Who engineered? Who performed? Who mixed? Who produced? Everything. The label that edited this format, this batch. Discogs meets Metal Archives meets Bandcamp, decentralized on Nostr.
The event roster documents the live side of the scene — every show, every participant, every setlist. The release credits system does the same for recorded music.
Every release on Musiquay has full, structured, scene-validated credits. Not just "artist name." The complete picture: who wrote each song, who played what instrument, who produced, who recorded, who mixed, who mastered, which label released it, which plant pressed the vinyl, who designed the cover, who took the band photos, who wrote the liner notes, who managed the artist. Everyone.
This is what happens when you combine:
But decentralized. On Nostr. Community-validated with scene police. Covering all genres. And integrated into the same scene graph that powers the event rosters, the marketplace, and the calendar.
Recorded music metadata is a disaster.
Musiquay combines all of these into a single, structured, protocol-native system where credits are Nostr events on the same network where the music lives.
Release credits follow the same model as event rosters: structured Nostr events with participant tags, roles, and scene police validation.
A release credit event references the release (album/EP/single) and tags every participant with their specific role. Each participant is a Nostr pubkey. Each credit is queryable, confirmable, and permanent.
A typical album's credits might include:
| Category | Roles |
|---|---|
| Composition | Songwriter(s), lyricist(s), composer(s), arranger(s) |
| Performance | Vocalist, guitarist, bassist, drummer, keyboardist — every instrument. Session musicians. Guest features. |
| Production | Producer(s), co-producer(s), executive producer |
| Recording | Recording engineer(s), assistant engineer(s), studio name/location |
| Mixing | Mix engineer(s), mix assistant(s), mix studio |
| Mastering | Mastering engineer(s), mastering studio |
| Label | Label that released it, A&R person, label manager |
| Management | Artist manager, booking agent who made the deal happen |
| Visual | Album artwork designer/illustrator, photographer (cover shoot, band photos), layout/typography designer |
| Video | Music video director, cinematographer, editor, colorist |
| Written | Liner notes author, translator |
| Manufacturing | Pressing plant (vinyl), replication plant (CD), duplication house (cassette) |
This level of detail already exists — artists know this information, it's printed in liner notes and booklets. Musiquay structures it and makes it searchable, linkable, and permanent.
Credits aren't just at the album level. Each individual track can have its own credit entries:
This per-track granularity is what makes the data truly useful. When a session musician's profile shows "performed on 47 tracks across 12 releases," each of those is a specific, confirmable credit on a specific track.
This is the Discogs dimension. A release isn't just one thing — it can exist in multiple formats, each with its own credits and details.
A single album might have:
| Edition | Details |
|---|---|
| Digital | Released by Label X, mastered by Engineer A (digital master) |
| Vinyl (standard) | 180g black, mastered by Engineer B (vinyl master), pressed at Plant P, 1000 copies, Cat# ABC-001 |
| Vinyl (limited) | Colored vinyl, same master, same plant, 300 copies, Cat# ABC-001-LTD, different sleeve |
| CD | Replicated at Plant Q, includes bonus track, different running order, Cat# ABC-002 |
| Cassette | Released by Label Y (different territory), duplicated at House R, Cat# XYZ-050 |
| Japanese CD | Released by Label Z, includes 2 bonus tracks, different artwork, OBI strip, Cat# JP-123 |
Each edition can have unique credits:
Edition metadata:
This creates a collector's paradise — and it's all on an open protocol. No more checking three different Discogs listings to figure out which pressing you have.
The validation model is identical to event rosters:
The same principles apply: the scene is small enough that fabrication is socially costly. A mix engineer with 200 confirmed release credits has a reputation that's expensive to fake. A label with a documented catalog of 50 releases builds credibility event by event, confirmation by confirmation.
The release credits event references a release (album/EP/single) and documents all participants at the release level.
{
"kind": 32214,
"pubkey": "<artist-or-label-pubkey>",
"content": "Optional liner notes, release story, recording context.",
"tags": [
["d", "<unique-identifier>"],
["a", "32211:<publisher-pubkey>:<album-d-tag>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com"],
["title", "Credits: Album Name — Artist Name"],
["p", "<producer-pubkey>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com", "producer"],
["p", "<recording-engineer-pubkey>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com", "recording-engineer"],
["p", "<mix-engineer-pubkey>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com", "mix-engineer"],
["p", "<mastering-engineer-pubkey>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com", "mastering-engineer"],
["p", "<vocalist-pubkey>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com", "performer-vocals"],
["p", "<guitarist-pubkey>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com", "performer-guitar"],
["p", "<bassist-pubkey>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com", "performer-bass"],
["p", "<drummer-pubkey>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com", "performer-drums"],
["p", "<label-pubkey>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com", "label"],
["p", "<ar-pubkey>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com", "a-and-r"],
["p", "<manager-pubkey>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com", "manager"],
["p", "<artwork-designer-pubkey>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com", "artwork-designer"],
["p", "<photographer-pubkey>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com", "photographer"],
["p", "<layout-designer-pubkey>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com", "layout-designer"],
["p", "<liner-notes-pubkey>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com", "liner-notes"],
["studio", "recording", "Studio Name, City"],
["studio", "mix", "Mix Studio Name, City"],
["studio", "mastering", "Mastering Studio Name, City"]
]
}
Per-track credits for specific contributions that vary by song.
{
"kind": 32215,
"pubkey": "<artist-or-label-pubkey>",
"content": "",
"tags": [
["d", "<unique-identifier>"],
["a", "32210:<publisher-pubkey>:<track-d-tag>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com"],
["a", "32214:<pubkey>:<credits-d-tag>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com"],
["p", "<songwriter-1-pubkey>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com", "songwriter"],
["p", "<songwriter-2-pubkey>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com", "songwriter"],
["p", "<lyricist-pubkey>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com", "lyricist"],
["p", "<session-cellist-pubkey>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com", "performer-cello"],
["p", "<featured-artist-pubkey>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com", "featured-artist"],
["p", "<different-producer-pubkey>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com", "producer"]
]
}
Track credits inherit from the release credits and override where specific. If the album credits list Producer A, but track 5 was produced by Producer B, the track credit event specifies that. Tracks without their own credit event inherit all credits from the release.
The track is referenced by a tag (address), not e tag (event id) — tracks are addressable and their event id changes on every encoding update. See FEATURES_MUSIC.md.
Each format/edition of a release is a separate event linked to the parent release.
{
"kind": 32216,
"pubkey": "<label-or-artist-pubkey>",
"content": "First pressing. Black 180g vinyl in gatefold sleeve.",
"tags": [
["d", "<unique-identifier>"],
["a", "32211:<publisher-pubkey>:<album-d-tag>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com"],
["title", "Album Name — Vinyl (First Pressing)"],
["format", "vinyl"],
["format-detail", "180g", "black", "gatefold"],
["catalog", "ABC-001"],
["barcode", "1234567890123"],
["i", "barcode:1234567890123"],
["k", "barcode"],
["quantity", "1000"],
["release-date", "2026-06-15"],
["territory", "EU"],
["p", "<vinyl-mastering-engineer-pubkey>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com", "mastering-engineer"],
["p", "<label-pubkey>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com", "label"],
["p", "<pressing-plant-pubkey>", "wss://relay.musiquay.com", "pressing-plant"],
["t", "vinyl"],
["t", "first-pressing"],
["t", "limited"]
]
}
Edition-specific credits override release-level credits where they differ. The vinyl edition might have a different mastering engineer than the digital release. A Japanese CD edition might have a different label. Each edition captures what's unique about that format.
The i/k tags use NIP-73's external-content-ID mechanism for barcode/catalog numbers. NIP-73's supported-ID table does not yet list barcodes; the convention works as-is because i/k values are open-ended, and the table should be extended upstream when implementation begins.
Extending the event roster role vocabulary for the studio and release context:
| Category | Role IDs | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Composition | songwriter, lyricist, composer, arranger, orchestrator | Who wrote the music and words |
| Performance | performer-vocals, performer-guitar, performer-bass, performer-drums, performer-keys, performer-[instrument], featured-artist | Who played what. Open-ended — any instrument can be a role ID |
| Production | producer, co-producer, executive-producer | Studio production |
| Recording | recording-engineer, assistant-engineer | Who captured the sound |
| Mixing | mix-engineer, mix-assistant | Who mixed it |
| Mastering | mastering-engineer | Who mastered it |
| Label / Business | label, a-and-r, manager, booking-agent, distributor | Business side of the release |
| Visual | artwork-designer, illustrator, photographer, layout-designer, typography | Visual identity of the release |
| Video | video-director, cinematographer, video-editor, colorist, vfx | Music video credits |
| Written | liner-notes, translator | Text contributions |
| Manufacturing | pressing-plant, replication-plant, duplication-house, print-house | Physical production — companies as participants |
Like the event roster vocabulary, this is a convention, not a rigid schema. New role IDs emerge as the community uses them.
These use the same mechanisms as the event roster system — the only difference is what they reference.
Sharing the validation mechanisms between the roster and credits systems means the scene graph treats them uniformly. A confirmation is a confirmation, whether it's for a live show or a recording session. A participant's profile aggregates both.
Every participant builds a discography through confirmed credits:
This is Metal Archives-level exhaustiveness, for every genre, built by the community, verified by the participants.
Edition tracking creates a structured database of physical releases:
The real power emerges from querying across credits and rosters:
This is where release credits and event rosters converge into something no other platform offers.
An engineer's profile shows:
A session musician's profile shows:
A photographer's profile shows:
This is the complete professional identity of everyone in the scene — live and studio, all on one protocol, all verified by the community.
Release credits are a primary input to the scene graph, alongside event rosters:
Release credits connect to the calendar through:
Release credits power marketplace reputation for studio professionals:
The shared validation model means release credits and event rosters form a unified credits system:
| Dimension | Event Roster | Release Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Subject | A live event (show, festival, etc.) | A recorded release (album, EP, single) |
| Creator | Promoter or venue | Artist or label |
| Participants | Everyone who worked the event | Everyone who worked on the recording |
| Validation | Scene police — confirmations, attestations, wiki contributions | Scene police — same mechanism |
| Builds | Live work history | Studio discography |
| Together | The complete professional profile of everyone in the scene |
| Concept | NIP Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Release credits event | Custom kind 32214 | Full participant list for a release, with structured roles. No existing NIP covers studio credits. |
| Track credits event | Custom kind 32215 | Per-track credits that override/extend release-level credits |
| Edition event | Custom kind 32216 | Format-specific details, manufacturing credits, catalog info. NIP-73 i/k tags for external IDs (barcode, UPC, catalog number). |
| Confirmation | NIP-32 kind 1985 | Same mechanism as roster confirmation — label event referencing the credits target instead of the roster |
| Attestation | NIP-32 kind 1985 | Same mechanism as roster attestation — label event |
| Contribution | NIP-22 kind 1111 | Same mechanism as roster contribution — comment scoped to the credits event |
| Participant tagging | NIP-52 p tags with roles | Extended role vocabulary for studio context |
The credits system adds three custom event kinds (release credits 32214, track credits 32215, edition 32216) and reuses the roster system's validation mechanisms — NIP-32 label events and NIP-22 comments. This reinforces the unified credits architecture — live and studio credits validated and queried the same way.
An album page on Musiquay shows:
Each credited participant's profile shows:
A label's Nostr profile aggregates:
For collectors and format enthusiasts: