Library
MusicBrainz: The Metadata Layer Behind Every Recommendation
Almost everything in Aurral is joined on a MusicBrainz identifier. It is what links a file on disk to a catalogue entry, a Lidarr artist to a recommendation, and a Flow track to an album. Without it, everything still works but matches get unreliable.
Why the identifier matters more than the name
Artist names are not unique. Several distinct artists share a name, and one artist may be spelled several ways across releases. A MusicBrainz ID, or MBID, is a stable join key, so Aurral uses it wherever one is available.
Your files usually already carry MBIDs in their tags if Lidarr or another tool wrote them. Aurral reads tags off disk rather than asking Lidarr for artist data, which means a retag with no size change is the one case where a quick scan cannot see the change and a full scan is needed.
Why only genre tags count
MusicBrainz tags are free-form, which is exactly the problem. A release may be tagged seen live, female vocalists, 90s, one-man-army and shoegaze, and only the last of those is a genre.
Aurral counts only tags MusicBrainz marks as a genre, plus a short list of broad fallbacks such as indie and rap. Descriptive and situational tags are deliberately excluded so they cannot distort genre matching. If they counted, a handful of mood tags would outvote actual genre agreement and every recommendation would drift towards the same narrow mood.
- Counted: tags MusicBrainz types as a genre, plus indie, rap and a few other broad ones.
- Not counted: seen live, female vocalists, one-man-army, 90s and similar.
Artists with no identifier
When a file has no MusicBrainz artist tag, Aurral looks the artist name up after each scan and links it only when exactly one MusicBrainz artist has that name or alias. A name shared by several artists stays unlinked, because guessing would merge two different catalogues.
An unlinked artist still sits in the library and still has a Discover page. It just cannot be reliably matched to a similar-artist lookup.
To fix a wrong or missing link, open the artist menu and choose Edit MusicBrainz ID. Paste an artist ID or a musicbrainz.org artist link. If another library artist already holds that ID, Aurral merges the two rather than creating a duplicate. Later scans keep your choice. Artists that Lidarr manages cannot be edited here, since the source of truth is Lidarr.
Rate limits and contact email
MusicBrainz asks API users to identify themselves. Aurral sends a contact address so an unusually heavy scanner does not get your whole IP range throttled. If scans start failing with rate-limit errors, that identification is worth checking first.
Rate limits matter most on a first scan of a very large library, because that is when the request rate spikes. Subsequent scans touch only changed files and are far lighter.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a MusicBrainz account?
No account is needed. Aurral does need a contact address configured for its API requests, which is a courtesy to MusicBrainz rather than a login.
Why did my artist not link to MusicBrainz?
Either the file had no MBID tag, or the name matched more than one MusicBrainz artist. Both are common, and neither is an error. Link it manually from the artist menu.
Does Aurral write tags to my files?
Aurral manages and indexes files but the tagging workflow belongs to whatever writes your tags, usually Lidarr. Aurral reads what is there.
Why do some genres never appear in my Discover page?
Because they are not genres as far as matching is concerned. Tags that describe a scene, a format or a mood are ignored on purpose.
Other library integrations
Everything else
All integrations
Library
The music manager decides what ends up on disk. Aurral never writes into someone else's library folder.
Downloads
Where the audio actually comes from. Source order decides which client gets asked first.
Playback
Playback stays where it is. Aurral publishes playlists into the server you already run.
Listening history
History is the strongest recommendation signal you already own. Wire it in and the picks improve.
Alerts and shows
Optional signals that turn a static library into something that keeps moving.
Connect MusicBrainz to the rest of your stack
Nothing here requires restarting anything else. Add it when it becomes the piece you were missing.