MusicBrainz Public API Docs

MusicBrainz is a community-maintained open-source database that collects information about music artists, releases, and tracks. It provides a public API that allows developers to access this rich data and build innovative music applications.

The MusicBrainz Public API supports REST conventions over HTTP through XML web services. This documentation covers the Version 2 of the MusicBrainz API. In this blog, we will explore the MusicBrainz API and how to use it with JavaScript.

Getting Started

To get started with the MusicBrainz API, you need to create an account on the MusicBrainz website. With your account, you can generate an API key that you will need to include in the headers of your requests.

Let's walk through an example of how to use the MusicBrainz API and retrieve information about an artist using JavaScript:

const artistName = 'Coldplay';
const requestUrl = `https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/artist?query=${artistName}&fmt=json`;

fetch(requestUrl, {
  headers: {
    'User-Agent': 'My Music App',
    'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY',
  },
})
  .then((response) => response.json())
  .then((data) => {
    console.log(data.artists[0].name);
  })
  .catch((error) => {
    console.error(error);
  });

In this example, we are making a GET request to the MusicBrainz API to search for an artist named Coldplay. We are also including our API key in the Authorization header of the request.

Once we receive the response from the API, we extract the name of the first artist that matches the search query and log it to the console.

API Endpoints

The MusicBrainz API provides endpoints to retrieve different types of data including artists, releases, and tracks. Here are some of the endpoints that you can use with JavaScript:

Search Artists

const artistName = 'Linkin Park';
const requestUrl = `https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/artist?query=${artistName}&fmt=json`;

fetch(requestUrl, {
  headers: {
    'User-Agent': 'My Music App',
    'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY',
  },
})
  .then((response) => response.json())
  .then((data) => {
    console.log(data.artists);
  })
  .catch((error) => {
    console.error(error);
  });

Get Artist

const artistId = '0039c7ae-e1a7-4a7d-9b49-0cbc716821a6';
const requestUrl = `https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/artist/${artistId}?inc=aliases&fmt=json`;

fetch(requestUrl, {
  headers: {
    'User-Agent': 'My Music App',
    'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY',
  },
})
  .then((response) => response.json())
  .then((data) => {
    console.log(data.name);
  })
  .catch((error) => {
    console.error(error);
  });

Search Releases

const artistName = 'Radiohead';
const requestUrl = `https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/release?query=artist:${artistName}&fmt=json`;

fetch(requestUrl, {
  headers: {
    'User-Agent': 'My Music App',
    'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY',
  },
})
  .then((response) => response.json())
  .then((data) => {
    console.log(data.releases);
  })
  .catch((error) => {
    console.error(error);
  });

Get Release

const releaseId = 'c032e638-1bea-4f0e-8e92-38182c3f560c';
const requestUrl = `https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/release/${releaseId}?inc=labels&fmt=json`;

fetch(requestUrl, {
  headers: {
    'User-Agent': 'My Music App',
    'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY',
  },
})
  .then((response) => response.json())
  .then((data) => {
    console.log(data.title);
  })
  .catch((error) => {
    console.error(error);
  });

Search Recordings

const trackName = 'Paradise';
const artistName = 'Coldplay';
const requestUrl = `https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/recording?query=${trackName} AND artist:${artistName}&fmt=json`;

fetch(requestUrl, {
  headers: {
    'User-Agent': 'My Music App',
    'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY',
  },
})
  .then((response) => response.json())
  .then((data) => {
    console.log(data.recordings);
  })
  .catch((error) => {
    console.error(error);
  });

Get Recording

const recordingId = 'ab197732-20e5-4e4b-8f20-02d5b589defb';
const requestUrl = `https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/recording/${recordingId}?inc=isrcs&fmt=json`;

fetch(requestUrl, {
  headers: {
    'User-Agent': 'My Music App',
    'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY',
  },
})
  .then((response) => response.json())
  .then((data) => {
    console.log(data.title);
  })
  .catch((error) => {
    console.error(error);
  });

Conclusion

The MusicBrainz Public API provides a wealth of data that can be used to build innovative music applications. With the help of JavaScript, you can easily incorporate this data into your web application and create a seamless music browsing experience for your users.

Explore the MusicBrainz API documentation to discover more endpoints and start building amazing music apps today!