Frequently Asked Questions

Adding setlists

Q: I was at a concert, how do I add a new setlist?

A: First check if the setlist is missing using the searchbox. If it is missing, then this is how you can create a setlist:

1. Get yourself a free account
2. Have a look at the Guidelines and the Tutorial
3. Click Add setlist on any page
4. Add the setlist

Q: I'm going to a concert in a few months, can I add the setlist now?

A: You can add the event and even mark yourself as attendee for future concerts, but you won't be able to add songs. This is only possible (and allowed) after the concert has taken place. As a friendly reminder, only songs that were actually played can be added and assumed setlists are not allowed.

Q: I'm trying to change the date of an existing setlist to a date in the future, but the website won't let me. What can I do?

A: Please create a new setlist and report the other one as a duplicate.

Q: I can't find future events using the setlist search, why is that?

A: Click the checkbox that says Include upcoming shows in the filter options right above the first search result (on mobile click the Show/Hide filter options link first). Upcoming shows require an extra click because setlist.fm is still about what was actually played during a concert and the search is primarily intended for finding setlists of concerts that have already happened.

Editing setlists

Q: A setlist is missing! How dare you?

A: If you know of a concert that isn't listed on setlist.fm but should be, just go ahead and add it yourself (but be sure to check the Guidelines and the Tutorial first).

Q: The setlist is incorrect and/or the venue or date is wrong. What can I do?

A: If you're sure there's an error in a setlist, just go ahead and edit it yourself. Be sure to add a source for your edit though. An online source or a link to a ticket stub should be enough in most cases.

Q: A user edited my setlist! Is this even allowed?

A:  setlist.fm is a collaborative community effort. That means that anybody is free to edit setlists if they are missing, incomplete or wrong.

Q: My song names/tour name always get "auto corrected" whenever I change a song. I'm 100% sure my changes are correct. What can I do?

A: If you're really sure that the auto correction is incorrect, then there's an option in your user settings that allows you to display an enable/disable auto correction checkbox on the edit form.

Q: Why do you want to know my current location and what happens to it once I give it to you?

A: We use your current location to give you results relevant to where you are. Thus search results might prefer venues and setlists near you to others. We don't store your location, we just use it while you're surfing on setlist.fm.

Q: There are two setlists from the same event in your database! How can I get rid of the wrong one?

A: If there are two setlists of the same event, or a setlist of an event that never happened (such as Elvis Presley playing in Atlantis on the 32nd of December), please report the problem.

Q: I clicked "new way to edit setlists" and want to change back to the old way of editing, how can I do that?

A: Go to your settings page and scroll down to "Setlist Edit Settings". Change the value in the dropdown choice with the label "Preferred Edit Format" back to one of the options under "Old Editor".
Since we're constantly trying to improve the new way of editing, you could do us a huge favor by telling us why you want to switch back in the New Editor Forum Topic. Thanks!

Q: Why do all of my edits constantly get reverted or deleted? What can I do?

A: Your edits didn't follow the Guidelines and/or you didn't provide adequate sources for your edits. Stop editing for now and check the edit history of the setlists that got reverted and read the comments, they explain what you did wrong and often include a link to the applicable section of the guidelines. You can either ask for further information by posting a comment to the setlist or by posting your dispute to the Website Support Forum. In some cases you might have had exchanges with users with badges, then your best shot might be to get in touch with them and try to solve the issue amicably.

Q: Why am I barred from editing certain setlists?

A: Some setlists can only be edited by experienced setlist.fm users. Once you've gained more editing experience, you'll be able to edit all setlists. It's best to familiarize yourself with the Guidelines first, then view on existing setlists how experienced people edit them. Also consider reporting problems and participating in the forum. Especially the Website Support Forum is a good place to gain more experience. If you think that there must be an error, since you already are an experienced user, then please post your dispute to the corresponding topic in the forum.

Sources and edit comments

Q: Why is it required to add sources and/or a comment to each and every setlist I edit?

A: It's important to know where you got your information from to check if it's correct. Different sources can have different information for the same concert, thus it's a lot easier for other users to retrace your edit and check the sources before editing themselves - or asking you for a source. It simply avoids arguments and prevents revert wars. Take a look at the Guidelines for sources for examples of valid sources.

Q: Sure, I get why I need to add sources when I add setlists, but a lot of my edits are about fixing typos or applying other minor stuff that's backed by the guidelines. Why bother adding a comment for something that doesn't need an explanation?

A: Something that seems obvious to you or other experienced users can be pretty confusing for people who have only recently started to edit setlists. If you're applying simple fixes, then adding a link to the section in the guidelines that explains your edit in detail actually helps them a lot.

Q: I'm still not convinced. I'm a trusted user, you know me. All my edits are legitimate. I don't think that I need to add sources or explain my edits. Can you make an exception for me?

A: Sorry, but no. It's just that the same rules apply to everybody and experienced users, roadies, moderators, admins should all lead by example to make it easier for new users. Also it often helps to be able to explain edits years after you did them to people inquiring.

Q: But always writing a comment slows me down considerably. I'm adding whole gigographies and writing a comment each and every time adds up to quite a bit of additional time. Is there a way to speed this up?

A: Yes there is. You don't need to write the same source/comment over and over again. Just use the "new" (as of August 2020, change it in your settings under "Preferred Edit Format") edit form and your most recent sources will always be displayed before submitting. So it's just a single click that takes 2 seconds, but only if you're a slow clicker, which you aren't.

Q: I'm always adding sources and users still tell me to provide valid sources. They should stop harassing me and accept the sources. Can you block them?

A: Nobody's trying to harass you. The likeliest case is that your comments and sources either lack validity or don't add much information. You should focus on explaining why you edited the setlist, not what you did. For example "changed cover artist" isn't a very good comment. It's obvious by having a look at the change. Better try something like "Changed cover artist for 'Gloria' from 'Van Morrison' to 'Them' as it's been first released by 'Them' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_(Them_song)), see The Guidelines for cover songs".

Deleting setlists

Q: How can I delete a setlist?

A: Use a one of the report links and one of our skilled moderators will look into it. Don't post it to the forum.
If you are logged in, you can report it by clicking one of the "Report a problem" links on the bottom right below the setlist. Please also take a look at the "Report a problem" section below.

Adding new artists

Q: I'd like to add a setlist of an artist who isn't in the existing list, how can I do that?

A: Short version: Follow the instructions on the Import Artist Page. Long version: In order to keep our database clean we strongly rely on the musicbrainz.org database. Each artist that got accepted by the Musicbrainz community will eventually get to our database as well. So if you'd like to add an artist to our database, head over to Musicbrainz and add the artist there. Note that it might take several days until the artist gets to the setlist.fm database... but most of the time it should be imported straight away if you use the form on the aforementioned page. We know that's a bit tedious, but it's in the interests of all users to have a clean database, or would you like to see setlists for NIN, N.I.N. and Nine Inch Nails as three separate bands?

Q: The artist is on musicbrainz.org, but I can't add them to setlist.fm, why?

A: There can be several reasons why an artist couldn't be imported, starting with the most common:

1. The artist is a new addition to Musicbrainz: you just have to give it some more time (days) to appear on setlist.fm
2. The artist doesn't have a primary English alias: This affects artists that have a non-Latin name on Musicbrainz. In this case an artist can't be imported without a primary English alias. Be sure that the alias looks similar to this example .
3. The artist is intentionally filtered due to legal or ethical restrictions.

Lesser known artists and bands

Q: There's a great local band I've seen last weekend, they don't have any record deal or album but just rock the house. Can I add setlists for such 'lesser known' bands as well?

A: Certainly! Just be sure to add them on musicbrainz.org (see this question: Add a new artists) in order to appear in our database.

Adding new albums

Q: I'd like to add an album that isn't present in the "assign album" list, how can I do that?

A:  In order to keep our database clean we strongly rely on the musicbrainz.org database. Each album that got accepted by the Musicbrainz community will eventually get to our database as well. So if you'd like to add an album to our database, head over to Musicbrainz and add the album there. Note that only official albums are imported and that it might take several days until the album gets to the setlist.fm database. Also be sure to abide by Musicbrainz's guidelines at all times!

Q: An album that is listed on musicbrainz.org doesn't get imported, what should I do?

A:  Here's a checklist what to do, please be sure to complete each item in the list before posting anything to the forum:

1. Check if it's an official album.
   1. For reference, open the musicbrainz.org Release Group page of an album that you know that has been imported to setlist.fm. For example Out of Time by R.E.M.
   2. Open the Release Group page of the album that you'd like to import
   3. On your reference page, see where it says Official? It's right between the table headers and the link to the first release.
   4. Check on the page of the album you'd like to import whether it says Official there too. If it says (Unknown) then you need to edit the release group on musicbrainz.org. But only set it to Official if it's indeed an official album. Providing wrong data on musicbrainz.org to get around the setlist.fm import restrictions is not allowed. It'll work too if it's a previously official album that now has the status Withdrawn.
2. Check if there are non-Latin characters in the album's name
   1. Stay on the Release Group page you opened in the last step.
   2. Have a look at the Release Group's name at the very top and the list of release names in the table. If neither the Release Group's name nor any of the listed releases have a name that consists only of Latin characters, then you need to add an alias for the Release Group on musicbrainz.org.
3. Wait at least two weeks for your edits on musicbrainz.org to be approved and imported to setlist.fm.

If you don't want to edit stuff on musicbrainz.org, then that's fine too. Just go ahead and report the issue in the forum topic mentioned below. It would help a lot if you identified the problem before posting though (official album and/or non-Latin characters).

Q: I completed the checklist above and the album still doesn't show up. What to do now?

A: Report it in the Albums Missing Despite Being on Musicbrainz forum topic. Be sure to mention that you've completed the checklist above (or at least that you tried to), otherwise chances are that you'll just get sent back to the FAQ.

Festivals

Q: The festival count is incorrect! I'm sure there are some festivals missing. What can I do?

A: Yes, there could be some festivals missing. If you care to help, either learn how to add festivals or post it to the forum.

Q: How can I add myself to the list of festival attendees?

A: Go to the setlists of the concerts you attended at the festival and add yourself there by clicking I was there. Note that you have to be logged in for that.

Q: There's a typo in the festival name, the dates are incorrect or the venues aren't correct! Should I just create a new festival and leave the wrong one?

A: No! For the sake of rock and roll, no! Please report the existing festival instead.

Q: I'm really having difficulties adding festivals, what can I do?

A: Have a look at the festival guidelines first. If you're still stuck, then post it to the forum.

Support acts

Q: How about support acts? Is there a way to group different concerts together?

A: We'll take care of that. Just be sure that the venues match and that the dates are right - then you'll see the concerts neatly grouped together on the setlist page.

Attended concerts and personal statistics

Q: I've seen those nifty statistics of other users. How do I get mine?

A: Easy, click the "I Was There" button on any setlist - just be sure to be signed in!

Q: I don't want others to see my attended concerts and personal statistics. How can I achieve that?

A: Go to your settings page and scroll down to "Privacy Settings". There, set the value in the drop down choice for "Attendances and concert statistics" to Only you. Note that if you edit a setlist where you marked yourself as attendee, it will still show that you attended the concert next to your edit comment, but not in the list of attendees.

Profile Image

Q: How can I change my profile image? There's no upload button ...

A: Either connect your setlist.fm account to your Facebook account on your settings page or head over to Gravatar.com and add a pic there. Just be sure that the email addresses match.

Badges

Q: Some users have badges next to their names. Why?

A: Users with badges next to their names have special powers, currently there are three different types of badges:

• Red badge: Admins – They know what's under the hood. Responsible for bugs, errors but also for new features.
• Blue badge: Moderators – Experts. They know everything about setlist.fm, so their decisions are not made at random but are based on knowledge and experience. Furthermore, they have special powers for setlists, songs and artists.
• Purple badge: Roadies – Experts in their niche. They're mostly taking care of their favourite artists and venues, but also possess special rights for advanced features.

Friends

Q: Some users have friends on their user profile, how can I "friend" someone?

A: The list of friends are the users' Facebook friends. Just connect your setlist.fm account with your facebook account and all of your friends who did the same will appear on your userpage. If no friends appear, be sure to tell them about setlist.fm and to connect their accounts ;-).

Importing attended concerts from other sites

Q: I remember setlist.fm could be used to import events from last.fm, what happened to this feature?

A: Unfortunately this feature is no longer available as last.fm removed this feature from their public API. Sorry.

Connecting with other services

Q: What's the benefit of connecting one of my other accounts (Twitter, Facebook, Google and the likes) with my setlist.fm account?

A: The main benefit is that you don't need to worry about usernames and passwords anymore. Once connected, you will be able to sign into your setlist.fm account with the credentials of your Facebook, Twitter etc. account. Connecting will also make it easier for you to share things. 'Is it secure?' you might ask? See the next question.

Q: Is there a security risk when connecting my accounts with setlist.fm? Like giving you my precious passwords?

A: No need to worry, setlist.fm will never see any of your passwords from the connected websites. It'll never even come near to our servers.

Q: I hit the facebook connect button a while ago, now it seems like I'm stuck with a strange username like fb:1234567890. How can I change it?

A: Go to your settings page and change it there.

Cancel/delete my account

Q: I think I don't need my account anymore, how can I delete it?

A: Although the setlist.fm team generally considers this a bad decision, there's a section on your settings page where you can do your dirty deed. No seriously, before you cancel your account, you can always tell us what's wrong and we'll try to sort it out without having to cancel your account.

What is musicbrainz.org?

Q: You often mention musicbrainz.org when it comes to adding data or data quality in general. Is musicbrainz.org also part of setlist.fm?

A: No, musicbrainz.org isn't part of setlist.fm. It's an amazing open data service with a structured open online database for music. The people there do a brilliant job in adding, editing and checking (among other things) artist and release data. setlist.fm uses this checked data for e.g. artists and albums.

Q: I started correcting some entries on musicbrainz.org to better fit on setlist.fm. That's ok, right?

A: No, please don't do this. Please stick to the musicbrainz.org guidelines at all times. There are a lot of websites depending on Musicbrainz's data to be correct. If there's a problem with data from Musicbrainz on setlist.fm, please rather post it to the forum.

Editing Albums

Q: Can I edit album information directly on setlist.fm? Or is it possible to "force" setlist.fm to import one release from a Musicbrainz release group over another?

A: Album information can only be edited on Musicbrainz. Usually it will be the earliest release in the release group that gets imported; you can't force a later release to take precedence.

Q: Will setlist.fm import disambiguation notes?

A: Yes. On Musicbrainz, for artists who have multiple albums with the same title, you may notice a grey disambiguation note in parentheses after the album title on Musicbrainz (e.g. "(first album)", "(2002)", etc.).

Q: My album has non-Latin characters in the tracklist. Help!

A: You may have some experience adding primary English aliases for artists whose name is written in an exotic script. Getting albums to import is a similar process, just a bit more complicated.

1. First, open up the release group in question. Open the release you'd like to import in a new tab, then click Edit to see its Release Information. In your original tab (still looking at the release group), click Add release in the editing panel on the right.
2. Copy-and-paste all the Release Information from the existing release into your new release. (Language, script, release date, country, record label, cat. no., barcode, packaging, and annotation/disambiguation/external links if you wish.) Then, close the existing release to prevent yourself from accidentally changing anything.
3. In your new release, for the release Status, choose Pseudo-Release in the drop-down menu. Click Next at the bottom of the screen.
4. Find your existing release in the list of similar releases, select it, and click Next.
5. Replace every song with non-Latin characters in the tracklist with its Latin equivalent. This can be either its transliteration or translation, depending on what information is available on the Internet/what the artist prefers. Check Wikipedia and the artist's website. Try to use official translations rather than your own translations whenever possible and be sure to comply with Musicbrainz's Transliterations Guidelines. Click Next.
6. Now you need to link each track title you changed with its original title. Go through the list, clicking each angry red Edit button and selecting the original title in the list (almost always the first one suggested). When all tracks have been linked, click Next.
7. Add an edit note providing your source for the translation/transliteration, and then Enter your edit!
8. Wait for up to a week for the data to be transferred to setlist.fm's servers.

Q: My album also has non-Latin characters in its title. When will this story ever end?

A: If your album title includes non-Latin characters in the title only (and not in its tracks), then see below. If both album title and tracks contain non-Latin characters then you have a few extra steps:

1. Create a Pseudo-Release (as explained above).
2. Open the release group in question. You should see a list of the official release(s) and your pseudo-release. Open your official release and pseudo-release in two separate tabs.
3. On the pseudo-release page, click Edit relationships in the editing panel on the right.
4. Scroll down to Release Relationships, then click Add relationship. Where it says Artist, click that menu and select Release.
5. Copy-and-paste the Musicbrainz ID from the URL of the official release (in your other tab) into the paste an MBID field of this window. Ensure that transliterated/translated track listings is selected in the Type menu, click Change direction (it should now read transliterated/translated track listing of), and then click Done.
6. Enter your edit. Your pseudo-release is now linked with the official release, and the title of the pseudo-release can be used in lieu of the official release's title on setlist.fm. Again, wait for up to a week for your update to be transferred.

Q: My album only has non-Latin characters in its title. What can I do?

A: If only the album title includes non-Latin characters, then you can just add an alias to the release group:

1. Open the release group in question an click on Aliases in the tabbed navigation.
2. Click Add a new alias.
3. Add an alias name that contains only Latin characters in the field that says Alias name
4. Optionally provide a Locale in the Locale field.
5. In the Type field, choose the value Release group name
6. Provide an edit note in the very last field and enter your edit.