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MusicBrainz

Real example chats* showing what you can do with the MusicBrainz toolkit.

Find the recurring producers behind your most-played tracks, with a release-level credit fallback.

Tools: listenbrainz.get_top_tracksmusicbrainz.get_recording_credits_batch

According to my ListenBrainz history, what are my top tracks, and who produced them? Use MusicBrainz for the credits and fall back to release-level credits when the recording-level producer is missing. Tell me which producers keep showing up.

Pulling your most-played tracks from ListenBrainz, then running them through MusicBrainz credits with the release-level fallback on.

Executing listenbrainz.get_top_tracks Executing musicbrainz.get_recording_credits_batch
Recurring producers behind top ListenBrainz tracksHorizontal bar chart showing Rick Rubin on eight tracks, Rich Costey and David Sardy on two tracks each, and Rupert Hine on one track surfaced only through release-level fallback.Producer fingerprint from top tracksListenBrainz top tracks + MusicBrainz producer creditsRick RubinRich CosteyDavid SardyRupert Hine8221surfaced only via the release-level fallback
Producer counts across the top 24 resolved ListenBrainz tracks. Coral marks the producer surfaced only by MusicBrainz release-level credit fallback.

Across your 24 top tracks, the recurring hand is unmistakable: Rick Rubin produced eight of them, all through the Strokes. After that the field flattens fast, with Rich Costey (Interpol, Muse) and David Sardy (the Walkmen, Band of Horses) each turning up twice, and a long tail of one-offs.

The interesting catch is Saga’s “On the Loose,” which has no producer credit at the recording level at all. Rupert Hine only appears because the release-level fallback walked up to the Worlds Apart release. Eight tracks came back with no producer credit anywhere upstream, which is normal for indie and recent releases.

Map the collaboration web around a band, from its members to the side projects they branch into.

Tools: musicbrainz.get_artist_relationships

Using MusicBrainz, map the web around The National: who’s in the band, and what other projects do its members branch into?

Resolving The National, pulling its relationships, then expanding Aaron Dessner, the most connected member, to see where the web branches.

Executing musicbrainz.get_artist_relationships Executing musicbrainz.get_artist_relationships
Collaboration web around The NationalNetwork graph with The National connected to five band members, Aaron Dessner connected to five other bands, and a dashed sibling link from Aaron to Bryce Dessner.The National collaboration webMusicBrainz artist relationships, expanded through Aaron DessnerThe NationalseedMatt BerningerAaron DessnerBryce DessnerBryan DevendorfScott DevendorfBig Red MachineComplete MountainAlmanacEquinoxProject NimRed Bird Hollowseed bandmembersother bandsmember ofsibling
Two-hop MusicBrainz relationship graph: The National's core members, Aaron Dessner's other bands, and the sibling loop between Aaron and Bryce Dessner.

Starting from The National, the band resolves to its five core members plus three longtime touring players (Ben Lanz, Kyle Resnick, and James McAlister on horns and drums). The web really opens up through Aaron Dessner. He branches into Big Red Machine, his project with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, plus a handful of smaller outfits: Complete Mountain Almanac, Equinox, Project Nim, and Red Bird Hollow.

There’s also a nice structural detail. Aaron and Bryce Dessner are linked as siblings, and Bryce is also in The National, so the graph closes a small loop between the band and the family.