time.
  • PRO
    • Performing Rights Organization. Examples: ASCAP, BMI, GEMA, etc...

R

  • Recomposition
    • Adaptation type using a signficant musical part from the root work together with new additional composition elements.
  • Replayed sample
    • A sample that sounds like the originating performance, but is reality replayed and rerecorded to sound exactly like it (and avoid paying mechanical rights).
  • 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.
  • Unjustified adaptation
    • In some cases, when the additional music and lyrics are extremely limited, SHS editors may decide that an officially registered adaptation is "unjustified". This is merely an artistic judgment with no legal impact.
  • Unverified
    • Status of a submission when we received it, but our editor team still needs to verify and complete it.

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").
  • VWML
    • Vaughn Williams Memorial Library
    • Website used to research the Roud Folk Song Index

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").