Rule Changelog
This page lists all the relevant updates and clarifications to VocaDB rules/guidelines starting from February 2024.
These changes have been planned, discussed and decided by trusted users and moderators on the VocaDB discord server: #mods-and-trusted
1. May 2024
Off-vocal harmony vocalist credits
Leave the vocalist credits off for off-vocal/karaoke songs that have background/harmony vocals. These are already credited in the original entry.
Support status for “Instrumental” songs with little vocals
Clarification for a case that had conflicting guidelines.
Instrumental original songs that feature faint vocals and are almost instrumental should not use the support status for the vocalist. The “instrumental” -tag already conveys this information.
The support status should be used when the song has a clear separation of main artists and support artists (in the same role).
Crediting original artists for songs with out-of-scope originals
For out-of-scope songs, the original artists can be credited in the song description (example).
Artist credit source can not be marked: It’s not clear whether the artist is from the original entry, or if they participated in the derived version.
Because of this, direct artist credits through the artist tab should not be used, regardless if the original artists have artist entries or not.
2. March 2024
- Revoked “Finished song entry requirements”
Lyric modification
Previous rule: “Lyrics should match the given source. If the lyrics have an external source, the lyrics should not be altered on VocaDB. New romanization/translation can be created instead.”
Lyrics can now be modified without creating new lyrics, as long as the modification is mentioned in the source:
- External source: “From MWiki” -> “From MikuWiki (edited by user2)“
- Internal source: “From user1” -> “From user1 (typos fixed by user2)“
Large edits still require creating new lyrics.
Rule is fully documented at song-entry-editing#tab-Lyrics.
Do not reupload -tag changes
The tag entry is usable only by moderators, and is applied whenever directly requested by the artist (through a verified artist account for example).
Tag effects (reprints disabled) will be automatically enforced in the future.
Rule is documented at song-entry-editing#Reprint.
Real-life names
Real-life names should not be added as aliases, if they’re not used by other artists/sources. Real-life names can still be added, if that’s the main artist name.
Rule is documented at artist-entry-editing#Artist-entry-specific-name-instructions.
6. Feb 2024
Finished song entry requirements
All the artists (main or supporting) need to be credited for song entries if the song entry status is set to “finished”.
The reason for this is so that songs entries that are missing artist credits can be told apart from entries that are just by one artist.
An exception to this are entries tagged with multiple illustrators These song entries can be set as “finished” without crediting all the illustrators.
2. March 2024 - Rule change revoked
Non-English translations
Clarified that new non-English translations should not be added without a good reason.
For example, the song entry ECHO should not receive new translations.
There are a few exceptions:
- Translation is used somewhere else.
- = Improved searchability
- Translation is related to the original name.
- ”Матрёшка” for Matryoshka
- = Additional context/value
Rule documented at entry-names-and-aliases
Remix names
Remixer names should not be removed from the song title: “Love is War (Mwk Remix)“
This is to improve searchability and consistency.
The “pure” song title can be found in the original entry.
Video title trimming:
- Remove the clear non-title parts: original artist credit for example.
- Remove the vocalist name, if separate from rest of the title.
- Remove the song type, if separate from rest of the title.
Rule documented at song-entry-editing#Song-entry-specific-name-instructions
Simultaneous uploads
Voice synth songs entries for songs that include a voice synth version and a human-sung version (both official) should be tagged with simultaneous upload, if the song publish dates are less than a week apart.
Entries tagged with simultaneous upload should be marked as “original songs” as opposed to “covers”, unless the artist specifies otherwise.
If the (official) human-sung version is published more than a week before the voice synth version, the song entry should be marked as “cover”, along with the self-cover -tag.
In all the cases, the human-sung version should be specified in the song description or in the external links, along with its publish date.
If the (official) human-sung version is published more than a week after the voice synth version, the human-sung version can be mentioned as usual, but neither of the two tags should be added.
These rules do not apply to cases where both songs have entries on VocaDB. In this case the standard rules apply for choosing the original version: Select the entry with the earliest publish date, unless otherwise specified by the artist.
Rule documented at song-entry-editing#Cover
FAQ also updated regarding this: /docs/pinned/vocadb-editing-faq#If-a-Vocaloid-song-was-released-simultaneously-with-a-human-vocals-version
Single albums
Single albums are no longer discouraged.
FAQ updated: /docs/pinned/vocadb-editing-faq#Should-I-create-an-album-entry-for-a-song