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WEB_FLAC Provisional Ruleset Beta 1.0
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| INTRODUCTION |
| |
| |
| Well it's been some days now since we released the first version of this |
| ruleset and we've had alot of geat feedback! Shout out to the other new |
| groups pitching in! |
| |
| We decided to update our Beta 0.1 ruleset with some changes. Find them |
| bellow! |
| |
| After much thought we decided to change the section to WEB_FLAC to further |
| differenciate ourselves. Siteops: don't forget to make this daydir on your |
| sites! |
| |
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| GENERAL |
| 1.1 A release MUST contain a SFV, NFO, and image of the album art |
| .1 Valid filetypes are: .flac, .jpg, .nfo, and .sfv. |
| 1.2 The highest available bitrate on the source must be used. Ex. on Tidal |
| don't use LOSSLESS when HI-FI is available, use HI-FI. |
| 1.3 The maximum directory and filename length is 128 characters. Directories |
| and filenames MUST only contain valid characters: a-z A-Z 0-9 _ . - () |
| 1.4 The NFO must contain: artist, title, encoder settings and webshop URL. |
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| DUPES |
| 2.1 While RETAIL FLAC is a separate section we do acknowledge that they |
| exist and WEB_FLAC SHALL NOT allow the same release if previously |
| released in RETAIL FLAC |
| 2.2 However, any release with a different audio mode (i.e. Dolby Atmos or |
| Sony 360) or higher bitrate/samplerate can dupe a previous version. |
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| ENCODING |
| 3.1 Release the WEB_FLAC as you downloaded/copied it. No re-encoding is |
| allowed. |
| 3.2 There is currently no restriction on encoder types or minimum bitrate |
| standards. However 2.x dupe rules apply when considering releasing content |
| previously released as FLAC or WEB_FLAC. |
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| RELEASE NAME |
| 4.1 The tag -WEB_FLAC- MUST be in uppercase in the release name and always |
| after -YEAR- and before -GROUP tags. |
| 4.2 Release name MUST contain at least: Artist, Title, Source, Year, Group. |
| .1 ARTIST tag means performer, band, musician. MUST be a unique name. |
| (ie. no OST in place of artist). |
| If not possible to identify, the word "Unknown" can be used. |
| The use of VA (Various Artist) tag is left up to the discretion of |
| the group, but some common sense should be applied. |
| For example: a GROUP album, regardless of the amount of members of |
| said group, shouldn't need VA applied. |
| However a movie soundtrack containing tracks from 14 individuals or |
| 'Top 100 Trance Tracks' would always be tagged VA. |
| .2 TITLE tag means the title of album. It MUST be a unique name. |
| (ie. no Self-titled). If not possible to identify, the word "Unknown" |
| can be used. (Self name artist title MUST not be considered an unknown|
| title). |
| 4.3 Using CATALOGUE number in a release name is optional but recommended. |
| 4.4 Valid ADDITIONAL tags: (Uppercase MUST be used) |
| - DIRFIX, NFOFIX, READNFO, PROPER, REAL_PROPER, REPACK, REAL_REPACK. |
| .1 If an ADDITIONAL tag is used, the nfo MUST mention the release name |
| that it is replacing or updating. |
| .2 DIRFIX and NFOFIX are exempt from Rule 1.1. |
| .3 A DIRFIX can only be used to fix parts of the release name that do |
| not affect Vorbis tag contents. (i.e CATALOGUE and TYPE) |
| 4.5 LANGUAGE (LANG) MUST follow the ISO 3166-1 alpha 2 standard |
| (Capitalized letters MUST be used) |
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-2 |
| 4.6 Mandatory release name formats: |
| - Artist-Title-YEAR-WEB_FLAC-GROUP |
| - Artist-TItle-TYPE-YEAR-WEB_FLAC-GROUP |
| - Artist-Title-(CATALOGUE)-LANG-YEAR-WEB_FLAC-GROUP |
| .1 Any spaces in ARTIST and TITLE should be replaced with _ (underscore).|
| If ARTIST or TITLE has . (dots) or - (dash), it SHOULD be |
| kept as close as they appear on the cover/booklet/physical medium, |
| but they do not have to be nuked if not. |
| 4.7 .1 Internal releases MUST be tagged GRP_iNT or GRP_INT. |
| .2 Internal releases MUST follow WEB_FLAC ruleset. With the exception of |
| higher quality releases, which may dupe lower quality releases but must |
| include written justification in the NFO. |
| 4.8 YEAR tag MUST be the year when the record company/artist published it. |
| For non-original presses, the additional TYPE tag MUST be applied. |
| (example: release originally released in 1990, but rip is from 2000 |
| reissue, correct year would be 2000, with additional TYPE tagging). |
| 4.9 TYPE tag should be used to specify the type. This should be specified |
| when necessary in order to avoid ambiguity. |
| Valid TYPE tags are: |
| REISSUE, REMASTERED, <country> (eg: DE_REISSUE), LIMITED_EDITION, OST, |
| DELUXE_EDITION, SPECIAL_EDITION, CLEAN, EXPLICIT, EXPANDED_EDITION |
| & SINGLE |
| SINGLE tag must be used if the release contains 1 track |
| note: CLEAN is allowed but discouraged, use with discretion. |
| 4.10 LANGUAGE tag is MANDATORY for non-English releases. |
| If the vocals are non-English and the majority of them are best |
| described using one TLD country code abbreviation, then the most |
| appropriate TLD SHOULD be chosen and used as a tag in the release |
| name. |
| 4.11 Typos in releases (TITLE, ARTIST, YEAR etc.) leaving an invalid VORBIS |
| tag ARE NOT TOLERATED and require a complete REPACK. |
| .1 ARTIST and/or TITLE must not be translated to English from their |
| native language. English alphabet characters must be used to reflect |
| artist and/or title names (ref to rule 1.5). |
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| FILE NAME |
| 5.1 Filename MUST at least contain: Track number, Track artist, Track title. |
| 5.2 All filenames (including SFV, NFO, JPG) MUST be lowercase. |
| 5.3 Track titles MUST be exactly the same as the official tracklist found on |
| the site. |
| Tracklist containing all additional infos like featured artists or |
| remixers, if they are present, as long it does not exceed the maximum |
| filename length (see rule 1.5). |
| If additional information can be found printed on the covers and/or |
| booklet, it is encouraged to write them aswell. |
| .1 Releases with differences in tracklist because of different pressings |
| are not subjected to nukes or PROPERs. (i.e an Asian release tracklist|
| might miss description of featured artist(s) while a US release has |
| that description.) |
| .2 If the tracklist is written in more than two languages, the ripper is |
| free to write them both or just a single language. If one of the |
| languages is English then the English tracklist MUST be used. |
| NOTE: If the tracklist has changes, due to pressing errors for example, |
| it is encouraged to correct and explain them in the .nfo. |
| 5.4 Recommended filename formats: |
| - nr-artist-title.flac |
| - nr-artist-title_(remixer_or_featured_artist).flac |
| - a1-artist-title.flac |
| - b2-artist-title.flac |
| 5.5 Including -groupname in the filenames is allowed but not recommended. |
| 5.6 In VA releases the actual artist name MUST be before song title. VA |
| (Various Artists) is not a valid artist (01-va-song_title is |
| unacceptable). |
| .1 Excludes single audio track releases if it's a compilation of several |
| tunes produced/mixed/remixed by a single artist/producer. |
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| VORBIS TAGS |
| 6.1 FLAC files MUST contain Vorbis comments. Vorbis comment field names |
| MUST be unique. Multiple comment fields are NOT allowed even though |
| the specification supports this. |
| 6.2 All FLAC files MUST have the following Vorbis comment field names and |
| corresponding field contents: TRACKNUMBER, ARTIST, TITLE, ALBUM, GENRE, |
| and DATE (format: YYYY). |
| .1 All FLAC files SHOULD also have the following Vorbis comment field |
| names and corresponding field contents: TOTALTRACKS, DISCNUMBER and |
| TOTALDISCS. |
| .2 For VA releases the ARTIST field contents MUST have the corresponding |
| artist name not "VA". (Exempts rule 5.6.1) |
| 6.3 Vorbis comment field contents use UTF-8 character encoding to allow easy |
| representation of any language. It is recommended to use UTF-8 in field |
| contents to ensure accurate tagging. |
| 6.5 The GENRE field content MUST be the same for all the files in a release |
| and it MUST be one of the genres listed: |
| A Cappella, Acid, Acid Jazz, Acid Punk, Acoustic, AlternRock, |
| Alternative, Ambient, Anime, Avantgarde, Ballad, Bass, Beat, Bebop, |
| Big Band, Black Metal, Bluegrass, Blues, Booty Bass, BritPop, Cabaret, |
| Celtic, Chamber Music, Chanson, Chorus, Christian Gangsta Rap, |
| Christian Rap, Christian Rock, Classic Rock, Classical, Club, Club-House,|
| Comedy, Contemporary Christian, Country, Crossover, Cult, Dance, Dance |
| Hall, Darkwave, Death Metal, Disco, Dream, Drum & Bass, Drum Solo, Duet, |
| Easy Listening, Ethnic, Euro-House, Euro-Techno, Eurodance, |
| Fast Fusion, Folk, Folk-Rock, Folklore, Freestyle, Funk, Fusion, Game, |
| Gangsta Rap, Goa, Gospel, Gothic, Gothic Rock, Grunge, Hard Rock, |
| Hardcore, Heavy Metal, Hip-Hop, House, Humour, Indie, Industrial, |
| Instrumental, Instrumental Pop, Instrumental Rock, Jazz, Jazz+Funk, |
| JPop, Jungle, Latin, Lo-Fi, Meditative, Merengue, Metal, Musical, |
| National Folk, Native American, New Age, New Wave, Noise, |
| Oldies, Opera, Other, Polka, Polsk Punk, Pop-Folk, Pop/Funk, |
| Porn Groove, Power Ballad, Pranks, Primus, Progressive Rock, Psychedelic,|
| Psychedelic Rock, Punk, Punk Rock, R&B, Rap, Rave, Reggae, Retro, |
| Revival, Rhythmic Soul, Rock & Roll, Salsa, Samba, Satire, |
| Showtunes, Ska, Slow Jam, Slow Rock, Sonata, Soul, Sound Clip, |
| Soundtrack, Southern Rock, Space, Speech, Swing, Symphonic Rock, |
| Symphony, Synthpop, Tango, Techno, Techno-Industrial, Terror, |
| Thrash Metal, Top 40, Trailer, Trance, Tribal, Trip-Hop, Vocal, Unknown. |
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