Verify the artist or album is not already in the Archive
Before you add information to the Christian Music Archive, please be sure that the information doesn't exist already. The easiest way is to type the name of the album or artist directly into the URL.
- • To find an artist, you would type https://christianmusicarchive.com/artist/lauren-daigle to find Lauren Daigle. (That's /artist/firstname-lastname)
- • For an album, you'll type https://christianmusicarchive.com/album/look-up-child. (That's /album/the-album-title)
If multiple albums have the same title, the system adds a number to the end of the URL.
- • Keith Green: The Live Experience is https://christianmusicarchive.com/album/the-live-experience
- • Bryan Duncan: Live Experience is https://christianmusicarchive.com/album/the-live-experience-0
- • Helen Baylor: The Live Experience is https://christianmusicarchive.com/album/the-live-experience-1
If the album or artist already exists, you must edit the information instead of creating a new artist or album. (See special notes on editing by clicking the Editing tab above.)
Gather credits
When entering credit details, we only enter an individual's name once per album, even if they have multiple roles. You will want to find a way to consolidate the credits into a unified list. I like to use a spreadsheet and demonstrate that in the video below.
Find the album image
Typically, I do an image search in Google to find the album image and download it to my computer. But when I can't find an album image, I'll use my camera to capture a high-quality picture of the album. We are looking for images with a minimum size of 1000 px by 1000 px.
When you save the album image, please label it "ArtistName-TheAlbumName." Notice there are no spaces, and we use camel case, meaning each word starts with a capital letter. Also, put a hyphen between the artist's and album names.
- • For example, the image for Lauren Daigle's album Look Up Child would look like this: LaurenDaigle-LookUpChild.png
Get started
When you are ready to add the artist, hover over the Submit menu item at the top right corner of the screen to reveal a dropdown menu. Click Create Artist to get started. Step-by-step instructions are available on the right side of the Create Artist page.
Watch the video
Here is a brief description of how I gather information before entering it into the Archive.
Add the artist
The artist is the core data for the Archive. Albums, credits, band members, news, prayer, and news are all tied to the artist. So, this is the most critical piece of information you will add.
There are three types of artists.
- Solo artist - who has released at least one album.
- Studio artist - who performs on other people's albums but doesn't have their own album. (When a studio artist releases an album of their own, they become a Solo artist.)
- Band - a group of solo and/or studio artists who release music together.
Sometimes, an artist will have more than one name.
- • A woman might have released albums under their maiden and married names.
- • Some artists have a stage name and a studio artist name (e.g., Toby McKeehan and TobyMac).
The artist page is also where we document details about the artist: their birthday, biography, picture, and contact information.
While all these details are nice and preferred, the only required information is the artist's name.
Note: If you create and save the band as an artist. Then, you'll go to the Add Band Member section to define the individual members in the band. Once the band member data nodes are created, you'll return to edit the band, linking the band member node to the respective artist.
Get started
When you are ready to add the artist, hover over the Submit menu item at the top right corner of the screen to reveal a dropdown menu. Click Create Artist to get started. Step-by-step instructions are available on the right side of the Create Artist page.
Watch the video
Here is a short video that shows how I enter an artist into the Archive.
Add credits
Credits are stand-alone data points that must be created before being added to the album. In this step, you'll enter three pieces of information.
- • Artist Name: This data field comes from the artist nodes we created using the Artist tab above. Start by typing the artist's first or last name. The system will display artists matching your text string. Select the correct artist.
- • Credit Role: This is a text field where you list the artist's tasks on the album. If they only sang, we say "Vocals." But if they also wrote the songs and played the guitar, we'll write "Songwriter, Guitars, Vocals."
- • Credit Album Name - A text field where the album's name is added.
A data node is created for every individual credit. So, if an artist writes songs, plays guitars, and sings vocals on two different albums, the album name is used to distinguish those credits on two separate albums.
Get started
When you are ready to start creating credits, hover over the Submit menu item at the top right corner of the screen to reveal a dropdown menu. Click Create Credit to get started. Step-by-step instructions are available on the right side of the Create Credit page.
Watch the video
Here is a short video demonstrating how I enter credits.
Add an album
This is the step where all your work comes together. You'll enter:
- Album Name: A text field
- Artist: A data node you found in the database in step 1 or created in step 2.
- Label: Another data node, probably already in the database. If not, you'll need to add it.
- Cover Image: That you saved on your hard drive.
- Credits: You created these in step 3.
- Plus, several other text fields for things like song titles, times, genre, and so on.
Get started
When you are ready to create albums, hover over the Submit menu item at the top right corner of the screen to reveal a dropdown menu. Click Create Album to get started. Step-by-step instructions are available on the right side of the Create Album page.
Watch the video
The video is coming soon.
Add a band member
The band member section is only used for bands. You'll create data nodes, entering details about individual members of the band:
- Artist Name: A data node from the database.
- Band Name: Another data node from the database.
- Band member details
Get started
When you are ready to add band members, hover over the Submit menu item at the top right corner of the screen to reveal a dropdown menu. Click Add Band Member to get started. Step-by-step instructions are available on the right side of the Add Band Member page.
Add a label
You likely won't create many record labels, as those were likely created for previous albums. If a label is missing, Use the Add Label option to create new record companies.
Just like adding an artist or album, I ask you to double-check to ensure the label doesn't exist before creating a new data node. Use the search on the home page or manually type in the label's name. (e.g., https://christianmusicarchive.com/label/myrrh - where myrrh is the label's name.)
Keep in mind that we don't use the word "Records." So, Myrrh Records is entered as Myrrh.
Get started
When you are ready to add credits, hover over the Submit menu item at the top right corner of the screen to reveal a dropdown menu. Click Add Label to get started. Step-by-step instructions are available on the right side of the Add Label page.
Editing information
You can edit any information you add as a Christian Music Archive contributor. Contributors cannot edit other peoples' entries.
After demonstrating accurate contribution abilities, you can be promoted to Editor, which means you can edit other peoples' work.
If you have been entering for a while and feel you understand the process, please email me and ask to be promoted to editor. I am picky about who I make an editor, as we strive for consistency and accuracy. If you've demonstrated those traits over time, I will change your access, and you can modify entries by other contributors.
Get started
To edit information, navigate to the page that needs modifications. You will see these three buttons directly above the main content of the page:
The View button displays what the public sees.
The Edit button opens the node entry page. This is the same entry page you've used to contribute new data, so you should be familiar with each field. Make the corrections or updates as needed.
Be sure to describe the changes you make in the Revisions field briefly.
Don't forget to push Save at the bottom of the page!
