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----==== Official.FLAC.Standard.Rules v1.1 ====----
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| INTRODUCTION |
| To satisfy the long lasting audiophile's demand for a music scene of higher |
| quality than LAME mpeg compression encoding, and since nowdays space and |
| bandwidth are able to accomodate more, this set of rules were made to |
| initiate the LOSSLESS music scene space. |
| To avoid mistakes made in the music scene in the past, a group of old farts |
| gathered to decide upon these rules. A common understanding amongst all is |
| that material from non-physical media can easily be doubtful of its |
| origin of source and hence of questionable quality. To keep things simple |
| and to avoid mess as experienced in existing music scene, these rules |
| decided to strictly consider only physical media as a valid source. |
| |
| NOTE: The definitions of these keywords are to be interpreted as follows: |
| MUST=obligatory (not allowed if not comply). |
| SHOULD=suggested. |
| CAN+MAY=optional (allowed if not comply). |
| |
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| GENERAL |
| 1.1 Releases must contain an SFV, NFO, JPG (proof). |
| 1.2 Currently valid media sources are: CD, VINYL for the time being. |
| 1.3 Bonus tracks from previously released albums must be released separately.|
| Mandatory " BONUS_TRACKS " dir tagging (ref to rule 3.6). |
| 1.4 Releasing a previously released album again is only allowed if: |
| .1 The previous release was ripped from a lower quality source. |
| Higher to Lower: CD > Vinyl |
| .2 The new release has 30% or 5 tracks more. |
| .3 The new release has bonus tracks and the previous release is older |
| than 91 days. |
| 1.5 Trackfixes are not allowed, bad quality rips require a complete repack. |
| Obligatory -REPACK- dir tagging (ref to rule 3.6). |
| 1.6 The following reasons can be a reason for a bad quality rip: |
| .1 One or more tracks from the release are incomplete or contain skips. |
| .2 The tracks are distorted and constantly clipping (eg. vinyl rips). |
| .3 The tracks contain a constant hiss which was avoidable (eg. vinyl rips)|
| NOTE: A -PROPER- rip with no hiss should exist. (also -PROPER- must |
| mention which release its propering in nfo). |
| 1.7 If tracks from release were already pred as bonus or inside any other |
| reissue/limited/special/deluxe editions they will be considered as dupes.|
| 1.8 The maximum directory and filename length is 128 characters. Directories |
| and filenames must only contain valid characters: a-z A-Z 0-9 _ . - () |
| 1.9 Releasing a retail is not allowed if its 100% identical to advance |
| release. |
| 1.10 All CD releases (including mixed CD's / e.g. DJ-Mixes) MUST be ripped |
| as separated tracks according the TOC (Table Of Contents) on the CD. |
| The only occasion where a CD is released as one single track is when |
| there is only 1 track on the CD. |
| NOTE: Lossless data compression excludes the possibility of the introduction |
| of padding, all lossless audio file formats are inherently gapless. |
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| ENCODING CD/VINYL |
| 2.1 Releases must be encoded using FLAC 1.2.1 with compression level 8 (best)|
| 2.2 Encoding quality must be: 44.100 Hz / 16 bit PCM (2.0) for CD sources |
| and 48.000 Hz / 24 bit PCM (2.0) for VINYL sources. |
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| RELEASE NAME |
| 3.1 The FLAC tag must be included in the release name before YEAR-GROUP. |
| 3.2 Release name MUST contain: Artist, Title, Source, Year, Group. |
| 3.3 Using CATALOGUE number in a release name is optional but recommended. |
| 3.4 Currently valid SOURCE tags: |
| .1 CD, CDS, CDM, CDR, MCD, CDEP (2CD, 3CD etc.) |
| .2 VINYL, VLS, LP, MLP, EP (2VINYL, 3VINYL etc.) |
| 3.5 Currently valid TYPE tags: |
| - Advance, Bonus, Bootleg, Deluxe, Digipak, Ltd, Limited, Mag, Magazine, |
| - Promo, Reissue, Remastered, Retail, Sampler, 7-Inch, 10-Inch, 12-Inch, |
| - Special, Collectors, Ed, Edition, Extra, Flexi, Split, Demo, Tracks. |
| 3.5.1 TYPE can be a combination of the keywords featured in 3.5 rule using |
| the _ (underscore) space replacement. (eg. -Deluxe_Special_Edition-) |
| 3.6 Currently recommended ADDITIONAL tags: |
| - DIRFIX, NFOFIX, PROPER, READNFO, REPACK, BONUS, RERIP. |
| 3.7 LANGUAGE (LANG) must follow the ccTLD identifiers (2-chars): |
| http://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/ |
| 3.8 Mandatory release name formats: |
| - Artist-Title-SOURCE-FLAC-YEAR-GROUP |
| - Artist-Title-LANG-SOURCE-FLAC-YEAR-GROUP |
| - Artist-Title-LANG-TYPE-SOURCE-FLAC-YEAR-GROUP |
| - Artist-Title-(CATALOGUE)-LANG-ADDITIONAL-SOURCE-FLAC-YEAR-GROUP |
| - Artist-Title-(CATALOGUE)-LANG-TYPE-SOURCE-FLAC-YEAR-GROUP |
| - Artist-Title-(CATALOGUE)-LANG-ADDITIONAL-TYPE-SOURCE-FLAC-YEAR-GROUP |
| 3.8.1 Any spaces in ARTIST and TITLE should be replaced with _ (underscore). |
| If ARTIST or TITLE has . (dots) or - (dash), it is encouraged to be |
| kept as close as they appear on the cover/booklet/physical medium, |
| but they do not have to be nuked if not. |
| 3.9 .1 Internal releases must be tagged GRP_iNT or GRP_INT. |
| .2 Internal releases must follow FLAC ruleset. |
| .3 Internal releases must not dupe an existing one that is 732 days old |
| or newer. |
| 3.10 YEAR tag must be the year when the record company/artist published it. |
| (example: release originally released in 1990, but rip is from 2000 |
| reissue correct year would be 2000, with additional TYPE tagging. |
| 3.11 LANGUAGE tag is MANDATORY for non english releases. |
| If the vocals are non-english and the majority of them must be described |
| using one TLD country code abbreviation, then the most appropriate |
| TLD SHOULD be chosen and MUST be used as a tag in the release name. |
| 3.12 Typos in a release name ARE NOT TOLERATED. A proper ADDITIONAL tag must |
be used to fix it -DIRFIX- (ref to rule 3.6). |
| |
| NOTES: |
| - CATALOGUE + TYPE are optional tags. Altho when using, must be placed in |
| correct order. |
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| FILENAME |
| 4.1 Filename must at least contain: Track number, Track artist, Track title. |
| 4.2 All filenames (including SFV, NFO, JPG) should always be lowercase. |
| 4.3 Track titles must be exactly the same as written on the covers/cd/inlay |
| and contain all additional infos like featured artists or remixers as |
| long it does not exceed the maximum filename length (see rule 1.8). |
| 4.4 Recommended filename formats: |
| - nr-artist-title.flac |
| - nr-artist-title_(remixer_or_featured_artist).flac |
| - nr-artist-title__remixer.flac |
| - a1-artist-title.flac |
| - b2-artist-title.flac |
| 4.5 Including -groupname in the filenames is allowed but not recommended. |
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| TAGS |
| 5.1 Filenames must only contain vorbis comment tags. |
| Mandatory ogg comment tags must be unique |
| 5.2 Tags must at least have: TRACKNUMBER, ARTIST, TITLE, ALBUM, GENRE, |
| DATE (format: YYYY). |
| 5.3 FLAC PICTURE block must be empty. Any cover, booklet scans go with |
| additional covers, apply to rule 7.5 |
| 5.4 Tag field contents allow UTF-8 character encoding but it is recommended |
| to use ASCII characters as much as possible. The field contents should |
| not be internationalized; this is only a concession to simplicity not an |
| attempt to exclude the majority of the world that doesn't speak English. |
| 5.5 For the time being GENRE tag MUST be the same for all the files of the |
| release and it MUST be one of the genres listed in the id3 specification |
| list: http://www.id3.org/id3v2.3.0#line-1089 and the additional nullsoft |
| genres index number 125 onwards. namely: |
| Goa, Drum & Bass, Club House, Hardcore, Terror, Indie, BritPop, |
| Negerpunk, Polsk Punk, Beat, Christian Gangsta Rap, Heavy Metal, |
| Black Metal, Crossover, Contemporary Christian, Christian Rock, |
| Merengue, Salsa, Thrash Metal, Anime, JPop, Synthpop, Unknown. |
| 5.5.1 These additional genres are considered valid for the previous ruleset |
| as well and any nuked releases for that reason should be unnuked. |
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| PROMO/BOOTLEG |
| 6.1 Promo releases can always be duped by any retail release even if the |
| tracks on both releases are identical. |
| 6.2 Promo releases with voice over, silence, cuts on tracks are not allowed. |
| 6.3 A bootleg is a release or recording that was not officially released by |
| the artist or record company (unofficial / unlicensed recordings). |
| 6.4 Conditions for bootleg releases are: |
| - There are no signs that the record company really released it. |
| - The artist or record company did not confirm the release as valid. |
| - The record company has no connection to the artist on the release. |
| - The record company does not exist and the release not self-released. |
| - The release is not available at at least three retail stores. |
| 6.5 Currently valid retail stores (alphabetic order): |
| - www.amazon.com |
| - www.boomkat.com |
| - www.bestbuy.com |
| - www.cduniverse.com |
| - www.decks.de |
| - www.deejay.de |
| - www.hmv.com |
| - www.juno.co.uk |
| - www.sonymusicstore.com |
| - www.virgin.com |
| - www.ukdancerecords.com |
| - www.walmart.com |
| NOTE: The shop itself must sell the record, no private sellers. |
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| PROOF |
| 7.1 Releases must always contain a proof CAMERA picture in JPG format. |
| 7.2 Proof camera pictures must contain both, medium and cover together. |
| If cover isnt possible, a booklet or promo sheet or anything valid |
| proving ripper has release. If the medium/cover/booklet contain anything |
| that may expose your identity, then that part of image can be blurred or |
| blackened. |
| 7.3 The proof picture MUST include small piece of paper over medium and/or |
| cover with GRP name. |
| Artist, title and any other relevant info that proves release, must not |
| be hidden behind the piece of paper. |
| 7.4 GROUP tag must be photographed in the proof picture, software-edited |
| tags are considered invalid proof. Camera picture proof must not be |
| changed except to hide anything that might expose ripper (read rule 7.2).|
| 7.5 Additional scans may be added but DO NOT count for proof. |
| 7.6 Proof camera pictures resolution must be at least 640 width and 480 |
| height in JPEG format. |
| Artist and/or album/single title must be clearly readable. |
| 7.7 Proof fixes are not allowed, missing proof picture or bad resolution |
| requires a complete repack. |
| NOTE: EXIF metadata should be removed from JPEG files! Uniquely identifying |
| information such as the camera serial number and GPS coordinates can |
| pose a security threat if not removed, so this is very ESSENTIAL! |
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| |
| CHANGELOG: |
| |
| 2011-10-03 first version (v1.0) |
| 2011-10-10 rule 1.10 with NOTE added to forbid single file+cue unless |
| source is single track with index. |
| 2011-10-10 rule 3.5.1 added (explanation for TYPE tag). |
| 2011-10-10 rule 3.8.1 added (explanation for ARTIST and TITLE tags). |
| 2011-10-10 rule 5.1 adjusted |
| 2011-10-10 rule 5.5 adjusted |
| 2011-10-10 rule 5.5.1 added |
| |
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| |
| Rules signed by (in alphabetic order): |
| |
| 2Eleven AUDIO BriBerY dL FWYH GRAVEWISH LITF MANDY PsyCZ SATURN SCORN SPL |
| |
| FLAC rules V1.1 apply from 2011-10-03 00:00:00 GMT. |
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