Submissions - Release Type (Distribution Type)

[Secret Squirrel]

Current Guidelines
Distribution Type is based on availability, in descending order.
General
An album that was commercially sold or distributed openly, including online releases.
Limited Edition
Limited edition counterpart of a commercial release, usually with alternate packaging or extra content.
Enclosure
Catch-all type for albums that were never commercially sold as standalone releases, but distributed as part of a goods package (such as a videogame or magazine). Note that enclosure albums sometimes have their own catalogue number.
First Press Bonus
Bonus item provided by the publisher as part of a goods package for a limited initial pressing.
If the bonus is included in all pressings, use the Enclosure type instead.
Preorder Bonus
Bonus item provided by the publisher only for preorders.
Retailer Bonus
Exclusive bonus item distributed only by a particular vendor, for example Amazon or Sofmap.
Event Only
Albums sold exclusively through events or conventions. Note that doujin/indie albums that were initially released at conventions but later made available through doujin shops should be labeled as General.
Promo/Gift/Reward
Promotional items with extremely limited printings, prizes awarded to contest winners and so on.


Changelog

6 May 2010 -- (Retail -> General) under Event Only description
7 Jun 2010 -- Promo/Gift -> Promo/Gift/Reward


Technical Changes to Implement




Proposed Changes for Discussion

[Secret Squirrel]

I don't recall any specific change proposals, but the floor is open for any new ideas.

[Cedille]

A couple suggestions/questions from me.

- Rename First Press Bonus to First Press/Early Purchase bonus (if they're the same in VGMdb, as Blah said).
- Addition of another release type to cover something like Club Nintendo albums, or rewrite the instruction message of "Promo/Gift" so that those album can fit this type.

By the way, when the first printing of an album has something exclusive so the media contents may differ in a later printing (e.g. Frontier Work drama albums, Motoaki Furukawa's solo albums), should we still select "Limited Edition", or should we wait until a second printing is confirmed? This database has a dozen of "Limited Edition" entries without corresponding "Regular Edition" entries such as this (http://vgmdb.net/album/17316) (they're mostly added by me, though, so it may be my fault), and I have become more uncomfortable with them.

[Datschge]

- Rename First Press Bonus to First Press/Early Purchase bonus (if they're the same in VGMdb, as Blah said).

That may cause some additional confusion. What's would be the difference between "Early Purchase" and "Preorder"?

[Cedille]

That may cause some additional confusion. What's would be the difference between "Early Purchase" and "Preorder"?

Oh, yeah. Preorder Bonus virtually often ends up becoming Early Purchase Bonus (in retrospect, I think I also wondered the same thing). Perhaps I'd revert that post or would request a merge with Preorder instead. Or we may not need this type, in the first place.

[Gigablah]

There's a distinction -- preorder bonuses are only acquired within the preorder window before the game is released, while first press bonuses can be acquired upon release. I'm going by the types that publishers themselves use. I confess I didn't quite know what Early Purchase meant, I though it was "purchase made within a short period after release".

Also, the "Retail" under the "Event Only" description should be changed to "General", I guess.

[Datschge]

Well, for me differentiating between "preorder/early purchase" and "first press" is very easy: The former is a product offer limited to costumers who are faster than others. The latter is an offer included in the first production run, with subsequent production runs not including it anymore. It the "first press/early purchase" combination which throws me out of the loop since it combines (as just described) two totally different things, of which one is already pretty much covered by "preorder" (and I would not make a hard distinction between "preorder" and "early purchase" since in many cases shop employees tend to give away "preorder" bonuses to other purchasers as well if they got more of them than actual preorders).

[Secret Squirrel]

Also, the "Retail" under the "Event Only" description should be changed to "General", I guess.

Done.

- Rename First Press Bonus to First Press/Early Purchase bonus (if they're the same in VGMdb, as Blah said).
- Addition of another release type to cover something like Club Nintendo albums, or rewrite the instruction message of "Promo/Gift" so that those album can fit this type.

So it seems like Early Purchase would fit in with Preorder.

What about the Club Nintendo albums? Are they just given out to members of the club (maybe through redeeming points or something)? How about Promo/Gift/Reward?

[Dag]

By the way, when the first printing of an album has something exclusive so the media contents may differ in a later printing (e.g. Frontier Work drama albums, Motoaki Furukawa's solo albums)

I'd also like clarification about this. Adding child albums seems an overkill (often are clones except for one missing track) and for many albums it's pretty much impossible to get real info about later printings. Maybe some kind of checkbox for "first print has bonus stuff"?

[Secret Squirrel]

If the first print just has some extra materials in the case, then we don't always add it. However, if it has an extra track, we must add it for the Freedb.

[Dag]

Ok, then for albums with first printint=extra track I suppose it's ok to add the "limited edition" info even if when we have no info on the regular edition, like Cedille says?

[Cedille]

Personally, I'd prefer we don't add a regular edition nor do we select Limited Edition for the first printing until somebody confirms a later printing. I know some might argue though.


What about the Club Nintendo albums? Are they just given out to members of the club (maybe through redeeming points or something)? How about Promo/Gift/Reward?

I'm fine with this.

[Dag]

Ok, no limited edition if no later printing is added. I'm just trying to be consistent, since I was tweaking/adding Frontier Works albums and was unsure what to do.

[Secret Squirrel]

I'm fine with this.

Oops, I forgot to do this.

Promo/Gift is now Promo/Gift/Reward

[Cedille]

Thanks, but preferably, we can rewrite the instruction message as well.

Promo/Gift
Promotional items with extremely limited printings, prizes awarded to contest winners and so on.

(...btw, as posted elsewhere, how should we deal the release date of those albums?)

[Secret Squirrel]

Release dates of promos and gifts are going to be approximate at best.

Release dates of prizes should be the day the winners are announced. I know there was some talk about shipping dates, but the winner announcement date is the only date that is likely to be preserved somewhere.

[Cedille]

but the winner announcement date is the only date that is likely to be preserved somewhere.
Um, I think we may need an official discussion on this.

I'd agree the announcement date is the best, but in most cases, the announcement wasn't made in the public and winners knew the result for the first time when the delivery service rang the doorbell... I think the shipping date is a little more traceable because the winners might have made a forum/blog post about it. As for Rewards album, things may get even more complicated. There are some pretty high-profile entries typified by Club Nintendo albums, and I think submitters have different policies on the release date (for instance, the current date of SMG2 (http://vgmdb.net/album/19454) soundtrack is the anticipated date when Nintendo will start shipping).

[Secret Squirrel]

Why wasn't there an announcement? That doesn't even make sense, because the whole purpose of a contest is publicity.

Anyway, we can discuss it more officially when we get to release date, which is the next field we'll be covering.

[Cedille]

Btw, when a promo album is enclosed with the limited edition of a game, and the limited edition is only distributed by a specific distributor, which should we select, "Enclosure" or "Retailer Bonus"?

Seems like we don't have a consensus (and I contribute lots to the inconsistency).

[Gigablah]

There's a distinction between retailer and distributor -- retailers refer to shops like Amazon, Toranoana and so on. If the bonus item is "exclusive only to <insert shop name> customers" and such, it's a retailer bonus.

[Cedille]

So if an album is enclosed with the limited edition of the game which we can order only from shops like e-Capcom or Gust shop, should we select "Retailer Bonus" rather than "Enclosure"?

I'm talking about albums like them.
http://vgmdb.net/album/10414
http://vgmdb.net/album/14351
http://vgmdb.net/album/18731
http://vgmdb.net/album/19990

[Ira]

Those are retailers, so I'd say so, yeah.

[Cedille]

Thanks, so I'll adjust those entries later.

[Gigablah]

Whoops, missed this. I should clarify that if the limited edition package is available only through a certain retailer, it should just be "limited edition bonus" since it's included with all copies of the limited edition.

"Retailer bonus" should only be used if it's possible to obtain the package without the particular bonus. Or if it's explicitly stated as such.

[Cedille]

Then, if no objection has been presented since our last discussion, may I request a name change to "Preorder/Early Purchase Bonus"? As Datschge pointed out, both are often essentially the same thing.

[Secret Squirrel]

I've made the change (though it's kind of lengthy now). I think I only had to change it in one place, but do let me know if it's still unchanged in some list.