MusicBrainz

How to Use This API

1. Search Artists

Use Lucene-style query syntax:

https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/artist/?query=beatles&fmt=json

2. Search Recordings (Songs)

https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/recording/?query=artist:radiohead+track:creep&fmt=json

3. Get Artist with Releases

Include release groups in the response using the inc parameter:

https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/artist/a74b1b7f-71a5-4011-9441-d0b5e4122711?inc=release-groups&fmt=json

4. JavaScript — Search Artist Discography

async function searchArtist(name) {
  const resp = await fetch(
    `https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/artist/?query=${encodeURIComponent(name)}&fmt=json`
  );
  const data = await resp.json();
  
  if (data.artists?.length) {
    const artist = data.artists[0];
    console.log(`Found: ${artist.name}`);
    console.log(`Type: ${artist.type}`);
    console.log(`Country: ${artist.country}`);
    console.log(`Born: ${artist['life-span']?.begin || '?'}`);
  }
}

searchArtist('radiohead');

5. Python — Get Album Tracklist

import requests

params = {
    'query': 'artist:miles+davis+album:kind+of+blue',
    'fmt': 'json',
    'limit': 1
}
resp = requests.get(
    'https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/release/',
    params=params
)
release = resp.json()['releases'][0]
print(f"Album: {release['title']}")
print(f"Date: {release.get('date', '?')}")
print(f"Tracks: {release.get('track-count', '?')}")

# Get track list using the release ID
rid = release['id']
tracks = requests.get(
    f'https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/release/{rid}',
    params={'inc': 'recordings', 'fmt': 'json'}
).json()
for track in tracks.get('media', [{}])[0].get('tracks', []):
    print(f"  {track['number']}. {track['title']}")