Submission's Index

HOW DOES SPIRIT OF METAL OPERATE?

Spirit Of Metal, commonly named SOM, its members being Somians, is a website dedicated to metal music covering from Hard FM to Black Metal. As you may have seen, this website is either a very sizeable encyclopaedia with thousands of data or a real webzine containing interviews, photo galleries and reviews. SOM is also a community with many musical forums or various discussion topics (www.spirit-of-metal.com/forum/index-l-en.html).

This website operates in a very simple way: an administrators' team (the First Circle members) ensures that all perfectly runs on the site, each one being specialized in a particular domain: data processing and programming, reviews/interviews or forum management.

You will progressively discover the whole team. They are also diverse working teams, intended to correct errors appearing in the encyclopaedia, validate new pages, reread and validate reviews, moderate forums, …

Once the different rules managing the site acknowledged, you will have the possibly if wanted, to integrate one or several of those teams by sending a request to the appropriated administrator.

This present Submissions Guidelines is dedicated as you may guess to the encyclopaedia part of SOM.

Since the end of 2006, at this date this site had become really consequent so we decided to really work in terms of quality. This quality is mostly based on giving all information’s needed in order to standardize settings from one page to another. This guide allows thus to share with you what is considered shared by the administrator’s teams and understood being qualitative submissions.

In fact, SOM's working system is very simple: each one previously registered as member can modify each page in order to correct some errors or to specify missing information.

Each one can also create a new page dedicated to a band, add a record while not appearing on the list, add label not listed in the database, in other words: participate.

For sure, this liberty to modify pages implies verification. Realized by the administrators mentioned above and their respective teams. If your submission don’t match with their quality requirements, a correction request with explanations will be sent to you and will allow you to understand and correct the mistake done.

We expect from you to take those remarks into consideration for future submissions, as well as the correction request for the erroneous one. The aim is not to bother people who take part to the database's expansion and/or improvement, but to give them the keys allowing them to submit information in a qualitative way and finally to have pleasure to see the site increasing its quality level.

Those who refuse to correct their mistakes will be penalized, losing a part of the points initially collected for the submission. Points' loss are proportional to mistake's gravity, repetition and even to a disrespectful behaviour against those who are in charge of helping them to correct their mistakes.

At this point, let’s make clear our point of view: we don't wish to reach such extremities and it's always with bitterness we penalize somebody and perhaps have to temporarily suspend him/her from the site or even definitively exclude him/her.

We truly hope the reading of this Submissions Guidelines will not discourage you from participating to SOM's improvement.

Once more, please be concerned by the remarks concerning your submissions if you receive some, get in contact with one of the administrators if you don't find any answer to your questions in the request sent to you or in the present Submissions Guidelines.

This one was conceived to be as exhaustive as possible, but nobody is infallible and we're thanking you in advance for indicating us any explanation, which seems to be missing or incomplete for you.

For each modifications submitted, a notebook will appear on the bottom of the page concerned, please fulfilled it as precisely as possible for clearness reasons and an easier verification work. If you indicate clearly and concisely the modifications performed on the page, you will help then the validation teams to become more efficient. On the other hand, teams who are checking your submissions have to be as clear as possible when they explain you a mistake concerning one of your submissions.

The whole administrators and even some "old" members well-known for their kindness and receptiveness (and their damned cookies) are at your disposal for helping you for submissions' processes. In addition to this guide, you can contact the First Circle administrators through the e-mail system integrated into the site, or use the Help forum for asking questions (www.spirit-of-metal.com/forum/forum-f-9-l-en.html).

Performing some correct submissions will bring you points, which will allow you to progress in the Somian hierarchy represented by the different five Circles. You might be progressively promoted from a Circle to another. The most conscientious ones could even integrate one of our working teams (encyclopaedia correction, forum moderation, submissions validation, reviews validation and rereading, video checking). The most hard-working ones could perhaps be promoted to the Honnor Circle, which rewards the most SOM invested people. Finally, you could perhaps be invited to join the very restricted First Circle, which constitutes SOM administration.

The whole team welcomes you and wishes you to feel like at home on Spirit Of Metal !

BANDS

HOW TO SUBMIT/EDIT A BAND

HOW TO FIND A BAND

Before submitting, you must verify that the band you wish to add is not already listed on the site through the research module located on the top and right side of the homepage. Any addition of a band in duplicate is penalized by suppression of the wrong-submitted page (leading to loss of the points collected when submitting) and if necessary an extra points loss in the case of glaring abuse.

You can use several research elements from two pages in order to find a band:

• SOM home page (www.spirit-of-metal.com/index-l-en.html) which allow you three entries:

- Alphabetical list: just click on the alphabetic letter to display complete list of bands, whose name begins with the letter in question. Symbol # represents bands, whose name begins with a number,

- Research module: of very simple use, (the blank box with magnifying glass in which the word “search” is written) : just type band’s name then click on “search” (on black background), so band’s names close to that you have written will appear,

- Style’s list: in which you can find bands according to their musical style, with the help of an unfolding menu. You simply have to select the style in the unfolding menu by clicking on it, and then validate the choice by clicking on “Ok” (on black background),

• Bands’ page (www.spirit-of-metal.com/liste_groupe-l-en.html) you can access to from SOM home page indicated in previous paragraph, clicking on the “Bands” thumb then on “Bands’ list”:

- Geographical research: you also have access to a link allowing you to perform geographical research, first by continent then by country,

- Advanced search (white-tinted link located at bottom-right of “bands’ list”): this option allows you to write part of a band’s name, then specify its country, style and formation date (you have the choice of criterions you wish to define). You finally have to click on “Search” to obtain the list of referenced bands, which suits defined criterions.

You can choose any entries you wish for your personal researches on the site. Concerning verification of the presence of a specific band, we greatly encourage you to use alphabetic research or research module located on SOM home page.

These are the two simplest and sure ways to verify if a band is already present on SOM. Think also to go to SOM’s twin-website, Spirit Of Rock (www.spirit-of-rock.com/index-l-en.html), in order to verify if the band you wish to add is already listed. Some cross-styled bands, characterized by both rock and metal elements, are sometimes listed on one site or the other. To go from Spirit Of Metal to Spirit Of Rock, you just have to click on the logo “Spirit Of Rock” appearing in the top part of SOM's screen, at the right of the logo “Spirit Of Metal”, it’s accessible from any page you visit on SOM.

UNAUTHORIZED BANDS

BANDS CONVEYING DUBIOUS IDEOLOGIES

Before submitting a new band, we want you to notice that we don't tolerate the NSBM (National Socialist Black Metal) on the site. You may find somewhere a band which could be a bit similar to this movement, but for which we don't have the obvious proof of their neo-Nazi tendency. These bands are simply tolerated until we have the proof of their ideology. The Nazi or close-minded bands (religious sectarianism, terrorism, etc...) are “blacklisted”, we don't allow their submission. By Nazi or close-minded, we mean bands which would have a swastika in their logo or on their cover, make photos doing the Hitler salute, have explicit titles or lyrics,...

Do not hesitate to point out abuses to one of the website administrators. We don't necessarily see everything, which is on the site, and moreover, there is a certain time between the submission and the validation, so dubious bands can be online without having been seen by an administrator.

We remind you that the European laws in general heavily punish the apology of Nazism and racism , we respect those laws, it stands to reason, so we can't accept these kinds of abuse on this site.

Any person who would be finded out submitting these kinds of bands will be severely punished, and may be banned from Spirit of Metal.

BANDS WITH NO RELEASE

A band can only be listed on Spirit of Metal if it has released something whatever the category (demo, CD, single, tape,...) might be. Each band without a release will be suppressed in any case. If it’s impossible to submit a band without at least one disc, it’s possible to submit a disc that does not exist in order to add a band, but we don't accept this.

Any abuse will be penalized and any recidivist will be punished, and could be banned from adding or modifying pages on SOM.

This decision seems to be sensible, because it's impossible to check if a band does exist if it doesn't have any release. The aim of a production is to be a basis to make searches on a band and confirm its existence. Most generally, it also allows avoiding the submissions of a band, which would have rehearsed twice in a garage, or even an imaginary one created by someone in lack of thrills.

However we draw your attention on the fact that, the market of the music evolving with Internet, some bands may propose their productions in a dematerialized way either through free or paying downloads.

This kind of submission is tolerated, as far as it is really about productions equivalent to records (demo, CD, live, etc.) and not simply tracks recorded without other purpose than put something on MySpace's.

The check of this kind of submissions will be systematically done and any abuse will be sanctioned. We thank you beforehand for not listing groups having only some disintegrated titles, because they will invariably be considered as having no production, and will then be eliminated.

NON-METAL BANDS

To finish, we don't want non-metal bands on SOM, above all rock bands. Indeed, SOM has got a twin: SOR (Spirit of Rock), which is dedicated to the “non-metal” rock bands, like those who play punk rock, alternative ( http://www.spirit-of-rock.com/). Spirit of Rock is also accessible via the link “Spirit Of Rock” that you can find at the top of the Spirit of Metal's homepage. Other styles have no place to be on SOM or SOR, those sites are dedicated to musics which are related to metal or rock.

We want to emphasize that some reproaches have been made about the being of two websites, notably about the fact that a rock site should include the metal. We want to clarify a bit the situation.

The original site is SOM, but little by little it has integrated the punk rock, the alternative rock, the trip-hop... so some styles farer and farer from the metal. In order not to annoy the metal community, which was more and more reluctant in front of this opening to generalist rock, we decided to divide the website into two parts : SOM would be only dedicated to the metal, and SOR to every other variants of rock.

In this way, even if several people think so SOM doesn't follow from SOR, it is the reverse. It is a bit weird, but this is true. SOR has opened its doors in order to satisfy everybody. Some bands are difficult to classify but mainly, the duality goes well and we ask you to respect it as well as you can.

HOW TO ACCESS TO BAND'S ADDITION/EDIT MODULE

ADD A BAND

If you have noticed that a band doesn't already exist in the encyclopaedia, you can add it by clicking on the link “Bands” from the homepage. On this page you'll have a title “Add a Metal band” with a grey background, and a button “Access” to start submitting.

A white bar appears, in which you must write the name of the band you want to add. An automatic program checks if the band is not already on line. It will then show you if the band already exists or if there are similar names in the encyclopaedia. If this kind of message appears, please be sure before validate the band by clicking on “Confirm”. If you validate a name by mistake, you can cancel by clicking on the previous page in your web browser. Then you must write the name again Once clicked on “Confirm”, you will not be able to change the name of the band anymore, so please check below the paragraph “BAND'S NAME” so that the name you will give is correct.

Globally if you have not completely finished and validated your submission, you are still able to edit something or cancel. In a worst case, if you have validated your submission whereas it is not really correct, you can contact an administrator to ask him to suppress your mistake, on your request.

Doing a mistake doesn't matter at all, even if you do the same several times, it is just essential to point it out in order to correct/suppress it and not to decrease the encyclopaedia’s quality.

EDIT A BAND

If you have noticed a mistake or missing information on a band page, you can edit this page and submit a modification, just to click on “Edit” on the right corner at the top of the page.

Several modules then appear. We will come back on this point later on this guide. In order to modify the general information’s (photos, logo, country and city of origin, style, line-up and comments, dates of formation and split, status, official website), you will have to click on the link “Edit the band”.

Concerning the modifications, please refer to the next paragraphs, they explain in detail the procedures to be respected for each element.

REPORTING ERRORS THAT YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO FIX

Should you not know how to fix a specific error, you can click, from the band’s page, on the “Edit” button. When the page opens, a “REPORT ERROR” module is available. It is symbolized with a yellow icon picturing an exclamation mark. Clicking on the module will open a notepad in which you can describe the nature of the error. When you’ve finished, you only need to click “Send” to forward it to an administrator that will fix the error.

Despite the module’s usefulness, you are strongly encouraged to submit the required modifications yourself after you’ve read the troubleshooting section of this guide. In case of doubt, you can contact an administrator trough Private Messages to get some help or you can raise your questions on the “Help” section of the forum (www.spirit-of-metal.com/forum/forum-f-9-l-en.html). The guide will then be updated in order to provide answers for future similar issues.

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT BANDS

Now that you know how to do a submission or to edit a band, this part of the guide has been created to help you to fill in the different categories on a band page.

THE NAME OF THE BAND

The name is very important because that it’s the key point to find a band in the encyclopaedia.

FUNDAMENTAL RULES

In order to correctly write the name, you must respect the following rules.

The first letter of each word must be in capital, even if they are articles or a single letter. But only the first letter is in capital, the others are not.

• Iron Maiden
• Rhapsody Of Fire
• Make A Change… Kill Yourself
  

The bands who have a name which seems like a code must be entirely written in capital letters without the stops, it allows the system to integrate them directly in the data base.

• WASP (and not W.A.S.P.)
• UFO (and not U.F.O.)

Be very careful when submitting a band like this, because it could have already been added under its complete name (and vice-versa).

• MSG = Michael Schenker Group

This is also applicable for the bands that have just a part of their name composed by a code.

• AD Massacre (and not A.D. Massacre)
  

To finish, be careful about the particular signs and prints that the system doesn't recognize. So please avoid the “!” or the “&”, or any one that is not one of the 26 letters of the alphabet. Concerning the “!”, just suppress it, for the “&”, translate them in the correct language (“Et” in French, “Und” in German, “And” in English).

• Demons And Wizards (and not Demons & Wizards).
• OOMPH (and not OOMPH!)

Don't forget that the dashes are “-” and not “_”.

• Merry-Go-Drown (and not Merry_Go_Drown)

COUNTRY CODIFICATION

COUNTRY CODIFICATION'S USE AND WORKING

It often happens that two bands or even more have the same name. In this case, and in this unique case, you must use a country codification for each band. If two bands have the same name, both of them must have a different country codification. By reverse, when the name is held by only one band, the codification is useless.

The codifications' list is available at paragraph 2.2.1.2.2. You really have to respect them. None invention will be tolerated. The codification must be specified after the name of the band, between brackets and in capital letters.

• Trust (FRA)
• Trust (GER)

If more than two band have the same name and come also from the same country, you must add a number to the codification, which allow distinguishing the bands. Of course, start by 1, 2, ... if needed. This number must be added just after the codification, between brackets.

• Slipknot (USA-1)
• Slipknot (USA-2)

When adding a band which have the same name than another one already listed in the encyclopaedia, there are three possibilities:

• The band that you're adding is the second one to hold this name: add your band with the correct codification, and then edit the first one's page to add the codification after its name.
• The band that you're adding is at least the third to hold this name: all the other bands have normally already their codification. In this case, just submit your band with the correct codification and edit the others if needed.
• The band that you're adding comes from the same country than other one: you must mention both the codification and a number (2), and then edit the other name to add the missing number (1).
  

COUNTRY CODIFICATION'S LIST

A

• Afghanistan : AFG
• Albania : ALB
• Algeria : ALG
• Andorra : AND
• Angole : ANG
• Argentina : ARG
• Armenia : ARM
• Australia : AUS
• Austria : AUT
• Azerbaijan : AZE

B

• Bahamas : BAH
• Bahrain : BHR
• Bangladesh : BAN
• Barbados : BAR
• Belarus : BLR
• Belgium : BEL
• Belize : BLZ
• Bolivia : BOL
• Bosnia and Herzegovia : BHZ
• Botswana : BWA
• Brazil : BRA
• Brunei : BRN
• Bulgaria : BGR

C

• Cambodia : KHM
• Cameroon : CAM
• Canada : CAN
• Chile : CHL
• China : CHN
• Colombia : COL
• Costa Rica : CR
• Croatia : CRO
• Cuba : CUB
• Cyprus : CYP
• Czech Republic : CZ

D

• Democratic Republic of Congo : DRC
• Denmark : DK
• Dominican Republic : DOM

E

• Ecuador : ECU
• Egypt : EGY
• El Salvador : SLV
• Estonia : EST

F

• Finland : FIN
• France : FRA

G

• Gabon : GAB
• Georgia : GEO
• Germany : GER
• Greece : GRC
• Guatemala : GTM
• Guyana : GUY

H

• Honduras : HND
• Hungary : HUN

I

• Iceland : ISL
• India : IND
• Indonesia : IDN
• Iran : IRN
• Iraq : IRQ
• Ireland : IRL
• Israel : ISR
• Italy : ITA
• Ivory Coast : CDI

J

• Jamaica : JAM
• Japan : JAP
• Jordan : JOR

K

• Kazakhstan : KAZ
• Kenya : KEN
• Kosovo : KSV
• Kuwait : KWT
• Kyrgyzstan : KGZ

L

• Laos : LAO
• Latvia : LVA
• Lebanon : LBN
• Libya : LBY
• Liechtenstein : LIE
• Lithuania : LTU
• Luxembourg : LUX

M

• Macedonia : MAC
• Madagascar : MAD
• Malaysia : MLS
• Malawi : MLW
• Maldives : MDV
• Malta : MLT
• Mexico : MEX
• Moldova : MOL
• Monaco : MON
• Mongolia : MGL
• Montenegro : MNE
• Morocco : MAR
• Mozambique : MOZ
• Myanmar : MYA

N

• Namibia : NAM
• Nepal : NEP
• Netherlands : NL
• New Zealand : NZ
• Nicaragua : NIC
• North Korea : PRK
• Norway : NOR

O

• Oman : OMA
• Other : OTH

P

• Pakistan : PAK
• Panama : PAN
• Papua-New Guinea : PNG
• Paraguay : PAR
• Peru : PER
• Philippines : PHL
• Poland : PL
• Portugal : POR
• Puerto Rico : PR

R

• Romania : ROU
• Russia : RUS

S

• San Marino : SMR
• Saudi Arabia : SAU
• Serbia : SRB
• Singapore : SGP
• Slovakia : SVK
• Slovenia : SVN
• South Africa : RSA
• South Korea : KOR
• Spain : ESP
• Sri Lanka : SLK
• Suriname : SUR
• Sweden : SWE
• Switzerland : CH
• Syria : SYR

T

• Tadjikistan : TJK
• Taiwan : TWN
• Tanzania : TZN
• Thailand : THA
• Togo : TOG
• Trinidad and Tobago : TTO
• Tunisia : TUN
• Turkmenistan : TKM
• Turkey : TUR

U

• Uganda : UGA
• Ukraine : UKR
• United Arab Emirates : UAE
• United Kingdom : UK
• Unknown : UNK
• Uruguay : URU
• USA : USA
• Uzbekistan : UZB

V

• Venezuela : VEN
• Viet-Nam : VNM

Z

• Zambia : ZAM
• Zimbabwe : ZWE
  
  

THE "OTHER NAME/ABRAVIATION" FIELD

There is a second field in which you can add some accuracy about the band. This field, called “other name / abbreviation”, must be filled only if this is really useful. It's optional. You can indicate:

• The abbreviation of the band, or its complete name:
  

                    - SOAD for System Of A Down

                    - Michael Schenker Group for MSG

• An other name of the band, if this is different from its real name (for instance: we don't tolerate the name “Maiden” for “Iron Maiden”)

• The older name, being careful to add the prefix “ex-” before, with the hyphen:

                    - ex-Archeon

If you must write several names in the field, separate them with a comma. First, write the other names, and then the older ones:

                    - Ghosts, T-Rex, ex-Nightfall

This underlies the fact that at the end, there will only be one only page on SOM, for a band, which changed its name: the page on which it is listed under its latest name.

The older ones will be written in this specific field. The discs recorded under an old name will be listed in the discography, with an accuracy explaining why the name written on the cover is different. We will come back to this later, for the moment; you must remember that a band which changed its name must have one unique page.

If an existing band might change is name keeping the same first letter, just modify the existing page. There in no need to create a complete new page dedicated to the band.

This will save time for everyone and also simplify the update process.

Finally, please notice that it's absolutely useless to write the country codification of the band in this square.

MUSICAL STYLE

The musical style is very important to find a band on Spirit Of Metal. Indeed, as indicated at the beginning of this guide, you can search a band by its style. Thus, a mistake concerning this information could mislead the users.

The choice of the style is very easy when adding or editing a band. You have a menu which list the different styles referenced on Spirit Of Metal.

Spirit Of Metal is of course a site dedicated to the metal, so the others styles don't have a place to be here. The twin site Spirit Of Rock has been created in order to list every other rock bands, above all the punk rock, progressive and alternative rock which used to be listed on SOM. The other styles apart from these must not be listed on our sites, and would be suppressed in anyway. If you have any doubt, you should better ask an administrator before wasting time submitting a new page for nothing.

STATUS AND FORMATION/SEPARATION DATES

STATUS: ACTIVE OR SPLIT-UP BAND

The status is a way to indicate if the band still musically active or if it is split-up. A band that still exists continues to release albums and makes tours. At the contrary, a band that does not exist anymore, for any reason, is a split-up band.

Keep in mind that a band which is not officially split-up and does not make any concert nor release anything during a certain period of time is considered as an active band until an official notification that the band is split-up.

You just have to choose the right status in the menu.

FORMATION/SEPARATION DATES

You also can indicate the formation date, and if needed the separation date. Some basic rules must be respected:

• An active band must absolutely not have a separation date; in any case, you have to choose “unknown”.

• A band, which is active again after years of separation, must be turned into “active”. The formation date must be the initial one, and not the one of its reformation. The separation date must also be “unknown” agai.

• A split-up band can have an unknown separation date if you don't know the date.

• Finally, a band which would have changed its name must keep its original date of formation, and not the date corresponding to the change : if FX was formed in 1992 and became Small in 1999, the formation date indicated on the page of Small (ex-FX) is 1992. Indeed, all the discs released under the name of FX will be listed on the page, so indicating the date of “1999” for the formation of a band which released albums before 1999 it would be paradoxical, even if it was done under another name.
  

GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

When you submit a band, you must absolutely indicate some geographic information’s as country and city. In order to do so, you have two menus, one on the left for the country and the other on the right for the city. This one is available only once the country has been chosen. The country is a required information, the city is optional.

It can happen that, during its career, a band changes of country or more frequently, of city. In this case, you must indicate the last place known. A band which would have started in Manchester and that would have moved to London will be considered as a Londoner band.

SELECTING THE BAND'S COUNTRY

The menu on the left give access to an alphabetical list of all the countries referenced. You just have to select the right country in this menu. Once you've chosen the country, you can choose the city (please refer to the next paragraph).

The country that you are searching for may not be listed in our database. In this case, you must choose “Other”.

This choice has been added in order to list bands, which come from un-referenced countries. Indeed, our database contains the countries at least one band belongs to. We really want to emphasize the fact that this submission in “Other” must be temporary. Once your submission finished, you must contact Aragorn, who handles the geographic database, through the SOM mailbox or on the topic “Metal Maps”, to ask him to add the missing country. Once he will have told you that it has been added, you'll have to edit the page and change the country.

Finally, if you don't know the country of the band, you must choose the country “Unknown”. In this case, you'll have to contact Tango666 who organizes the curse of difficult information’s through a specific French topic he will organize the search of this special missing information with his team.

SELECTING THE BAND'S CITY

Once you’ve entered the band’s country, a drop-down menu with a selection of cities is available to pinpoint the specific location of the band. Proceed like you did for the country: click on the arrow to open the drop-down menu with an alphabetical list of available cities. Likewise, select the city with a single click.

Our website references only the major towns of each country. The minimum limit is set according to population levels and varies according to the size of the country (the smaller a country, the smaller the minimum limit). It is obviously not feasible to list every small town and village, thus the risk of not finding in the list the city you’re looking for. Should this happen, please try and look on the Internet for a specific location of the city as well as information regarding its population. If it happens to be a small town (less than 10,000 people), please look for the nearest bigger city and list the band as if it were from this city. If there is no bigger city in the surroundings (in the case of a remote city), please refer to the methodology explained in the case of countries and then ask Aragorn to add this entry in the database. Please do not forget to mention in your message all the required information (name of city, region and country).

In case you do not know the band’s city or it if it is not available from the database and you wish to have it included, please leave the drop-down menu in its initial position: “Unknown”. Once your submission is validated, there will be no city shown on the band’s page. As in the case of a missing or unknown country, once your confirmation to add the required city is effective, you will have to modify your submission to insert the missing data that were not previously available.

PICTURES

Bands’ pages can display up to 4 pictures: one logo and a maximum of 3 pictures. We will first review the instructions related to pictures and then give some technical advice to ease up the process.

OFFICIAL LOGO

It’s the official logo of the band. A logo can either be the name of the band rendered in a stylized manner, making it instantly recognizable, or, for some bands, a symbol, though it’s not the general rule.

Only logos are accepted in this location. Pictures of the band, album covers or any other artwork are strictly proscribed. Any submission that does not respect this rule will not be validated; you may as well follow these instructions from the start. Please note that pictures must be of good quality: they must not bear any marks, white outlines or elements that are not part of the logo (i.e. the menu of a website if you copied the logo from a website).

Prior to submitting a logo, you must have saved the picture on your computer, the picture must be clear enough and be saved with the .jpeg extension, it’s the only format used for pictures on Spirit Of Metal. Should you have a logo with a different extension or if your picture is not clear enough, please refer to the technical advice section (paragraph 2.2.5.3) to solve the issue.

When you do have a valid picture on your computer, please click “browse” to submit the logo. Your browser will open a “send file” window, which allows browsing your hard drive and selecting the picture for upload. Select the chosen picture and click “open”. Once the picture has been uploaded, you can view the logo in the logo frame on the submission page.

BAND'S PICTURES

Band’s pictures must be pictures showing the band’s members. Consequently, like in the logo section, some restrictions still apply. Album covers, drawings, logo (see the previous section) are proscribed. Pictures of other bands or miscellaneous objects not being the band’s members are proscribed too.

Please pay special attention to the quality of the pictures: please do not submit pictures too small or with too many pixels that may not be suitable for proper viewing. Please try to avoid pictures showing band’s members not facing the objective or pictures that are too dark where band’s members are not displayed properly. Please try to provide recent pictures (not showing members that are no longer in the band) and pictures with the whole line-up rather than individual pictures of each member since such pictures can be used to fill in the member’s individual profile.

Prior to submitting a picture, you must have saved the picture on your computer, the picture must be clear enough and be saved with the .jpeg extension, it’s the only format used for pictures on Spirit Of Metal. Should you have a picture with a different extension or if your picture is not clear enough, please refer to the technical advice section (paragraph 2.2.5.3) to solve the issue.

When submitting a new band, by default, you can only submit picture 1 first. Once it has been uploaded, you can submit picture 2 and eventually picture 3. On the other had, when modifying an existing band, you have access to all the pictures in no particular order (provided there are already 3 pictures online). Please note that it is not recommended to change existing pictures if they meet the aforementioned criteria. Such submissions are inopportune and subjective and are only relevant to personal appreciation; doing so is tedious and time-consuming and does not serve any purpose. In this regard, please think twice before changing an existing picture and save us the time spent to delete an inappropriate submission.

When you do have a valid picture on your computer, please click “browse” to submit the picture. Your browser will open a “send file” window, which allows browsing your hard drive and selecting the picture for upload. Select the chosen picture and click “open”. Once the picture has been uploaded, you can view it in the picture frame on the submission page. Please repeat these steps for each and every picture you wish to add/modify.

TECHNICAL ADVICE

JPEG PICTURES

The .JPEG file extension is the only file extension allowed for pictures in Spirit Of Metal. Should you have a picture with a different file extension (i.e. .BMP or .GIF), you must amend it so that you can upload the picture.

There are two methods to achieve this according to whether you computer is configured to automatically display the extensions of all files or whether it is configured to not display known file types. If your computer is configured to automatically display the extensions of all files, please skip the next paragraph and go directly to the one right after it.

If your computer is configured to not display known extensions, you can change this setting in “folder options” with Windows Explorer (click “organize” in the drop-down menu if you run Windows Vista to select “folder options”). Once you’ve selected this, a window opens. Click on the “display” tab. There are several options to choose from. You must uncheck the « hide file extensions for known file types » option. Then, validate your choice by clicking OK. Your system will now display all filenames with extensions (i.e. .XLS, .JPEG, .BMP, .EXE, .GIF, .PPT, etc.).

Since you can view the extensions, you can now modify them. In order to do so, please highlight the file you wish to modify, and right-click it. Select the “rename” option in the context menu. Now you only need to delete the inappropriate extension (for instance .BMP) and replace it with the .JPEG extension.

The operating system will ask you to confirm your modification. Please reply ‘yes’. Once you’ve completed all the steps, you have now a .JPEG picture that can be uploaded on Spirit Of Metal. You may now refer to paragraphs 2.2.5.1 or 2.2.5.2 and continue the submission.

If you want to go back to your original settings (i.e. hidden file extensions), you just need to refer to the aforementioned method and check again “hide file extensions for known file types”.

HOW TO EASILY TOUCH UP A PICTURE

As previously mentioned, pictures that are not centred or of good enough quality (for instance white outlines) are proscribed. Should you happen to have such a picture, you can amend it with basic imaging software like Paint (available on most computers). Click “Start”, then “All Programs”, then “Accessories” and then “Paint”. To open the picture that must be touched up, click “File” then “Open” (or you can use the “Ctrl+O” keyboard shortcut).

Once you’ve opened the file with Paint, it is very easy to centre it. Click on « Edition » and then « Select All» (or you can use the “Ctrl+A” keyboard shortcut). This step enables you to move the whole picture. Use the top left corner of the software’s work area as a referral and move the picture as close to it as you can so that no outline is visible at the top and left-hand side of the picture.

Once you’ve completed this step, you can now reduce the area located underneath the picture or at the right-hand side of the picture to delete remaining outlines. Small handles symbolized with a colour cube are available on each side of the picture (and also at the bottom right corner). Place the mouse’s cursor on one these handles to display a double-arrow. Left-click and maintain and move in the arrow’s direction to make the work area smaller or bigger. This enables you to remove remaining outlines underneath the picture and on the right-hand side of the picture.

Once you’ve finished, save the picture. Click “File” then “Save” (or you can use the “Ctrl+S” keyboard shortcut). If you need to change the file extension to .jpeg, please refer to paragraph 2.2.5.3.1.

HOW TO PERFORM A SCREENSHOT

Sometimes it’s not possible to save a picture or a logo from a website. In this case, you must perform a screenshot. Once you’re on the right webpage, hit the “Prt Scr / SysRq” key on your keyboard. This key is located just above the numerical pad at the top right of the keyboard. Hitting this touch will capture the content of what is displayed on your desktop and store it in the clipboard for a future use.

Open basic imaging software like Paint (available on most computers). Click “Start”, then “All Programs”, then “Accessories” and then “Paint”. Insert the screenshot in the software by clicking “Edition” and then “Paste” (or you can use the “Ctrl+V” keyboard shortcut). Then center the screenshot so that only the relevant part of the picture remains. To do so, please refer to paragraph 2.2.5.3.2 for a how-to.

When the image is centred, save it by clicking « File » and then « Save » (or you can use the “Ctrl+S” keyboard shortcut). By default, this picture is saved under the format used by the imaging software (.BMP if you use Paint). You must then refer to paragraph 2.2.5.3.1 to change it into .JPEG.

Did you know? In order to avoid changing the file extension over and over again, keep a .JPEG picture in your computer. Open it with Paint (instead of creating a new file) and modify it by inserting the screenshot. When you’re done touching the picture up, you only need to save the changes, close Paint and upload the picture on Spirit Of Metal. This enables you to skip the file extension change step.

BAND'S OFFICIAL WEBSITE

This section deals specifically with the addition of the band’s official website address. We tolerate and accept the additions of MySpace pages instead of a band's official website when it's not available (especially for newer bands that use MySpace prior to having their official website).

Please pay special attention to hierarchy: whenever available you must submit the band’s official website; MySpace pages may only be added if there is no official website. Any incorrect entry will be sanctioned. If a band has both an official website and a MySpace page, the MySpace page must be submitted in the “misc links” section (please refer to paragraph 4.3.2 for more information).

In regard to MySpace entries, we’d like to stress out that you must only copy the shortened version of the address (URL) and not the full website address. Should you enter a full address with 100 and more characters, it would create major display issues in the band’s page.

In order to find the shortened URL on the MySpace page you wish to reference, scroll to the left-hand side underneath the band's logo and the member's messaging toolbox. On almost all MySpace pages there is a line that says "Profile URL" where you can find the address of the page. It is much shorter than the full address and redirects to the same page. In this regard, you must use this shortened address for all MySpace related links in order to avoid display issues.

In some rare occurrences, the band has neither an official website nor a MySpace page. In this case, you must leave the field empty. You must not fill in anything like “no website available” or any other character string. There is nothing that prevents you from validating a submission without an official website. Please note however that the addition of an official website makes your entry more trustworthy.

Please also pay special attention on all entries that are neither official websites nor MySpace pages: unofficial websites, fan websites, links pointing towards an interview or a review, or as a general rule to any link pointing towards the band's page on a different webzine.

This list is not exhaustive. On the other hand, do not judge an official band’s website by its looks. This is especially the case where bands have their official websites hosted by their record labels.

At last, as you may see it on the submission/modification page, the beginning of the address (http://) is already there. There is thus no need to copy again the “http://” string in the address field. If you happen to do so, the submitted link will not display (since it will begin with “http://http://”) and it will require further work to make it valid. In order to save some time for the validation team, please pay special attention when you copy the link of an official website or a MySpace page in the designated field.

LINE-UP AND COMMENTS

We believe that it is extremely important to enter the band's line-up. In this regard, since you still could validate your submission without entering the line-up, you will automatically be notified to modify your submission once it goes for validation should you fail to enter the line-up. In order to avoid this and to reduce the workload of the validation team, we ask you to fill in the line-up when submitting a band.

HOW TO OPEN THE EDIT WINDOW

In order to add/modify a line-up and/or to add any comment related to a member of the band, you must open the edit window. There are two possibilities whether the band member is already entered or whether you want to add it:

• If you wish to add a member, please click the “add a member” button underneath the line-up field (this field is empty when adding a band or when the band has been submitted without the line-up).
  

• If you wish to modify the information for a member already entered in the line-up, please click the “edit” button for the required member at the right-hand side of the page.
  

The “add member” edit window that will open in both cases consists of several sub-sections that will be explained in the following paragraphs.

MEMBER'S NAME

You must simply enter the first name of the band member followed by the last name. Please keep in mind that every proper name begins with an uppercase letter. In this regard, you will not be allowed to submit a name without any uppercase letters or a name without any uppercase letter.

• Jim Springer
• Thomas Andrew Anderson

Should you not know the first name of a band member, you may only specify the first letter of the first name followed by a stop.

• J. Springer
• T.A. Anderson

In some cases, websites only mention the band’s line-up with first names or aliases. If you cannot do otherwise, such submissions will be tolerated. Please note however that it is better to provide full names in order to differentiate band members from each other. Indeed, a single first name may not be enough to identify a band member properly (there may be dozens of Jims but very few and possibly only one Jim Springer for instance). You’re encouraged to surf a few sites dealing with the band so as to provide the most precise line-up possible. Obviously there may be some members for whom you found full names and others for which you only have a first name or alias. This all depends on the information you may have found.

• Jim
• Tom

Often, band members may have aliases. You can specify this by putting the alias in between quotation marks (written "alias" and not « alias »). This is English syntax where the alias is written between first and last name. This should then look like “First name "Alias" Last name”.

• Jim "Bad Boy" Springer
• Thomas Andrew "Tom" Anderson
  

At least, some band members may be known under different names. They may have changed their monikers in the course of their career (because they played in various bands) or because they use a name different from their civil status. You may then specify this second name in the box after the first name in brackets with the mention “aka” (also known as). If you wish to enter both alias and civil name, the civil name must be in between brackets. You may mention a few names between brackets, each one separated with a coma and the “aka” mention:

• Jim Springer (aka Mario Nalcetti)
• T.A. Anderson (aka Jack the Ripper, aka Desintegrator)
  
  

INSTRUMENTS

On the right-hand side of the edit window, the most common instruments are already available for selection: vocals, guitar, bass, drums, backing vocals and keyboard. If a member plays any of these instruments, you must check the corresponding box in order to identify it. Please pay special attention to the three following cases:

• It is useless to make the distinction between “lead guitar” and “rhythm guitar”. You may only choose “guitar” since all combinations may be available depending on the band: some musicians only play lead guitar or only rhythm guitar where others can play both. In order to keep submissions simple, only one entry is available for selection.

• The “vocals” box is only intended for one or two members in the band (singer) and must not be mistaken with the “backing vocals” box (these additional vocals are mostly found on choruses or they accompany guitar or keyboard harmonies). Several other band members, mostly by guitar and bass players, often perform backing vocals.

• The “keyboard” box is a generic entry for all types of keyboards found in Metal: mostly digital keyboards but also piano or organ. It is thus superfluous to check the “other" box for such instruments.

At last, some bands may play other instruments. In this regard, you can use the “other” box. You can mention in this box all the other instruments played by the member that is being added/edited and not available from the other selections. Should you have to add several instruments, separate with a coma and a space. You may add as many as required. Please note that each instrument’s name must start with an uppercase letter.

• Violin
• Flute, Harmonica, Mandolin
  
  

COMMENTS

This box have been created to enter some complementary information. Please note that comments are only intended to give some factual elements about the member’s life. In this regard, useless and crazy comments like the member’s pets, influences or preferences are irrelevant (this list is not exhaustive).

We kindly ask you to respect the types of admissible comments as well as the format in which they must be entered. Anything that digresses from this will not be accepted as a comment. There are 5 valid types of comments. Any other information must be entered in the member’s biography (please refer to paragraph 4.2.1.3). These 5 types of comments must be entered in the order described underneath (see examples at the end of the paragraph):

• Dates as active member in the band: they are shown in between square brackets (all figures must be entered: “1989-1997”; “1989-97” or “89-97” are not valid entries). If the member is presently in the band, only the date when he /she joined the band is shown and is also entered in between square brackets preceded by the mention “since”. In case of “coming-and-going » », dates are shown consecutively with a space separating each period. If the member only stayed less than one civil year, only this year is entered: “1982” and not “1982-1982”. Here a few examples:
  

                    - [1989-1997]
                    - [since 2002]
                    - [1984-1999] [since 2006]
                    - [1986]
                    - [1987] [2002-2005]

• In case of a band member died, please enter the date and cause of death: please first enter the mention “died”, followed by the exact date if possible (or only the month and year or just the year if you do not have enough information), and then the cause of death in between brackets. Entering the cause of death is optional. Most important is to know that the member is dead and when he died.
  

                    - died 11/08/1989
                    - died 22/03/1999 (plane crash)
                    - died 09/2007
                    - died 2002 (cancer)

• Besides played instruments, you can enter the status of the band member. Is the member only a session member (records the album but does not play live) or a live member (plays live for the band but does not record). By default, you should leave this empty for members that are both session and live members. You may also specify whether a member is a founder member.

                    - live member
                    - session member
                    - session member, founder member
                    - live member, founder member

• Bands in which the member also plays currently: these bands are entered following the format explained in paragraphs 2.2.1.1 and 2.2.1.2. Several bands may be entered and each band is separated from another with a coma and a space:
  

                    - Slayer, Pantera, Machine Head

• At last, bands in which the member played in the past: these bands are also entered following the format explained in paragraphs 2.2.1.1 and 2.2.1.2. Several bands may be entered and each band is separated from another with a coma and a space and preceded with the mention “ex-“:
  

                    - ex-Gamma Ray, ex-Pink Cream 69, ex-Helloween

All the combinations between these 5 types of comments are available. You have the choice to enter them all or none of them. That’s a maximum of 4 comments (in the case of a member’s death, there are obviously no longer bands in which he/she currently plays in and if the member is still alive, there is no need to comment on his/her death). Should you enter several comments, you must respect this given order: first dates as an active member, possibly followed by the date and cause of death, then the status of the member, then the groups in which he currently plays and lastly the bands in which he/she used to play.

• [1989-1995] [since 2002], live member, Slayer, Machine Head, ex-Pantera, ex-Metallica
• [1999-2005], session member, died 22/03/2005 (bike accident), ex-Therion

MEMBER'S STATUS

The amount of information you can specify in this last sub-section of the edit window is very limited: a member that still plays in the band is an “active member”, and if he/she left the band is a “past member”. If you enter a member as a “past member”, should the band's page be modified, you do not have to delete the member that is no longer in the band but simply modify his/her status accordingly.

Please pay special attention for bands that split up: current members in the last known line-up are shown as “active members”. This is either to specify on the band's page members that were active when the band split up than to focus the fact that when a band change status from “active “to “split-up” the field “actual line-up” changes to “last line-up”. In this way, some members concerned do not appear on both status.

At last, please pay special attention to members that died: should the band still be active, then the member must be entered as a « past member » but if the band should eventually split up after this death, you must consider the line-up as if it were a split-up band including he dead member.

DISCS

HOW TO SUBMIT/EDIT A DISC

HOW TO FIND A DISC

Before starting submitting, you have to check if the disc that you want to add doesn't already exist on the band's page. So, you must learn how to look over the Spirit of Metal's pages and to search for a disc, in order to be sure that this one is not already referenced.
Each addition of a disc already present on the site leads to its suppression (which means the loss of the points won by the addition) and, in the case of a clear misuse, a more important loss of points.

In order to find a disc, you can use several ways of research from two pages:

• the homepage (http://www.spirit-of-metal.com/index-l-en.html) which allows you to access to the search module. It is very simple to use (a white cell with a magnifying glass containing the word “search”). You just have to write the name of the disc and to click on “OK” (on a dark background), and all the discs having a similar name will appear. Of course, this preliminary research may be unsuccessful but this doesn't mean that the disc doesn't already exist. It may be online but with a mistake (for instance : “The Demon” instead of “The Demons”).

• the band page, on which you can check its whole discography. You might find the disc immediately on the index, or if the discography is too great, you can click on the yellow link “complete discography” at the bottom of the page. Indeed, when there are many records for a band, only the main ones appear immediately on the band index. By clicking on this link, you will arrive on a page with 5 different categories where you will find every records of the band:

- albums : every discs which are not referenced in the other categories, i.e mainly the studios albums (CD or LP), demos, lives, compilations and EP's. All of these formats will be explained in the paragraph 3.3.

- videos : every VHS's and DVD's.

- singles : every singles of the band (which includes CD and 45rpm formats), from 2 to 4 tracks in general.

- bootlegs : every “pirated” discs of the band.

- tributes : every discs on which other bands have made tributes to the one you're looking at.

We would like to remind you two things:

• the best way to find a disc is the second one, which consists in the manual check-up of the whole discography in order to see if the disc is not online yet, even under a mistaken name.

• the first method is only a preliminary one, if you don't find anything through the search module, you must check the discography manually. For sure, if you find the disc, don’t add it.
  
  

Please don't forget that the disc might have been added on a mistaken way :

• referenced with a wrong format, it can be found inside the wrong category (a single which would be referenced as a EP would be in the “Albums” category for example, so the simple check of the “Single” category could not allow you to know if the disc exists on Spirit Of Metal.)

• referenced with a wrong name, you may not pay attention to it : it could only be a simple spelling mistake, or sometimes it is a different name. Concerning the split-CD's, on which several bands are present, those discs are listed as “Title 1 - Title 2” or “Band 1 - Band 2”. If you take the example of two famous bands, a split-CD “Iron Maiden - Metallica” already referenced could be the same disc as “Fear of the Dark - Enter Sandman” that you would want to add.

• finally, it can be referenced both under a wrong format and a wrong name (in this case, go to the jail and forget about the bonus…).
  
  

If the disc is already referenced, don't submit it again just in order to win points. However, if you notice a mistake on the disc (cover, label, title, format, tracklist etc...), you can change it, as explained in the procedures described later in this guide.

SPECIFIC RULES

MULTI-BAND COMPILATIONS, ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS AND TRIBUTES

Concerning this type of submission, some specific rules must be applied: you should not add them on the index of each band playing on the disc if not, the tracks being generally the same, the disc would be added to a lot of discographies.

As a result this submission may become unreadable and uncomfortable to find. So this is how you will have to proceed:

• in the event of various artists compilations, Spirit Of Metal has a specific "classification" named "Compilations". It aim is to reference such records. Samplers offered with some musical magazines are not accepted in this category. Only real compilations sold on the market will be accepted. Obviously, these discs must be submitted only under format "Compilation", excluding any other format.
  

• concerning “Original Soundtracks” there is a specific page where you must submit them : “BO”. Discs must be submitted here only under format "BO", excluding any other format.

• concerning the “Tributes Albums” ( i.e discs on which bands make a cover of songs written by another) you must submit the disc on the page of the covered band (for instance : “Tribute to Megadeth” will be on the Megadeth' discography, whatever the bands who make the tribute). The only exception to this rule concerns tributes to non-Metal Bands. The previous rule, which assumed the existence of a band’s page for bands featured on tributes, prevent from any submission for Rock or Metal tributes for non-Rock or non-Metal bands. By doing so, tributes to non-Rock or non-Metal bands (for instance: a tribute to Abba) may be submitted as a various artists compilation.

For the explanations concerning the layouts of the tracklists, please refer to the paragraph 3.6.5. here below.

SEVERAL EDITIONS FOR ONE DISC

It is absolutely forbidden to submit the same disc several times in order to list each of its different releases. We all know, discs are released in many ways (different formats, covers, number of tracks…) depending the country or the edition.

Some are even released several times during the band's career, sometimes through different formats (an old LP released as a CD). We will not accept the adding of new editions or special releases (specially the collectors) if there is already a “classical” version online.

In order to list every release, we simply use the original's page. On this page, before the tracklist, the other version(s) of the disc is/are mentioned, as you will read on paragraphs 3.6.1 and 3.6.2. This second paragraph will explain you how to add the bonus tracks added sometimes on some releases.

Globally, the page on which you must add those new releases is the one concerning the most classical versions: original albums, two-tracks single, French or European version.

Please let us remind you the difference between a new release and a new recording :

• a new release is just a new publishing of the disc, the musicians don't work on it : the original tracks are re-pressed (maybe re-mixed), and the new disc is sold.

• a new recording means, that the band has been on studio again to record the tracks. In this case, they worked on the tracks and some obvious differences may exist between the original tracks and the re-recorded ones. So, the submitting of a re-recorded disc is allowed.

SPLIT-CDS

Split-CDs will be explained in further details throughout this guide. They are albums which feature at least two bands. They are not compilations with various artists but records on which each band plays one or several songs.

Submitting split-CDs is not proscribed but it must be done with care. In order to keep the site's references and statistics correct, a split-CD must be entered once and not as many times as there are bands featured on it.

There is indeed the possibility (please refer to paragraph 3.7) to submit a record in a discography and then create a link so that it shows up in another band's discography. This process must be used to display the split-CD in all the required discographies. In no case, should the record be submitted each and every time in the related discographies. Should you do so, the erroneous data entered would be deleted and you would be sanctioned.

In this regard, if you wish to add such records, the validation referred to in paragraph 3.1.1 must occur in each related discography. For instance, with a “Band 1 – Band 2” split-CD, not finding the record on Band 1’s discography does not mean that it’s not been submitted on Spirit Of Metal.

That record may as well have been entered under Band 2’s discography with no link pointing to Band 1. This is why you must be extra careful when it comes to submitting split-CDs. Quite often amending the record entered incorrectly is enough to fix this (adding a link pointing to the other band(s)).

ACCESSING THE RECORD'S ADD/MODIFY MODULE

ADDING A RECORD

If you noticed a missing record from the database, you can add it by opening the band's page (please refer to paragraph 3.1.1 that reviews how to find a band). Once you’ve reached that page, you will find at the bottom of the page a white link preceded with a (+) sign: “add a production for this band”. Click this link to open of the submission page for records. Now you just need to follow the steps described in the following paragraphs to submit the record.

The “add a production for this band” link is also available when viewing the complete discography of a band (please refer to paragraph 3.1.1). You can find it either at the top right-hand and at the bottom right hand on every tab of the discography you are looking at. So it allows you to add a record regardless of your position on the page.

MODIFYING A RECORD

If you have noticed a mistake or missing information on a record's page, you can edit this page and submit a modification. To do so, click the “edit” link at the top right-hand side of the record’s page or click the “modify this album” link located in the “action” frame underneath the record’s information.

Clicking the “edit” link will open the “album modification” page for this record. On the other hand, clicking the “modify this album” link will open several modules on a new page. All these modules will be further explained later. To modify general information (name and format, date of publishing, cover, label, track list, links pointing to other bands), you must click the “modify this album” link.

Please refer to the following chapters of this guide to process the required modifications. They will review in details the rules that must be followed for each element of the record's page.

REPORTING ERRORS YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO FIX

Should you not know how to fix a specific error, you can click, from the band’s page, on the “Edit” button. When the page opens, a “REPORT ERROR” module is available. It is symbolized with a yellow icon picturing an exclamation mark. Clicking on the module will open a notepad in which you can describe the nature of the error. When you’ve finished, you only need to click “Send” to forward it to an administrator that will fix the error.

Despite the module’s usefulness, you are strongly encouraged to submit the required modifications yourself after you’ve read the troubleshooting section of this guide.

If you are in doubt, you can obviously contact an administrator through Private Messages to get some help or you can ask your questions on the “Help” section of the forum (www.spirit-of-metal.com/forum/forum-f-9-l-en.html). The guide will then be updated in order to provide answers for future similar issues.

TITLE

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

The title is very easy to enter. There are a few simple instructions to follow:

• Indicating the name of the band before the title is useless, i.e. “Metallica – Death Magnetic” since the record’s page already indicates in which band’s discography it is located. So, you just have to type “Death Magnetic”.

• The format is case sensitive. You need to enter the title in lowercase, only the first letter is uppercase except for articles in the title.

                    - The Number of the Beast
                    - Countdown to Extinction

• This implies that you cannot enter a title either all uppercase or all lowercase. Please do not enter such titles:

                    - THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST
                    - countdown to extinction

• Regarding fonts, please pay special attention to foreign bands, especially those from Asia, where the transliteration into Latin alphabet could prove tricky ending up in titles like “[P]rinCE#s of THE ~NiGhT”. You must pay special attention to this and reformulate the title so it fits our format: “Princess of the Night”.

• You must proscribe any superfluous mention in the record title except for those mentioned in paragraph 3.2.2 where several records have the same name in a discography. Those mentions will have to be entered before the track list as explained in further details in paragraph 3.6.1.

• At last, please refrain as much as possible the use of foreign signs such like Asian ideograms, Arabic signs, Greek or Cyrillic alphabet. Please try and provide a transliteration into Latin alphabet. Beware though that it does not mean you do have to translate such titles into English!
  
  

RECORDS WITH IDENTICAL TITLE

Sometimes a band’s discography may have several records sharing the same title. Spirit Of Metal’s database system does not allow the submission of two records sharing the same title in a discography.

You must then enter these records with some mention regarding the format that will differentiate them from each other (please refer to paragraph 3.3 dealing with the various formats). Should you need to add such mention you must do so in between brackets. The following examples illustrate the various cases:

• An album and a single/EP: the song that gave its name to the album has also been release as a single/EP. This must generate two different entries under the same name. In this case, the album’s title is considered more important and must only bear its name where you need to mention the format for the single/EP:

                    - The Number of the Beast
                    - The Number of the Beast (Single)

• A Live album or a DVD (or VHS for older releases): often bands release both audio and video format following a tour. This must also generate two different entries under the same name. In this case, the Live album’s title is considered more important and must only bear its name where you need to mention the format for the DVD/VHS:

                    - Death on the Road
                    - Death on the Road (DVD)

• The original release and the remastered release: as previously explained, a remastered album is considered as a new record and can be submitted in the band’s discography regardless of the original recording. In this case, the original recording is considered being more important and must only wear its name where you need to mention that the second recording is a remastered version of the original one. Depending on the band, they might be some differences. Sometimes the second version may have a different name or could be followed by the year’s release (i.e. "Shadowlord” vs. “Shadowlord 2007”). In this case, since the two recordings have different names, you can skip this step. Otherwise, please indicate between brackets the following mention “Re-Recorded”:

                    - Over the Rainbow
                    - Over the Rainbow (Re-Recorded)

As a general rule, you must consider major releases, especially albums, more important than other releases and any audio recording more important than videos.

In the same way, official productions are considered more important than bootlegs. The version of the recording that is considered more important should be entered without any additional mention where others must be followed by their format.

In any case the record’s format must be entered if this specific record is unique in the discography. Please do not forget that the record’s format is to be entered according to the rules previously described (uppercase for the first letter of each word, no full uppercase or lowercase titles besides formats entered as acronyms – EP, DVD, VHS – which must be entered uppercase):

• (DVD)
• (EP)
• (VHS)
• (Single)
• (Bootleg)
• (Demo)

SPLIT-CDS

By definition (see paragraph 3.3.1), a split-CD is a record where several bands are featured. Usually, most split-CDs feature only two bands. You must then apply the instructions related to split-CDs featuring 3 or 4 bands by providing an additional mention in the title should it be required.

Sometimes, split-CDs may have their own specific names and they can be listed easily by adding them in the related discographies.
More often, split-CDs do not have names or sometimes each sub-part of the record may have its own name because each band names its part differently.

In this regard, you must enter the split-CD with two names. This is where you need to pay special attention to avoid creating a duplicate entry as explained in paragraph 3.1.2.3 since the record may be submitted under another name than the one you were thinking of.
If each part of the split-CD has its own name, you must then enter the disc using those names (i.e.: “The Number of the Beast – Enter Sandman”).

On the other hand, if the names of those parts are not known, then the split-CD is entered only with the names of the featured bands (i.e.: “Iron Maiden – Metallica”). You may have guessed that the name of the split-CD can be entered with the titles of the subparts, and so you may submit it with the band's name (and inversely). This is also possible that titles or band's names are not in the same order that you thought. We ask you then to pay special attention with such records.

DISC FORMAT

Disc format is very important because it let you to correctly view the band's discography with each release done.

In order to select the disc format, you must use the drop-down menu located in the “name and type” part simply by clicking the arrow and then selecting the required format to validate your selection.

Using the drop-down menus is rather simple so this paragraph of the guide will mainly cover the various types of releases you may choose from. In order to ease this process formats have been divided into 7 categories.

Before reviewing the various formats available, we would like to emphasize the fact that you must be very careful when entering formats while submitting a new record. All the mistakes and notably the various records entered as CD (this format is only valid for albums, please refer to paragraph 3.3.1) will be sanctioned.

ALBUMS

The albums category is the first category because of its quality importance ; albums are the bands’ major releases. An album is thus a release of a band that has been recorded in a studio, which usually contain from 8 to 15 tracks.

On Spirit Of Metal, you will find three different types for albums:

• CD (Compact Disc): Everybody knows the format for bands use this particular format for their releases. On Spirit Of Metal, all the records entered with this format appear in bold type and in yellow on the band’s page. This is why it is really important to pay attention to the type of format since they stand out from other releases. When entering a release as a CD, please note that the release must be an album.

• LP (Long Play): This covers all releases made in vinyl, mostly black vinyl, which was the commonest format available before CD came out in 1982. If you have to enter a release from a band before CD came out, please make sure that you enter it as a LP even it was re-released later on CD. It will also be displayed in bold type and in yellow on the band’s page since it is also a major release just like a CD.

• Split-CD (split): It is obviously an album except for the fact that more than one band are featured on it. There are usually from two bands (which is the minimum requirement) to four bands on a split-CD. Such releases usually enable the bands to cut off production and distribution costs but also to get a wider audience in other countries or to fans of the other band(s) featured on the release. Such albums are common in the rock scene and most notably for punk rock and metal bands. As indicated in paragraph 3.2.3, entering a split-CD must be done with caution.
  
  

DEMOS

The demos category is the second most important category. They represent original recordings with songs usually heard for the first time in the band's career just like for albums (in opposition to live recordings, compilations or videos which feature songs that we have already heard, even though may be slightly different from the album or demo versions).

In the music scene, a demo is often self-produced (but not always) and is recorded by the band to ensure it some visibility from either producer, labels and/or audience.

There are two formats available on Spirit Of Metal for these recordings:

• Demo (shortened word for “demonstration” ): this format only applies to recordings described in the previous paragraph and that are released in any format other than "tape" (see below), which is essentially on CD. The Demo category is also used for promotional releases.

• Tape: those are audio tapes (not to be confused with VHS tapes described in paragraph 3.3.4). It’s a special format for demos that we decided to create because a lot of bands, especially in the past where CDs were not available, recorded their demos on tapes. This format only applies to demos that were/are only released on tapes, other demos should be listed as “demo”.
  
  

LIVE RECORDINGS

Musically, live recordings are recordings made with an audience, they have an official status.

By knowing this, beware to don't be confused between Lives and Bootlegs described in paragraph 3.3.7. Depending on the time where the live recording was released, it is either a CD or a LP. Nonetheless, since such records are not recorded in studios, the distinction made for albums does not apply and all live recordings are found together listed under the “live” format.

We would like you to pay special attention to the fact that the “Live” format comprises live recordings on a single disc as well as live recordings that are released on double or triple discs.

Please also pay attention whether the band released CD+DVD or CD+VHS boxes. In this regard, all combinations are possible: the band may release an audio product, a video product and/or an audio + video product in one package.

To sum this up, there are at most three different packages:

• An audio product, which will be entered, as previously described with the format “live”.

• A video product, which will be entered as, described in paragraph 3.3.4 with either the format “VHS” or “DVD” depending on when it was released.

• A product as in audio/video boxes, which will be entered with the format “live”. Where there are audio only versions and audio/video versions, this mention should be indicated before the track listing, so the users will understand that both formats are available (please refer to paragraph 3.6.1 on the mentions that may be added before track listings).

Should a band release all three types of packages previously described, there should be only two entries on Spirit Of Metal.

VIDEOS

The title is self-explanatory (like the famous French cheese "Port-Salut". What? You didn't know it?). Videos are simply video releases from bands; it might be concerts, compilations, video clips or various movies (making of, backstage videos, documentaries, interviews, etc.).

On Spirit Of Metal, there are only two formats available depending on the date the video was released:

• DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), contains from 2 to 4 hours of different footage (Live, interviews, backstage scenes,…). The aim of support is to promote and sell performance given by the Bands with a maximal quality (Stereo , Sound splitted on 5.1,…). This support has became a real standard since the mid-90’s.

• VHS (Video Home System), commonly « videotape » is an analog tape. The entry was kept on Spirit Of Metal to enter all video releases that were available before the mid-90’s when VHS was eventually replaced by DVD. Please keep in mind that a VHS re-released as a DVD must not be entered but it should be mentioned on the original video page (please refer to paragraph 3.1.2.2).

COMPILATIONS

Compilations are simply discs or boxes containing tracks from one or several artist that were previously released on other records, albums or live recordings, remastered or not. There are two types of compilations available on Spirit Of Metal:

• Compilation: this format aims to contain all records that may either be “greatest hits” or “best of”, singles, double or triple records that feature tracks previously recorded by the band and sometimes new tracks (either recorded or remastered for this occasion or tracks that were unreleased so far). This format also applies for multi-bands compilations described in paragraph 3.1.2.1.

• Box Set: this format aims to contain larger releases coming in voluminous and various packaging and featuring most often more than three discs and/or DVD. Such box sets sometimes come with various stuff like t-shirts, posters, books, concert tickets, pictures, goodies… They’re sometimes numbered when released in limited editions (i.e.: Iron Maiden’s “Eddie’s Archive Box” with 6 discs, a numbered scroll and a glass of whiskey). Box sets may contain previously unreleased discs or re-released discs of the band’s discography, be it partial or complete. In both instances, the “Box Set” format applies and the complete track listing must be entered (please refer to paragraph 3.6.3 on required formatting).
  
  

OTHER DISCS

At least, bands release of all kinds of other discs, with less songs than albums. Such records may have from one to seven tracks and thus do not match with the categories previously described.

There are 4 different categories for other discs on Spirit Of Metal:

• Single: a short disc with 1 to 3 tracks which aim is to promote one track in particular (usually the first track which gives the disc its name). This track is usually promoted to be aired on radios and to promote indirectly the album from which it is derived. As a general rule, a band may release from 1 to 3 singles derived from each disc. On Spirit Of Metal, the “single” format only applies to discs previous described printed on a CD.

• 7": 7"s are singles’ older brothers. They are vinyl records also known as 45 rpm. They have two sides, the single being on side A and another track on side B. Those are singles that were released up to the mid-90’s before the use of CDs became widely spread.

• EP (Extended Play): a single with a few more tracks, from 4 to 6 tracks. On Spirit Of Metal, this format applies to both CD and vinyl releases.

• MCD (Mini CD): from the self-explanatory name, a disc that is lesser version of a CD. To be more specific, mini CDs are usually albums with less tracks, not exceeding 8 tracks, a number from which one release is considered as an album. MCDs are in between EPs and albums.

UNOFFICIAL DISCOGRAPHY

On Spirit Of Metal, you may submit records that are not considered official releases of a band’s discography.

In this regard, there are two types of recordings that can be submitted for a band though they may not be deemed an integral part of their official discography:

• Bootleg: a record, usually a live recording, recorded and/or distributed unofficially, i.e. by persons who were not asked to do so by the band. There is a wide variety of such records. This is especially true for more known bands and most notably because of the increased availability of technology that allows for private copy and also because of the Internet. Such records either captured on given concerts or containing stolen tracks. The main characteristics of such records are that they are not official (the sound may be poor) and they're also not easily available. The word “bootleg” usually refers to audio and video hacking.

• Tribute: a record, usually a compilation, where one or many artists cover songs from a given band giving it their own adaptation. These covers pay tribute to the band whose tracks are featured. Most of the time, such tributes may not be fully “official” given the fact that they do not belong to the band’s discography but rather belong to the cover bands (so this category is in this paragraph). On Spirit Of Metal, tributes must be entered in the band’s discography to which the tribute was paid in order to facilitate searches (i.e.: a “Tribute to Metallica” may be played by Motörhead and AC/DC but will appear in Metallica’s discography despite the fact that Metallica does not play any track in the record). But sometimes Tributes might be recorded by only one band, these bands exist only because they play songs from other bands (ex : Catch the Rainbow which covers song from Rainbow). In this case, you can make the record appear into the two band's discographies (the one which covers and the one which is covered), like a split (see paragraph 3.7).

DATE OF RELEASE

There is nothing complex about the date of release for a given record. You must simply know that you must at less enter the year of release. The exact day and month are optional. Obviously there are only three possible ways: only the year of release, month and year of release, or all three elements. Under no circumstance, you may enter only the day and the year of release without mentioning the month. This would not make sense.

For records that have been reissued, the date of release that must be entered via the three drop-down menus is the date of release of the first issue. Mention of the re-release date (or dates, should the disc be re-released more than once) is indicated just before the track listing as described in paragraph 3.6.1.

Drop-down menus for days and months enable you to pick all possible dates. The drop-down menu for years, covering a period dating back from 1950 up to nowadays.

In this regard, it is possible to submit a disc for the current calendar year but also for the forthcoming year (i.e.: in May 2005, you could submit all records whose release date was known for the years 2005 and 2006).

Please note that in the case of bootlegs, the preferred date is the date of the bootlegged concert even if the disc has been released afterwards.

This applies to bootlegs except those, which feature more than one concert and/or rehearsal tracks. In this case, the date of release is the date on which the bootleg was made available, just like for any other official record.

This formatting is specific for bootlegs and allows a better and easier search based on actual dates of recording (and not on dates of release except for the particular cases previously mentioned). Since the vast majority of bootlegs are illegal recordings of concerts, it appears to us that entering the day of the event seems to be the most appropriate solution.

COVER

You must enter a cover with any record you submit. There are no submissions validated without covers unless the band specifically released the record without one. This applies notably to demos, especially promo demos, of younger bands whose only aim is promotion.
In this regard, if, after doing our own research, we confirm that your submission without a cover is not the result of a mistake; the submission will be validated. If a record has no cover available (this might happen with very first demos, split records and so on) you must specify the mention « disc with no cover ». This mention will help the members in charge of the completion of the site so please, don’t forget it and us to maintain this site with the highest quality possible.

However if finally it appears that a cover was available, your incorrect submission will be sanctioned. If the record doesn't have a cover, you must specify before the tracklist this mention "disc without cover".

Spirit Of Metal uses a personalized picture for records without covers.

The picture has a deep red background with stylized record on the bottom left corner. Since you may not submit a record without a cover, you must save a copy of this picture to be able to submit a record without a cover. As previously described, if you use this “shortcut” too often, you will be sanctioned.

In order to submit a cover that meets the requirements on Spirit Of Metal, you must respect a few criteria that will ensure the site’s quality and homogeneity:

• Only the front cover may be considered the cover of a record. Under no circumstance, you may submit both the back and front covers together in the same picture. In some particular cases, especially for box sets (please refer to paragraph 3.3.5), we tolerate a picture of the said box set instead of a cover (i.e.: Iron Maiden’s Eddie’s Archive Box). Of course, a box set containing several discs, display the box set itself rather than a collage of all records that may not be graphically pleasing.

• We do not tolerate pictures showing jewel cases/packaging (DVD, CD or vinyl) if a valid cover, square or rectangular depending on the product, is available on the Internet. Accordingly, for CDs, if you own the record and that there is no available on the Internet you must scan the cover rather than take a picture of it. Quality will be better for pictures are usually tilted and have light reflections or feature the whole booklet and this does not meet Spirit Of Metal’s requirements. Adding a picture may only be tolerated on exceptional occasions where no other image is available.

• Should there be no cover, please do not add a picture of the disc itself or a picture of the band or its logo. In this case, you must then submit the disc as previously described by using the “no cover” picture with the red background.

• Submitted pictures must meet quality requirements that must be respected:

- no white outlines: to get rid off of white outlines around the cover, please refer to paragraph 2.2.5.3 where the procedure is explained.

- if there is no other way than submitting a picture of the cover, you must touch up the picture so it is centered and without parasites (please refer to paragraph 2.2.5.3).

- the size of the cover must fit the pages of Spirit Of Metal: covers that are too big will be automatically reduced by the site so it may display correctly but covers that are too small cannot be expanded in order to avoid pixel effect and risk to become not viewable. In this regard, we ask you, whenever possible, to add pictures that have a decent size in order to maintain homogeneity throughout the pages. The usual size of covers on SoM is 250x250 pixels.

• At least, where there are several covers available, you must use the commonest one, i.e. the original cover and, where releases have different covers in different countries, we prefer the French/European covers in regards to the origins of Spirit Of Metal.

TRACKLIST SETTING

Tracklist is mentioned in the notebook on the right side of disc’s submission page. There are standards for each different type of tracklist you could submit. Before showing you how to submit each tracklist type, we wish explain some fundamental rules, about elements you will invariably find from one tracklist type another.

FUNDAMENTAL RULES

For a better understanding of the fundamental rules that will be presented below, we suggest some examples for each rule. These examples will be certainly more eloquent than the simple text presenting the rules.

There are five fundamental rules for tracklist setting. They must be respected for any type of tracklist you would submit. These are the only rules to be respected for common tracklists. Explanations are given for all the other “special” types of tracklist from sections 3.6.2 to 3.6.5, including some additional elements.

Sometimes, there are tracks which have no title. In this case, you have to respect rules described below and mention “Untitled” in place of track title. If the entire disc contains tracks with no title, all tracks are mentioned “Untitled”. Only tracks’ numbering and playing time would allow differentiating the tracks (except if the band has decided to name its titles “Untitled 1”, “Untitled 2”, Untitled 3”, etc). You obviously mustn’t use this method to submit a tracklist you wouldn’t know. This method is applied only to tracks/discs for which a band has expressly decided to give no name.

NUMBERING

Any tracklist must be numbered following principles stated below:

• tracks from 1 to 9 are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and not 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09.
• each track number is followed by a dot then a space before mentioning track title.

You mustn’t use any other numbering format setting which would add a 0 and/or suppress the dot and/or the space to the benefit of a bracket, a dash or any other punctuation type. The aim is to use identical format for each disc’s page in order to obtain a standardized tracklist setting on the whole website. An example of a correctly numbered tracklist:

               1. Title
               2. Title
               3. Title
               4. Title
               5. Title
               6. Title
               7. Title
               8. Title
               9. Title
              10. Title

For tracks divided into several sub-parts, each including one sub-title, an additional numbering must be used: a lower case letter followed by a slash then a space. Sub-titles are indicated under track title (and not on the same line), which implies to start on the next line for each sub-part. If one track contains several songs (intro followed by a song, song followed by an outro, medley), which sometimes occurs for live or DVD tracks, you simply have to separate titles with a slash: these are different songs, and not a song divided in several sub-parts. For a medley, you have to mention the excerpts in brackets.

               1. Intro / Title
               2. Title
               a/ Sub-part 1
               b/ Sub-part 2
               3. Medley (Title 1 / Title 2 / Title 3)
               4. Title / Outro

CASE LETTERS

Case is the format used for letters: upper case or lower case.

Titles mustn’t be entirely written in upper or lower case. On Spirit of Metal, title begins with an upper case letter (the first letter), then an upper case for each word’s first letter, except for articles and prepositions, whose non-exhaustive list you’ll find here in main languages (we get information relating that they might be around two billion people not speaking English, crazy no?):

• German: auf, aus, der/die/das/dem/den, für, und, ein/eine/eines/einem/einen/einer, oder, mit, von, zu/zum, bei, in/ins/im...
• English: a/an, and, at, by, for, from, in, into, of, on, or, the, to, with...
• Spanish: el, con, de, en, o, para, por, un/una, y...
• Finnish: ja, tai, että...
• French: à, avec, dans, de/du/d’, et, le/la/les/l’, ou, par, pour, sur, un/une...
• Italian: a, con, da, di, e, i, il/la, o, per, un/una/uno...
• Norwegian: av, den/det, en, for, med, og, til, ved...
• Portuguese: a, com, em, o, ou, para, por, um/uma...
• Swedish: av, eller, en/ett, från, med, och, på, som, till, vid...

So that you obtain the presentation shown in the following example (repetition of some titles is intentional, as you would understand by reading the following rules):

                    1. The Power of Love
                    2. The King
                    3. Princess of the Night
                    4. Devil’s Dance
                    5. A Beautiful Day
                    6. Neverland
                    7. Forever Young
                    8. Run to the Hills
                    9. Devil’s Dance
                    10. The Power of Love

TRACKS' PLAYING TIME

Mentioning both the length of tracks and the total length of the record is optional. If you wish to enter them, there are three rules that you must comply to.

First of all, you must enter the length for all the tracks of the record. Either you enter no track length or you enter all of them. You are not allowed to indicate only a few of them. If you choose this option, it will apply to the whole record.

Then, you must respect the layout format defined by the current international standards. It means that duration must be entered as follows: first minutes, then a colon, and then seconds. You must add an additional 0 for tracks that last less than ten minutes (“04:32” and not “4:32”). Do not replace the colon with a dot; do not add any other element like apostrophes after seconds (please do not use the following formats: “4.32” or “4.32’” or “4’32’’”). The track's length is added right after the track's title with only one space to separate them.

At last, if you wish to enter track's lengths, you must then enter the total length of the record at the end. To do so, please type the words “Total playing time” followed by one space and then the total length of the record. It should be separated from the record's track list by one blank line to clearly differentiate it from the track list. Please notice that if a record lasts more than sixty minutes, then the format “hours, minutes and seconds” applies rather than the format “minutes and seconds”. So, for a record that lasts one hour and fifteen minutes, indication will be “1:15:00” and not “75:00”.

Here is an example of a track list that complies to all the rules explained above:

                    1. The Power of Love 04:32
                    2. The King 03:21
                    3. Princess of the Night 10:12
                    4. Devil’s Dance 03:22
                    5. A Beautiful Day 07:00
                    6. Neverland 03:33
                    7. Forever Young 06:11
                    8. Run to the Hills 03:55
                    9. Devil’s Dance 03:22
                    10. The Power of Love 04:10

                    Total playing time 49:38

The whole track duration appears written in yellow on the record index: the track numbers et their titles are aligned on the left side however the durations are on he right side.

Underneath the complete tracklist, the global duration will appear.

PRECISIONS

Precisions are elements which can be added either track by track or for the whole disc. Certain precisions are obviously not allowed in order to avoid the useless surfeit of discs' pages. In particular about the mention "(Instrumental)". It must not appear in the tracklist, but only in the lyrics page (see paragraph 4.1.2). The only exception is when the same track appear more than once on the same disc (sing along version and instrumental version), the mention is here necessary.

You can add only 4 types of precisions in tracklists' heading: those indicating re-issue, disc recorded with another band name, number of limited copies or live's recording date and place (in this case, indicate audience then city then country and finally date). The other information is rather anecdotal and has to take place in band's biography. Tracklist's heading must be written in English using simple and concise sentences:

• Re-issue: "Re-issue in 2003 by EMI Records". In this case, the label is only mentioned in this heading and then mustn't appear another time in disc page's section reserved to labels, which only mention the original version label.

• Recording with another name (or precisely with the old name if band has changed his name): "Recorded when the band’s name was …AND OCEANS". This is also applicable for the splits on which one or more band(s) would have contributed under another name: you must indicate the information at the top of the tracklist and keep this other name all along the tracklist presentation (in no case this name should be replaced by the current name of the band).
  

• Number of copies: "Limited to 500 copies".

• Live date and place: "Recorded live at the Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 23/09/2002".
  

You can also add some information for only one track, but be careful to not overload the tracklist. Nevertheless, you cannot add the names of tracks' authors and composers. But we accept all the following types of precisions:

• Song's version: several possible versions exist for a song, for example: Live, Demo (if the song has been re-recorded for another disc in the future), Edit (single version shorter than album's original version), Short/Long (short or long version in comparison with original version), …

• Participation of a guest star on a track: use the term "featuring" shortened "ft." and followed by the name of the guest and possibly of the band he/she belongs to at the same time. For example: Slash, belonging to Guns N' Roses, played on the Motörhead album "March or Die"; his presence is indicated on the track he play:
  

                    - I Ain’t no Nice Guy (ft. Slash of Guns N’ Roses).

• Original version: many bands play covers of other bands. So the presence of this type of song must be mentioned on disc's page, because even if the band has reworked the song, the band is not the original author. This precision is indicated with the original author's name followed by the term "Cover":
  

                    - Tears of a Mandrake (Edguy Cover)

• Live date and place: this precision is indicated track by track if there are only few live tracks on a disc (2 or 3 at the most) or if all the tracks have been recorded in different places. These precisions concern bonustracks for some discs but also compilations, which sometimes contain some live tracks. The precisions are mentioned in the same order as general information in tracklist's heading (audience, city, country, date):
  

                    - Queen of the Damned (Live at Monsters of Rock, Donington, England, 21/07/1992)

Take note that in the case of live tracks, rules indicated in this section are only valid if the whole disc is recorded in the same place or if the disc contains few live tracks or if each track has been recorded in a different place. In the case of a disc presenting some tracks taken from one live, followed by some tracks taken from another live (and so on), the corresponding setting are shown on section 3.6.4.

To conclude this section, here is an example of tracklist showing the whole fundamental rules earlier explained:

                    Re-Issue in 1998 by EMI Records.

                    1. The Power of Love 04:32
                    2. The King 03:21
                    3. Princess of the Night 10:12
                    4. Devil’s Dance 03:22
                    5. A Beautiful Day 07:00
                    6. Neverland 03:33
                    7. Forever Young 06:11
                    8. Run to the Hills (Iron Maiden Cover) 03:55
                    9. Devil’s Dance (New Version, ft. Nick Holmes of Paradise Lost) 03:22
                    10. The Power of Love (Demo Version) 04:10

                    Total playing time 49:38

FOREIGN PRINTS USE

 

Because of metal has a worldwide scope, you sometimes should have to submit a disc containing titles written in different letters/prints from our Latin alphabet, that's to say Greek, Cyrillic or Arabic letters … or even Asiatic ideograms. Moreover, you should have to reckon with some special prints issued from different alphabets, whose most part of letters nevertheless stay identical to those of Latin alphabet.

You have to know that some of these letters are possibly related to display problems, despite a big technical work on Spirit Of Metal trying to resolve those problems. This thing is particularly observed for Asiatic titles, often appearing in an odd form, for example "P[rin]Ce~s !s Of ThE [NiG#T]/" instead of "Princess of the Night". So it's very difficult to understand the title, and researches using disc title are thus absolutely impossible…

So we emphasize you on the necessity to avoid submitting titles in their original alphabetic form, if possible, but rather transcribe again them in Latin alphabet. It's possible for all languages worldwide, so be particularly vigilant with this type of problem.

TRACKLISTS WITH BONUSTRACKS

This type of tracklist presents only one evolution in comparison with the fundamental rules earlier described. It's the indication of the existence of one or several bonustracks after the original tracklist. It is separated by one line-space, precising "Bonustrack" or "Bonustracks" (if there is – are – one or several additional track(s)), followed by the edition on which the additional tracks are included (written in brackets).

Several sets of bonustracks can be added after the original tracklist, provided that each set is separated by a one line-space, the concerned version is indicated and numbering is resumed in the appropriate way, that's to say the number which immediately follows original disc's last track.

Finally, take note that if you decide to indicate tracks' playing time, only original disc's playing time must appear at the end of the tracklist (only tracks 1 to 7 in the example below). Actually, if each edition's total playing time would be indicated, this would usefully overload disc page. So the most common edition, without any bonustrack, is the only for which total playing time is indicated.

                    Re-Issue in 1998 by EMI Records.

                    1. The Power of Love 04:32
                    2. The King 03:21
                    3. Princess of the Night 10:12
                    4. Devil’s Dance 03:22
                    5. A Beautiful Day 07:00
                    6. Neverland 03:33
                    7. Forever Young 06:11

                    Bonustrack (English & Irish Releases)
                    8. Run to the Hills (Iron Maiden Cover) 03:55

                    Bonustracks (Re-Issue 1998)
                    8. Devil’s Dance (New Version, ft. Nick Holmes of Paradise Lost) 03:22
                    9. The Power of Love (Demo Version) 04:10

                    Total playing time 38:11

As you can see, this type of tracklist is the example you must refer to for simple re-releases, which only presents some bonustracks at the end of the disc. In the case of complex re-releases in which tracklist is fundamentally modified, you must refer to section 3.6.3.

MULTIPLE-DISCS' TRACKLISTS

Beyond the fundamental rules, this type of tracklist is related to the existence of several discs. It concerns double albums (double live, double best-of) or box sets (containing several CD and/or DVD). In such cases, each element of the package has to be individualized to improve disc page's readability. This presentation is also suitable for discs re-released or released in a special version with a complete modification of the tracklist (tracks presented in a different order): original disc's tracklist is presented first, then a second tracklist is added for the re-released disc or the special version in accordance with the rules defined below.

Each disc/DVD is individualized and have an own numbering resumed to 1 each time disc/DVD changes. Each disc/DVD title have to be indicated in capital letters in the form "DISC" or "DVD" followed by the number of the disc. It corresponds to the minimal presentation. If each disc is individually characterized by a title, it has to be indicated in capital letters after disc number, adding any necessary precision, as indicated below. If a re-released edition presents a fundamentally modified tracklist, both discs are not numbered: the first is entitled "ORIGINAL TRACKLIST" and the second "TRACKLIST YEAR/EDITION" where YEAR/EDITION obviously has to be replaced by date and name of the re-release or the special version.

If you have decided to indicate tracks' playing time, you have to add playing time of the whole discs at the end of the tracklist (except in the case of a re-release or a special edition modifying the whole tracklist, for which only original disc's playing time is indicated, as defined in section 3.6.2).

                    DISC 1 – THE POWER OF LOVE (EP)

                     1. The Power of Love 04:32
                     2. The King 03:21
                     3. Princess of the Night 10:12
                     4. Devil’s Dance 03:22

                     DISC 2 – LIVES AND RARITIES

                     1. Run to the Hills (Iron Maiden Cover) 03:55
                     2. Devil’s Dance (New Version, ft. Nick Holmes of Paradise Lost) 03:22
                     3. The Power of Love (Demo Version) 04:10
                     4. Beautiful Day (Previously Unreleased) 07:00

                     DVD 1 – LIVE AT WACKEN OPEN AIR 2007

                      1. Neverland 03:33
                      2. Forever Young 06:11
                      3. Backstage Videos 33:06
                      4. John Polster Interview 15:33

                      Total playing time 1:38:17

SPLIT-CD TRACKLISTS

Beyond the fundamental rules, this type of tracklist is related to the participation of several bands. Presentation is very simple, resuming the one presented in section 3.6.3, but without disc numbering, because it corresponds to the same disc. Band's name is indicated in capital letters, then a one line-space is added, then the tracks the band plays. Another one line-space is included and the same thing goes for the second band and then on until the end of the disc.

For the same disc, take note that the numbering is not resumed to 1 when changing band. The numbering runs continuously from the beginning to the end of the disc.

As earlier mentioned, a split-CD can be known under a generic name, bands' names or by so many titles it exists for disc's subparts. If each band has given a name to its subpart, each name has to be indicated in quotes under band's name, respecting the same rules as for songs' titles (see section 3.2.1). The addition of subtitles is obviously optional.

If you have decided to indicate tracks' playing time, disc's total playing time has to be indicated at the end of the tracklist, adding playing time of all tracks played by all bands.

This setting is also used for live discs composed of several parts, each part recorded in a different place. Instead of indicating band's name and title of its subpart as for a split-CD, you simple have to indicate live place and date, followed by tracks recorded at this place.

                    DARK SUN
                    "The End of this World"

                    1. Dark Sun 04:55
                    2. Moonlight 03:10
                    3. Underworld 09:21

                    HELLTROOPERS
                    "Invasion"

                    4. War Machine 02:33
                    5. Olympus Mons 08:01
                    6. Invasion 04:44

                    NEVERLAND
                    "Wrong Way"

                    7. Kill the King 03:37
                    8. Styx 03:23
                    9. Killer’s Blood 04:00

                    Total playing time 43:44

MULTI-BAND COMPILATIONS' AND TRIBUTES' TRACKLISTS

In addition to the fundamental rules, these discs are characterized by the necessity to indicate the name of each band playing on the disc track by track, because principle is precisely to put together as many bands there are tracks on the disc.

The whole rules earlier described have to be respected if you need to add any precision. The only additional rule consists in respecting a special setting to indicate each band's name: indicate track number in the conventional way, directly followed by band's name entirely in capital letters, then by track's title from which it is separated by a space/dash/space set. Again, this presentation is particular but necessary to make uniform the whole pages of Spirit Of Metal.

                    1. DARK SUN – Dark Sun 04:55
                    2. NEVERLAND – Kill the King 03:37
                    3. HELLTROOPERS – Olympus Mons 08:01
                    4. XXX 666 – Judgement of Hell 03:01
                    5. RAINBOW WARRIOR – Sauron 07:17
                    6. THE KIDS – Heavy Metal Kids 02:59

                    Total playing time 29:50

ADDITIONAL BANDS ON SPLIT ALBUM

As previously mentioned in paragraph 3.1.2.3, split-CD's are entered into only one discography and with the help of links, appear into every related discography.

In order to create the links, the section “Additional Bands on Split Album” has been created on the album's page. This section only concerns split-CD's (please refer to paragraph 3.3.1). When clicking “Add a band to this album”, a window opens so that you can type the name of the band you want to add, and confirm. You can repeat this for each and every band which appears on the album.

In order to add the name of a band, do not use the “copy-paste” trick (see on paragraph 3.8). Indeed, as well as for labels, you could add a name in a wrong way and thus believe it does not exist yet, since the search module will not find it. However, if you type it letter by letter, you can scroll the whole alphabetical list and you will be able to choose the right name easily. Please note that a band which does not exist in the database will not appear, so you won't be able to choose it. In this case you must create its page before adding it as an additional band on a split album. You can not create it directly from the “additional bands” module, unlike for labels.

LABEL

In the musical industry, a label is a company which handles the recording, the production and the distribution of musical products (discs, videos...). There are two kinds of labels: major labels and independent labels. The first ones are few, but they control three quarters of the market (Universal Music Group, EMI Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group...). Each of them owns several departments (for instance: Barclay, Philips, Geffen... for Universal Music Group). On the contrary, there are a lot of independent labels but they share only a quarter of the market (Nuclear Blast, Roadrunner Records, Drakkar Records, Earache, Metal Blade Records...).

In order to help you, we provide you further quality websites which list the labels:

• www.discogs.com
• www.allrecordlabels.com

When submitting/modifying a disc, you can add up to three labels on the disc's page. You must click “add (a) label(s) for this album”. Once you have clicked, an “add a label” window opens, providing you with three free fields. At this stage, you are still able to cancel or delete the names if you made a mistake.

Some rules must be respected when adding a label:

• by default, if the disc has only one label, you must use box “label 1”, then boxes “label 2” and “label 3” if there are more labels.

• you must not copy-paste from another site when you add the name of a label because you can add it in a wrong way and create a duplicate entry, which would lead to a penalty. Indeed, you will note that when typing the name letter by letter, you can scroll the list and see the label if it already exists. If the label is listed in a wrong way (for instance “CBS” instead of “CBS Records”), choose it anyway, and do not create “CBS Records”, in order to avoid a duplicate entry (please refer to paragraph 4.1.1). On the contrary, if it does not exist in the database yet, you will see a warning message in red background. This will confirm the creation of the label when you will click outside the box where you will have added the missing label.
  
  
• when you type a name, do not use abbreviations such as “Prod” for “Production” or “Rec” for “Records”. Names are entirely written on Spirit of Metal. Moreover, please pay attention to a label which could be added whether with an acronym or a whole name (for instance: “WAB Records” or “Wait And Bleed Records”), because you could create a duplicate entry. By the way, acronyms do not contain stops between the letters : “EMI Records”, and not “E.M.I”.
  
  
• please pay attention to question/exclamation marks, they create bugs in the system and force us to not validate the submissions, even when a label is not already listed. There is a similar issue with apostrophes, so please be careful when adding a submission. For instance, “Aargh! Records” will be listed as “Aargh Records”.
  
  
• as well as for bands' names, names of labels must be written in lowercase letters except for the first letter of each word, which must be written in uppercase: “Warner Bros Company” instead of “warner bros company” or “WARNER BROS COMPANY”.
  
  
• you should never enter two different labels in the same box, the purpose of the three boxes is precisely to list each individual label! Type only one name per box. Discs that need more than three labels are very rare. If you find such a production, you should ask yourself if the information is relevant or not (please refer to the next paragraph).
  
  
• do not list the studios where discs are recorded, studios and labels are two different things: a studio is just the place where the band recorded its discs whereas the label distributes it.
  
  
• do not list the different branches of a label, for instance if you find a disc provided by “EMI Records Japan”, just enter “EMI Records”.

• please note that there are two names for self-produced discs: in French it is “Auto-Production” and in English “Self Produced”. Please use them, in no case should you leave the box empty (a “non-blocking” warning will appear when validating submission if you didn’t write any label). You must specify that the disc is produced by the band itself, and not type the name of the band in the box. Be careful with entries used on other websites and don’t use them in place of the entries mentioned below : “Auto-Produit”, “Eigenproduktion”, “Autoproducción”, “Self Released”, “Autoproduzione”.
  
  
• do not copy the information that you can find on some websites such as “n/a”, “none”, “aucun label”, “independent”... They are absolutely useless: the three first ones clearly indicate that the label is unknown, and the last one indicates that the label is independent without specifying its name. You should bear in mind that there is a label named “Independent Records”, so please be careful. If you really don't find the specific name of the label, leave the space empty.
  
  
• in the case of a re-released disc, the label that re-released it is mentioned at the top of the tracklisting (please refer to paragraph 3.6.1.4). You should not add it a second time. The three boxes only concern the original labels to make it clearer.

These rules only apply to adding labels on the bands' pages. Please refer to paragraph 4.1.1, about labels' pages. Each time you add a new label (and you receive the confirmation that it has effectively been created), please fill in its page just after in order to add the missing information.

THE PRODUCER

The word « Producer » might be use to define a person or a company involving money in a record realization.

In the musical world this term is commonly understood as being the person helping an artist or a band through his knowledge and artistic experience. Usually a Producer has a person might have been a musician, a sound engineer, a composer in all cases as you might guess, someone coming from musical environment.

This second definition must be the only one to be used on Spirit Of Metal.

You will have while submitting a producer’s name to not be confuse by the musicians which might have take part in the global production by playing one or various instruments or even participate to the mix phase. This is a common mistake done, musicians really producing by their own a record are rare so please, we insist, take care before submitting a producer’s name.

Ok now you’re sure but before submit or add a Producer to a record, you must check if this one is not already referenced on SOM.

If he is not already referenced, you will have to create his profile; you will find all elements including the walkthrough on chapter 4.2.1.

In order to check if a profile concerning your producer exists and if then, you can submit him on your record submission, two possibilities are offered:

• Once in the record’s edition / submission (edition for a modification or submission for a new one) screen, get into the field « Producer / studio ». While entering the first letter of his name, a drop down list twill appears showing the whole referenced names containing the same letters. If the one you might submit appears, just select it.

• From the main page click the « artist » field a list containing the whole artists already referenced by alphabetical order, this list includes the musicians and also producers while referenced. Search through this list an select the one you want to modify (see previous chapter)

If the producer you have found does not appear, you can then add him on the field “add a producer” by editing the concerned page after having create his profile. To add a new producer just click on “add an artist”.

RECORDING STUDIO

In this site (as in many others we guess) we consider that a « Recording studio » is a place while several band or solo artist have already composed and / or recorded their music in order to produce a new record.

We exclude “home studios” generally reserved (or owned by) a specific band or artist. Any submission concerning a home studio will be systematically suppressed.

Before submitting a new Recording studio, you must check if it’s not already referenced. All this existing ones are referenced as “Metal site”.

In other words, if you want to submit a new “Recording studio” you will then have a new “Metal site”. At this step we must warn you, some “Recording studio” might be referenced through an existing “Metal site” this happens when a “Metal site” has a double utility has for an example being a gig place containing a Recording studio. Some of theses sites are then considered / referenced as “Metal site with a gig place”.

In this case, just edit the page a change the characteristic concerned.

The chapter 4.4.1 will explain you how to search (and find, crazy no?) the “Metal sites”.

Let’s consider that the Recording studio you want to add is not already referenced, the first step consist then in creating a new “Metal site”. You will find on chapter 4.4 all the elements to do so.

Once the new “Recording studio” created you can add it to a record submission, to do so, edit the record concerned get into the “producer / studio” field, on the “Recording studio” field enter the first letters or the complete name, a drop down list will appear, select the good one, this will validate your choice.

OTHER SUBMISSIONS

DISC-RELATED SUBMISSIONS

LABELS

The rule mentioned in the paragraph 3.8 refers on how to add a label. For each label already listed, and for each new one, there is a complete identification form. This form is going to be explained all along this paragraph.

HOW TO EDIT A LABEL

As previously mentioned, a new label can only be added by submitting a record (see paragraph 3.8).

In order to edit a label, you have to go on the label's website. You will find the label list in the homepage of Spirit of Metal: clicking on the tab “Bands” will open a new page.

On the top on the right, a link named “Label list” appears. Clicking on this link, you will have access to the already referenced list of labels starting by the letter A, as well as an alphabetical guide to run over the whole list.

This alphabetical order will give you access to the complete list starting by their first letter, the # symbol being for the labels names that start with a number.

For instance, if you write “Records” looking for “EMI Records”, you probably will not match the searched label because, the system will search the names starting with “Records” ; so, in this particular case, you have to write “EMI”.

Once you have clicked on the label name and acceded on its page, you will notice that there are 5 kinds of edited information’s (see the paragraphs 4.1.1.2. to 4.1.1.6). You simply have to click on “Modify the label” then, a pop up will appear, once the changes done, click again on “Edit the label”.

If you don't find the explanation you need to edit the page in this guide, please use the errors reporting module to explain us the problem.
On the label form, you just have to click on “Modify the label”, and click on “Report an error” (the link is indicated by a yellow triangle). Then you get a little notepad in which you can explain the problem. You validate your message by clicking on “send”, and a SOM administrator will do the correction.

NAME

The criteria’s pertaining to the name of a label is identical to those, which pertain to the names of the bands (see paragraph 2.2.1.1). We briefly remind those here:

• The name takes a capital letter at the beginning of each word. The others letters are lowercase, except in the case of a logo.

                    - Atlantic Records
                    - Warner Bros Company
                    - GWR Records

• In the case of a label known as a logo, there is no need put a space between the letters.

                    - EMI Records
                    - GSE Records

• Please do not use abbreviations for common words. Please write “Records” and not “Rec”, “Productions” and not “Prod”, “Distribution” and not “Distri”, etc.

• Some labels sometimes share the same name, as the groups sometimes do. In this case, you have to proceed exactly in the same way as for the bands and use a country code to differentiate one from another (see paragraph 2.2.1.2).
  
  

Of course, as mentioned in paragraph 3.8, please avoid duplicate entries. A page corresponds to one label and not two. Obviously, the mistake, which consists of entering two labels in the same page, does not happen at this stage, but during the creation of the label, when a record's page is modified.

STATUS

The status of a label is the same as for a record and very easy to understand. Its use is also not complicated: either the label is still active and in this case, it is labelled as “active”, or the label does not exist any longer (because of bankruptcy or buyback) and it is labelled as “inactive”.

Usually, the cursor is set on “active” but you can modify this by clicking on the arrow of the drop-down menu.

LOGO

As for bands, submitting the logo of a label should not be considered a new submission, whether it is a cover, a drawing, or any picture that is not the official logo of the label.

The logo you will submit must also meet the required criteria regarding the quality of pictures previously described in the paragraphs concerning bands and records (see paragraphs 2.2.5 and 3.5).

The logo size must be adequate, it must be well centred (ie no white outlines or anything else which would lower the quality, the sharpness or the form of the picture) and in .jpeg format.

Please refer to paragraph 2.2.5.3 for practical advice regarding touching up pictures (conversion in the .jpeg format, making a screenshot, quick retouching of a picture).

To submit a logo in Spirit of Metal, please click on “browse” on the right hand side of the “replace a logo” white box. By doing so, you will be able to choose the appropriate picture from your computer files. Once you selected the picture, click “open” to load it and it will appear in the appropriate box. You will be able to preview the picture before confirming your modification.

WEBSITE

As for bands, the website of the label must be official: it is not allowed to enter the address of another website or some other pages related to the label in question. Should you not know the official website of the label, please do not enter anything. Please note that, as for bands, the “http://” prefix is already written in the left of the box, don’t add it: the link would be useless because of the duplicate “http://” and would point to an invalid page.

Obviously, as for bands, you can add links pointing to communautary websites like MySpace, Facebook, and so on. The rules to follow for these addings are the same as for band's pages, so please refer to point 2.2.6 for more details.

Please note that it is important to enter correctly the “site” box on the page of labels since official websites are available from the bands pages (on the right side, in the box “see also”, section “misc. links”).

There is a link between the band’s records and the labels under which they are referenced.

If those labels have a page with the “site” box full, the name of the labels will appear in the “misc. links” section. Obviously, should the link be faulty, the “misc. links” in the band’s page will also be faulty. Should you find an invalid link on a band’s page, please modify the “site” box in the label’s page to solve the problem.

COUNTRY

To enter a country, please click the arrow and look for the corresponding country from the drop-down menu, then click it. Please note that the cursor is set by default at the top of the drop-down menu on “country”.

Should you not know the native country of the label, please leave the cursor in the initial position.

Should the native country of the label not be in the list, please contact the administrator name Aragorn.

He is responsible for the geographic database. You may reach him through the website’s private messaging and ask him to add the specific country in the database. Once this is done, he will inform you and you will be able to modify the label’s page and enter the correct country.

RELEASES

Below the label’s page, there is a list with all its records referenced on SOM. The number of releases for a given label is also indicated at the bottom of the page.

For labels having a significant numbers of releases, an alphabetical module is enable to search records by their titles on the right side of the page. By default, the first alphabetical letter is automatically listed in the bottom of the page: please click the appropriate letter to view all the records, which begins by that specific letter. You cannot add or delete records for a given label directly from this page.

If you want to do so, please go to the record’s page first (by clicking the name of the record in the label’s page, or by following the instruction provided in paragraph 3.1.1). It is the only way to amend a record for a given label or to add a second or a third label.

The page of the concerned label(s) enables to view the referenced records.

LYRICS

HOW TO SUBMIT/MODIFY LYRICS?

To add lyrics for a given record, you must go the record page (please refer to paragraph 3.1.1).

If the lyrics are not yet submitted, you will see a link named “add the album's lyrics” under the record’s track list. By clicking this link, you will be directed to a memo-pad which will allow you to enter the lyrics providing that you respect the requested form specified in the following paragraphs.

Modifying existing lyrics is a little more complex. You still start from the record’s page but underneath the track list, you’ll find a link named “the lyrics”. By clicking this link, you will be directed to the lyrics page.

At the bottom of this page, click on the link “modify lyrics”. You will then be directed to the a memo-pad similar to the one used to add lyrics only this time, previously submitted lyrics will already be listed: you then can modify the erroneous text.
If you don’t find the necessary explanations to modify the lyrics in this guide, please use the error-reporting module in order to explain the problem encountered.

You just have to go to the “modify the lyrics” memo-pad (see above) then, just click on “report an error” (yellow link). You will then access a small memo-pad allowing you to specify the problem. Clicking on “send” will validate your message. A site administrator will then acknowledge and apply the modification.

GENERAL RULES

On Spirit Of Metal, lyrics’ submission must be provided record by record instead of title by title. You must then make sure that you have the possibility to add all the lyrics for a given record.

If some lyrics are not available for some reason, an incomplete submission may be tolerated however please note that the validation team will check this. Should the lyrics be found, your submission will be penalized.

If the missing lyrics might be really be unavailable, you will have to specify instead of the lyrics “no lyrics available”.

Instrumental tracks must appear on the memo-pad in order to have the full track list. You must then enter instead of lyrics the mention “Instrumental”.

The same rule applies to bonustracks. They may appear in the lyrics page. If, as it sometimes happens, a bonus track is a song already in the track list only in a different version (demo or live track) with identical lyrics, just refer then to the original track using the mention “See lyrics on track #”.

The validation team may not know each and every band or record submitted. In this regard, the team will consider a submission to be incomplete if they are less lyrics submitted than titles in the track list. You will then receive a request for completion. In order to avoid this request and also not to save time, please follow the three mentioned rules.

LAYOUT

The lyrics memo-pad’s layout is very strict and must absolutely follow rules that might initially appear very complex but will become very practical once assimilated:

• The track list must be numbered in the same way the record is (crazy no?). Tracks must then have the same number, be in the same order and the numbers must respect the same format that is applied to track lists (please refer to paragraph 3.6.1.1).

• All tracks must have the same name than tracks on the record (still crazy no?); it means that if someone makes a modification on a track list linked to lyrics, this person must then modify the lyrics memo-pad.
  

These two modifications are mandatory to maintain certain coherence between a record and the corresponding lyrics page.

• Titles have the same format than lyrics in memo-pad: in order to facilitate searches, the titles of songs are completely written in capital letters.
  

• The text by itself is written with small letters with a capital letter starting each sentence and also for proper names even if they are in the middle of a sentence. In any case, a title must be fully written in capital letters. Also, uppercase words must never be written in lyrics.
  

• The layout implies that paragraphs are correctly written (generally stanzas and choruses), line by line for each rime (except for songs written as poems). In any case, lyrics must be written in a single part, please insert blank lines between each paragraph.

• For a correct layout, it is necessary to respect certain line feeds: having written the number and the title of the song, it is necessary to leave a blank line before writing new text, at the end of the song, it is required to leave two blank lines before getting on with the following title. This specific format, in addition with titles written only in capital letters and their numbering, is intended to facilitate searches within the lyrics page.

• At last, when parts of the text are repeated, it is possible to introduce an explanatory element to avoid redundancy. This element may be either the end of a text indicated in between square brackets, as ["Chorus“] to indicate a chorus, or a multiplier indicated in between brackets to mean that a sentence or a series of words is repeated a certain number of times, just like "(x3)". If this is related to text, this has to go before the paragraph to which it refers without inserting a blank line between the mark and the paragraph. For multipliers, they must be positioned at the end of the line. Combination of both elements may be found, as shown in the example proposed hereunder.
  
  

Now that you have all the explanations required to submit/modify and correctly write lyrics, please consider the example summing up all these requirements in order to give you a concrete example of the required layout (the text is repetitive on purpose). For this example, we will use a record for which the track list would be:

                    1. Intro
                    2. Queen of the Damned
                    3. Lost World
                    4. Tyranny

                    Bonus track (Australian Release)
                    5. Queen of the Damned (Live at Sydney, Australia, 22.03.1999)

The correct lyrics page would look like this:

                     1. INTRO

                     (Instrumental)

                     2. QUEEN OF THE DAMNED

                     Queen of the damned
                     Oh, my queen
                     Queen of the damned
                     Oh, my beauty

                     Queen of the damned
                     Oh, my queen
                     Queen of the damned
                     Oh, my beauty

                     [Chorus]
                     Queen, Queen
                     Queen, Queen… of the damned

                     Queen of the damned
                     Oh, my queen
                     Queen of the damned
                     Oh, my beauty

                     [Chorus] (x3)

                     3. LOST WORLD

                     (No lyrics available)

                     4. TYRANNY

                     [Chorus]
                     Tyranny (x4)

                     The old king is dead
                     A tyrant is born

                     [Chorus]

                     5. QUEEN OF THE DAMNED (LIVE AT SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 22.03.1999)

                     (See lyrics on track 2)

TEXTS

MEMBER'S PROFILE

HOW TO ADD/MODIFY A PROFILE?

To add a member’s profile, you must go to the group index card and click on the “edit” link on the top right of the group index card. Once this link clicked a pop-up screen containing further applications will appear. On the top of the right side, a link named “had a member’s profile” appears, by clicking this link; an edition window will be opened. The walkthrough is detailed on paragraph 4.2.1.2.

We warn you about the risk to create some profiles members inside various profiles. As for some split-CD or MCDs, you will have the possibility to reference a profile and index it as a link in different index cards concerning the group. If you want to reference a member acting in different bands please refer to their existing index cards in order to verify that your future add is not already present. If this is the case, you just have to modify the concerned index cards. By modifying this index cards the members will appear on every band he act.

To see the complete members profile from a band, just go to the band index file and look on the right side of the line-up; if nothing appears, it just means that there is no profile already created or completed on this index card. If there is one or more than one profile, you will see the member’s picture. By clicking on the picture, you will open his profile and on the right side on his profile’s page, you will access to all the members he play with and all the band he is part of (in other words, all the index cards his profile is already created). It’s the only to check that the profile you may add is not already present.

To modify a profile, you must find his index card and click on the bottom on the link “modify/complete these information’s” and, click on “member’s profile”. This will open the edition profile module. For sure, if you are not in the right profile, just click on the one expected inside the right column on the bottom of the page and select the index card wanted. Follow the links as explained above to edit and modify.

If you don’t find sufficient explanations in this guide to edit and / or modify, you can report it by using the “reporting errors” module. You just have to from the member’s profile, click on the “modify/complete information’s” link and then click on “report an error” (a yellow triangle appears on this link). A small pop-up screen appears, you can then report the error. By clicking on “sent” your message will be acknowledged by an administrator who will correct the error.

ELEMENTS TO ADD

Excepting the biography which will be explained inside the paragraph 4.2.1.3, 5 elements might be added/modified on a member’s profile index card 

• the name and first name: they must be the same as the ones expressed on the different bands musicians have been part of, they also must follow the rules described on paragraph 2.2.7.2 dedicated to he line-up. The only exception concerns the brackets or quotation marks, you must take it of inside the index card if not, the index card may bug. If you want add a new member which use a surname, you can either forget about the surname or take off the brackets / quotation marks and write “Name First Name” or “Name Surname First name” (instead of Name “Surname” First name).

• the birth date: you just to use the drop-down menu to access the years from 1940 et 1997 and select the correct one. If you must add a member born before 1940 or after 1997, you must contact Kivan our webmaster through the internal messaging system and request him to add the missing year. Once advised by Kivan you will access to the expected year and add or modify the member’s profile by adding the right date.

• the country: as for the birth date, use the drop-down menu and select the expected member’s country. If the member’s country does not appear on the list, please contact then Aragorn in charge of geographical information’s through the internal messaging system or through the topic « Metal Maps » included in the forum « Spirit Of Metal’s improvement ». Once Aragorn advise you, you will have access to the country required and add or modify the member’s index card.

• the picture: the picture must only show the member either on a portrait form or a wide one if this one is playing his instrument. In any case the submitted picture must show two persons, this picture is for a profile, it must be a dedicated picture. We warn you about the picture’s quality (clear, without darkness, not to far taken, no strange composition from different pictures etc.). Please respect the expectations given on the previous 2.2.5.2 paragraph and if needed, go to the 2.2.5.3 paragraph to have some technical details.

• his other bands: if you want to add the member is or have been involved, just write inside the dedicated white square. The list will drop-down as much as you will write. Once the band founded click on “add” to inscribe it on the member’s profile card. You can add as bands as needed. If a group appears in his profile card by mistake, you can erase it by clicking the Red Cross in the top right of the band name. Please be careful because once the red cross clicked it will erase the band name without requiring any confirmation. If you make a mistake and erase a wrong band, you can add it again. If a band is note referenced on Spirit of Metal you may not find it.

Please keep attention on the fact that if you begin to write a member’s profile, all the elements must be completed. As a mandatory, all the basic information’s must have to be completed. For sure, the biography is the essential element, but if by default there is no biography (for a recent member or for members not necessary famous or known for whom information’s are not accessible), you must a minimal content before write a member’s profile.

MEMBER'S BIOGRAPHY

The add of a biography is indispensable to all member’s profile. You can add a biography either in French (on the upper memo pad) or in English (in the memo pad on the bottom). To have a member’s profile validated, it must contain at least a biography written in on of the two languages.

We warn you about plagiarism: as far as possible, don’t copy or add biographies from other Websites, it harms to Spirit Of Metal's originality and, even if you add the link and the name of the author below, which may not wish necessarily have his text published on another site without its agreement. Nevertheless, the biographies that would be copied out on the other sites will be accepted, provided that the source (address of the web page) and the name of the author are indicated. Should the opposite occur, they will be deleted and you will be penalized for attempt of plagiarism.

We wish nevertheless that you privilege personal contributions: you just have to read several biographies of the member on other sites, look for information diverse and varied on his career, and to compile the whole in a text drafted by your own hands. This text will make Spirit Of Metal's originality and we thank you for it beforehand.

Without being very stiff, the frame, which governs a personal biography on Spirit Of Metal, is straight, it requires the respect some evident rules :

• instead of a basic compilation containing diverse information’s a real text must be written, the SMS style is not accepted and of course the related information must be true and chronologically relied. The text must be separated in different paragraphs instead of a compact text. You can if you want to, give titles to sub parts if the biography is consequent.

• you must give, first of all, information’s about the member’s musical life: a biography has to try to indicate how the member came to the music, who influenced him, which was his way (until today or in the day of his death if it left us), which were his setbacks and his success, what he brought by playing his instrument or to the music (new technique, new style, new sound). These kind of details are extremely interesting for those who played in several groups, even which went to investigate the other music’s or style that the metal.

• some private information about the member can be added, as far as they are not stupid banalities like his favourite drink, his “all the times” best record, his dog’s name or whatever. You can as for an example, give his wedding date or the birth of a child, some trouble that may have influence his career, the studies he made… In any case a paragraph must be dedicated to this kind of information’s, they must be part of the biography.

• if the text is a French one, use the French memo-pad as well as if the text is written in English, the memo-pad to be used must be for sure, the English one. Never use another language than these two ones. We warn about the use of translation software’s: in any case you must provide a translation made by this kind of tool, most of the time they are just not readable, some words are really awfully translated. Using translation software might be useful to try to understand foreign text, but the translation given never have to be submitted without been controlled and / or previously modified or corrected.

• your text must be correctly written excluding faults, slang words or any vulgarity. If your text contains to many faults or vulgarities, it will be asked you to correct it. If there are just some faults, the person in charge of the validation will correct the text (we can easily understand that sometimes, even doing your best, some faults might be unseen or forgotten).

• finally, write a biography means, be able to write a text with a minimum length: a three lines text will never be sufficient. Even if a long text does not mean this one will be a good one, a minimum of information’s must be given in a good biography. Ten lines might consider as a minimum format for a biography.
  
  

BAND'S BIOGRAPHY

HOW TO ADD / MODIFY A BIOGRAPHY

To add a biography, you must access the band’s page, click on the « edit » field located on the top right of the page.

A window will then appear giving you access to an « add / modify a biography » field. Once selected a text box will allow you to write or modify a biography.

To modify a biography, follow the same instructions or click on the « learn more » field located under the « band biography » on the right side above the band’s pictures.

As described above, this link will take you to a text box, clicking on the small pencil icon (top right of the biography) you will access the « modify the biography » field. This allows you to acees the published text.

If you can't find the explanations or assistance you need in this guide, you can either pose your questions to an administrator by sending a Private Message or you can access to the band’s biography (see below) and click on the « édit » field.

You will be redirected to a page containing two fields « edit the member” and « report an error ». Select the second and report your problem, validate by clicking on « sent ».

An admin will answer you promptly.

RULES FOR BIOGRAPHIES

The rules concerning biographies are the same as for a member’s profile. Please refer to chapter 4.2.1.3 – a brief refresher of that chapter below:

Plagiarism is strictly forbidden; you may copy over an existing biography only if the name of the author or the source is clearly specified.

We prefer that you draft the biography submitted yourself.

A biography must be well written and sufficiently lengthy. It can include sub-sections if they are marked with different titles.

If you choose to write a biography in another language (French, Spanish, Chinese, German, Portuguese and Russian are now allowed) simply select the site corresponding to that language by clicking on the flag located at the center of the homepage.

Do not use automatic translators unless you correct the result thoroughly, automatic translations are generally awful.

A band's biography should inform the reader about the origin of a band, its creation and the major landmarks of its career.

A biography that ends with a band's split should specify the date of the split, if the band is still active provide the current date or major changes affecting the band.

Personal information about the drafter of the biography is tolerated only insomuch as it is relevant to the band's history.

Please do not simply compile information about a band from various sources or provide information that can easily be found on the other band’s pages(discography, who played with whom, etc...)

REVIEWS, OPINIONS AND COMMENTS ABOUT DISCS

NOTICE ABOUT PLAGIARISM

We would like to warn you regarding any attempt at plagiarism. Several persons in the past took reviews from other sites and posted them on Spirit Of Metal without the agreement of their authors.

We do not tolerate such behaviour as it infringes copyright. We may sometimes tolerate the copy of a biography, even if we do not encourage it but we cannot tolerate the copy of a review.

A review reflects the author’s personal opinion. A biography is usually generally neutral while a review implies personal statements. In addition, it has to remain the exclusive property of his/her author who chose alone where to publish it.

Every person who will try to post stolen reviews will have to refer to Spirit Of Metal's administration. The consequences for infringing copyright might be consequent, from a temporary ban to the definitive exclusion from the site.

The incriminated submissions will always be deleted and a strong penalty, as many as several hundred points, depending on the number of reviews, will be applied to the member.

This is one of the most important points. As a matter of fact, we shall never compromise on this point.

HOW TO ADD A REVIEW, A COMMENT OR AN OPINION?

If you want to add either an opinion or a review, just go to the record’s page and click on the link « add a review » at the bottom of the page. Once in editing mode, you will have the possibility to post a comment, an opinion or a review in English or in French.

Please take into consideration that regardless of your choice, the validation team may reconsider your submission as a comment or a review. The validation team may judge, for instance, that a comment should rather be a review or that a review should rather be a comment. It will usually depend on the quality of the language used to write it but also its interest.

From the band’s page, which lists the main records (reminder: to access the full list of records, please click on "complete discography"), you can see that a record has already been reviewed thanks to the white icon representing a sheet and a pencil next to its name.

This icon means that there is at least one review for this record. Please try to review records that were not already reviewed, as much as possible or, by default, records for which there are not too many reviews online.

It is naturally appealing to review major metal records, but if there are already many reviews available for a given record, there’s certainly one of them which already reflects your opinion for this record. In this case, your contribution, as interesting as it may be, will just clog up this record’s page.

REVIEWS

BASICS

Before writing reviews, you must know some basics concerning either metal music or in a general way music culture. It is obviously easier to review a record when you have the possibility to compare it to other works done by the band or to different metal categories. You then can even make short but interesting digressions on diverse subjects, for instance the themes of songs.

You must know that musical culture, as well as any kind of culture, is a long process. Reviewers get better and better by discovering new bands and writing new reviews: more experienced reviewers will usually agree on the fact that their first reviews weren't as great as they initially thought them to be! Don’t get disappointed if your first reviews are not perfect or if they are moved from review to comment. Please take into consideration that the most important part is to learn and understand the reasons behind such a decision from the Spirit of Metal’s team. The aim behind this will never be to discourage anyone. Good reviewers may become « occasional reviewers » and eventually the best reviewers may become “official reviewers”. They will then gain access to their own dedicated blog: [1].

As in biographies, a review must be a structured text. It must have a minimal length and be correctly written, it must also respect minimum criteria. For any given record reviewed,you mustrespect the following criteria:

• the length: it’s not the essential quality of a review, since a two page review may not make sense at all while ten simple lines may perfectly sum up the essence of the reviewed record. Please try to give a minimum of meaning and structure to your comment otherwise it will be considered as a simple comment or an opinion.

• a well written text: this implies the respect of the rules of the French and English languages, be it spelling, grammar or syntax. Please do use colloquial or SMS language. If your text contains too many mistakes, you will be asked to correct and change it before it may be published.

• a minimum of structure: we do not wish to lock you into a fixed template which would inhibit any innovation, but you must know that a review must follow certain guidelines. Please avoid, drafting a compact 40 lines block or paragraphs made of one or two lines. A review must show some progression towards a purpose which consists in detailing if you liked or not the rewieved record. The argumentation must show this progression in your own words. From a clear introduction and a relatively concise and direct conclusion, the whole text divided by as many paragraphs as required to develop your musical, technical and/or emotional arguments. Please try to avoid if possible a title-by-title review.

• describe a minimum of elements from the record: a review must try, as much as possible, to specify the record’s style and its specificities, it has to explain if it’s a logical progression looking at the group’s career or if it seems to be a new direction chosen.

Regarding argumentation, you must know that it has to be as much objective as you can be, this implies to avoid some terrible sentences or affirmations like "the singer is brilliant", "the drummer is crappy" or "this solo is sooo cool!", without any foundation or reference to your point of view.

We may tolerate extreme marks, but you will be required to clearly explain these points of view. They have been too many reviews glorifying or sabotaging bands without any precision or argument.

At last, please do not forget to comply to layout norms., The band name and the song titles must be written in the same format than the one displayed on the band’s page.

Chapter 4.2.3.6 will provide all of the information needed to create your blog.

ADDITIONAL ADVICE

In order to have the best possible review, please take into consideration the following advices. They are optional but they can make a difference:

• it may be interesting to write additional information like providing a short description of the cover or going through the different credits (producer, label, guest musicians, studio…), the song’s themes, the lyrics, etc. This list is not exhaustive. At last, please never forget to describe what you’ve been feeling while listening to the music. After all, this is the most important part.

• you can use a humorous tone as far as it does not become omnipresent or inappropriate.

• please try to give a mark that is ine line with your review: do not criticise a record harshly and then give a 15/20 mark or, on the contrary, highly recommend a given record and give it a 10/20.

• the review must reflect your feelings It means that even if it’s necessary to explain some points objectively (please see above), you’re entitled to your own opinion even if it is different from of others reviewers. Your review must either make people want to listen to this record or let them know clearly they should keep away from it.
  
  

OPINIONS

Written opinions are usually reviews that have been considered insufficient complete or developed to be posted as a review. In other words, they don’t match with the basics described in paragraph 4.2.3.3.1.

They can also be texts specifically written in order to be a simple opinion. In this case, they are small texts made to express a specific point by their author (global production of the record, radical change in terms of music, specific themes developed through the lyrics, etc.) or just sum up in a few words what he/she believes to be the essence of this record without providing as many details to become a review.

COMMENTS

Comments are not submissions. They simply allow a member to address a reviewer (identical opinion or opposite one). It may also be used to add something specific or remind the reviewer of a forgotten element in his/her approach.

Comments can be added by clicking the link “Add a comment” at the bottom of the review, if it’s the first comment or by clicking on “X comments” if other comments are already posted (with X representing the number of comments already posted). Please do not forget to read what has already been posted before: someone sharing your point of view might already post a similar comment. In this case, please understand that expressing twice the same point of view may not really be useful.

To add your comment (if it’s not the first one) go at the bottom of the notepad and write your comment in the box. If you wish to follow the thread about the review, please click on “be advertised if some commentaries appears” box before validating your comment. You will then receive a message on your Spirit Of Metal personal mailbox each time a new comments will be added.

All comments must obviously be correctly written either in English or in French. They should exclude vulgarity or attacks on the reviewer. No specific form or length is required.

REWIEWERS’BLOGS

 Any Spirit Of Metal rewiewer, no matter his or her status, can create their own blog on metal-blogs.com/.

To access to your blog you must first create it (yeah, I know…). Simply click on the link and follow the instructions, in other words provide the usual items : e-mail address, password (a picture of your girlfriend or boyfriend, your credit card number…ha ha, sorry I digress).

You can also access the MetalBlog site from Spirit Of Metal profle, click on the « General » field and then on « Blog .»

If you do not yet have a blog, you will be asked if you want to create one.

Once your blog is created, you will be able to manage it as you lile, choose several and various themes to personalize it, import your own reviews from Spirit Of Metal.

The homepage references the most active blogs, it is up to you to be as creative as possible; the quality of your blog depends on you.

MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS

At last, in order to achieve this paragraph pertaining to reviews, opinions and comments, please know that you may use various options located at the bottom of each page. These options are available if you feel concerned by the site and want to help to improve the quality of Spirit Of Metal:

• you can vote for a review, you can specify if you consider it useful or not. Just click on “do you find this review helpful?” and your opinion will be registered and sent to the reviewer. A message will then appear to let you know that your vote has been taken into consideration.

• it’s also possible to send thanks to the reviewer if you consider his review to be really interesting. Just click on “thank the reviewer”. A message (“your thanks have been sent to the reviewer”) will let you know that your support has correctly been sent to the reviewer.

• It’s also possible to access the reviewer’s blog by clicking on the grey link located at the end of the review. This will allow you to read the other reviews he or she wrote. Please keep in mind that because of the different statuses seen above (non reviewer, occasional reviewer, official reviewer), not all reviewers may have their own blog on http://www.metalblogs.com.

Finally, reviewers may choose to add two additional elements to their reviews in order to draw readers:

• A video related to the record reviewed (live if it concerns a gig or a DVD / video clip for an album,…) to make the review more attractive.

• An introduction or a short sentence from the review, which aims to give a sample of the review.

LIVE REPORTS

HOW TO FIND A LIVE REPORT

To find a live report, two options are offered: on the bottom of the homepage, the last added live reports appears, select the one you want by clicking on is link and you will have access to.

If the one searched is not part of the list mentioned above, from the Homepage, click on “Articles” you will be directed to a new page subdivided on various themes as “Reviews” or “Video interviews” as you might guess, you will have to click on “Live reports” amazing no?

You will then see all the live reports already indexed but be careful, there are not sorted in any alphabetical or other way.

You can then add a comment using the pad situated at the bottom of page in order to share your impressions, write what you may want to express and click on “add”.

Your comment will then be sent to the member who wrote the report but it also will appear following the other comments or being the first on the drop down window named “Comments”.

If you want to be yourself advertised when other comments will be posted, click on "to be warned of the arrival of new comments". Not only you’ll be advised but also, you will have the possibility to add new comments (ain’t that lovely?).

HOW TO ADD A LIVE REPORT

To add a "live report", from the homepage click on the tab "articles", then on "live reports". A search module will then appear, this one will allow you to look for every live reports already published on the site.

Please check before adding your live report that it does not already exist. If it is the case, read this publication (by clicking the link "read the suite").

Let’s consider the live report you want to add does not already exist, the first page will require you to fulfil some basic information’s as: giving a title to your live report, specify the band (s) which played, the place and date of the event.

Once these information’s given click on "following page" to access the edition of your article.

If they were more than band playing, of course start by typing the name of the first concerned group. As you type the name, you will see the list of the present groups on the site.

NB: If the concerned group was not listed yet, we invite you to add it by clicking the link "to add a group" located just to the right of the compartment. See all details in section 2 "How to submit / edit a band"

You can then select a picture gallery concerning the referred gig. This addition is optional, just pay attention on the fact that all the pictures must be related on this gig and also be “live pictures”, don’t make any mix between live pictures and some other kind of pics (studio, interview…).

For knowing how to add galleries, please refer to the paragraph 4.3.4 of the present guide.

Enter the date of the event and you can write your article.

As for biographies and reviews, we invite you to draft original texts (the plagiarism is forbidden), well built and without fault nor vulgarities.
Texts must exclusively be drafted in French or in English. Writing a good article implies a certain length: for a live report, 10 lines are considered insufficient to give all impressions about the performance of a group. Be explicit; don’t hesitate to give your impressions, your feelings on such or such moment make your review…live.

Once your article written, click on "to send” to validate your report.

If they were more than one band on the gig you ant to review, think on specify the band name. Once the whole performance(s) described click on the link " to finalize live report".
 

BAND-RELATED SUBMISSIONS

VIDEOS

Videos for a given band are available from the band’s page, at the bottom of the page on the left-hand side. A rectangle standing aside indicates their presence. This rectangle is tagged “band videos” for all the videos already submitted. Click on the “All videos” link and you access to the last submitted videos. For the most recently added videos, a small blue “new” tag is shown to make them stand out.

If you click this link, the videos will appear inside a pop-up window. Please browse it before adding new videos, in order to see the whole videos already submitted. When you want to see a video extract displayed on the left side of the screen, just click the screen and the “play” icon within the video.

A video must be added from the band’s page by clicking the “add a video” link. Please note that Spirit of Metal is already quite exhaustive, we would not like to see very short extracts or videos (less than 30 seconds) or “frozen” videos, which in fact are Mp3 files showing either a simple picture or the album cover. We will not accept either any poor quality video with low quality sound (this refers to videos recorded with mobile phones and/or Smartphones).

To add a video, you must follow several steps and rules detailed hereunder:

• video type: five possibilities are given to specify the video’s origin that you may add. The categories’ names are explicit enough to avoid any mistake on this screen. Once the correct choice is made, click on “next” to go to the following screen. Be very careful when you add a video from YouTube: you must make sure that the mention “integration disabled on demand” is not displayed instead of the link located inside the module “embed a video on a site”. These videos are only accessible from YouTube and will be erased by the Spirit of Metal supervisor’s team.
  

• video information: you must specify the next two following important elements and then validate it by clicking on “send”:

- the link: please notice that the “http://” prefix is already entered so should you copy a full URL address, do not forget to verify if the prefix is not duplicated. If you don't take care and fully duplicate a link, this will cause a non accessibility to the video submitted.

- video category: through a drop-down menu, you must classify the video in one of the five major categories hereunder:

     1. video clips: all official band’s videos.
     2. live videos: all live-recorded tunes or gigs footage.
     3. non musical videos: all videos non related to music such like making of, backstage videos, interviews…
     4. other videos: this last category concerns all types of videos not related to the three first categories.
     5. lyrics : the official lyrics videos, ie those published by labels or bands themselves.

• video title: here are the several rules to apply for video title :

- you must respect the same criteria applied to track lists (please refer to paragraph 3.6.1)

- you must specify the band’s name before the song’s title. Do not add any special characters in the title. The editing system does not always handle them correctly. Please also avoir the use of foreign characters, those characters may display like “ "@¼ˆ5æ". If may have some of those signs, please transliterate into Latin alphabet even if as a result, the video title is not strictly accurate.

- use the following format: “Group – Song (Specifications)”; specifications are optional, see examples hereunder:

                    - Megadeth – Symphony of Destruction
                    - Michael Schenker Group – Only You Can Rock Me (Live at Chicago, Illinois, USA, 1999)
                    - Motorhead – Lemmy Kilmister’s Interview about "Motorizer" Album (2008).

Once all the required information's entered, you can either validate your submission to add it definitively on Spirit Of Metal or cancel it. Obviously, you may always cancel your submission by getting back to the band’s page.

MISCELLANEOUS LINKS

NON-AUTHORIZED LINKS

Miscellaneous links are available from the band’s page on the right-hand side within the “see also” frame. The aim is to give access to different sites related to the band however not everything ist tolerated:

• adding the band’s Myspace page is accepted only if this link is not the band’s official site (on the contrary, if the band has no official site, the link to the MySpace page’ is entered in the band’s page as specified in paragraph 2.2.6).

• links pointing to other musical sites referencing the band (regardless of the content: discography, interviews, reviews, others…) are not allowed.

• links pointing to sites displaying doubtful ideologies, which may occur with some extreme metal bands for which there is a reasonable doubt are strictly forbidden. Please keep in mind that the presence of these kinds of bands is strictly not tolerated (please refer to paragraph 2.1.2.1).

• do not submit links pointing to biographies taken from other sites and especially from Wikipedia. Please remember that you can submit a biography on your own mentioning the author’s name and the exact URL address/reference of your source. Please bear in mind that it is better to have original texts rather than copies.

• do not submit links pointing to label(s). A specific program for every record automatically adds these links. Such information is automatically added within the “see also” frame (please refer to paragraph 4.1.1.5).
  

Finally check existing links before submitting new ones. Please be careful on the examples hereunder:

• Links already existing through a different name/URL...
  

• Broken links or some that does not meet the aforementioned criteria, please alert one of the site administrators (please refer to paragraph 4.3.2.2).
  

SUBMITTING OR DELETING MISCELLANEOUS LINKS

To access the edition module for miscellaneous links, you must go to the band’s page and click the “edit” button located at the top right-hand side of the page. An “add/modify link” link represented by a red and small white planet is then displayed. If you click on it, you will be redirected to the edition window.

Click on one of the links to visualise the content in a different window. If a link is not correct or does not work anymore (points to a wrong page), click on the “broken” button located at the right-hand side to inform a site administrator about the problem. An administrator will then check the link and confirm or not the problem. Please note that in the case of wrong or broken label links, you should go to the label's page in order to modify the link. The reference found in the band’s page is only reflects the address entered on the label’s page (please refer to paragraph 4.1.1.5).

To add a link, just fill the four information fields located at the bottom of the page:

• site name: be as specific as possible, this name will be referenced on the “see also” frame found on the band’s page. Should your indication be wrong, it will compromise the understanding and/or the redirection of this link. Do not write overlong references: the chosen title must be as explicit as possible.

• URL address (or link): as in all submissions of website addresses, you must enter the page’s URL address to be referenced under the miscellaneous links; please bear in mind that the http://, prefix is automatically entered.

• country: optional but useful, it gives more details about the characteristics of the referenced page. Just select the country from the drop-down menu or just leave the menu on “country” if you do not wish to specify it.

• page type: the last drop-down menu at the bottom right-hand side of the page allows you to specify the type of page you want to submit. The available selection is self-explanatory: fan site, biography (as seen above, please refrain to use this as much as possible), interview, pictures, live report or miscellaneous. Please not that the “miscellaneous” category only refers to categories other than the most common ones.
  
  

THE NEWS

The news are considered to be a short and concise information about a specific event concerning a group. Even if they are concise, they must contain minimal information about the concerned event. Of course, being a text, it must be correctly written and follow the rules described on the paragraph related to biography (see paragraph 4.2).

WHAT KIND OF INFORMATION MUST BE SUBMITTED?

News might content diverse information’s as:

• A new record: it means to have the tracklist, the cover, the date of is availability, and if possible some other information or specifications. These three elements are absolutely necessary for this kind of News.
  

• The record of a new album: we can announce if a group start new recording sessions or has start to compose for a new record by giving precise information: the starting date of the recording sessions, and if known, the chosen studio ; the ending planned date of the recording sessions and other details if known.
  

• A change on the line up: it might be either the coming of a new member or the left of one of us, sometimes because of his sudden death (the News announce then, this sad event). You must then specify who’s coming and who’s left the group, the reasons for this change et what does the other members including the one who left, think.
  

• A split or a reunion: a maximum of details must be given, the date, the reasons and the new line up if it’s a reunion.
  

The News should not be systematically added just for a new video or an MP3 extract on their official site. As well, a New should not be a commercial advertisement for a group as for an example, the way to buy their last record.

The Spirit of Metal administration don’t want the News to be used as classified announcements; a forum is dedicated to the “ Classified announcements”; you will have here the possibility to talk about the items described above. You may find it here: www.spirit-of-metal.com/forum/forum-f-3-l-fr.html (this forum is only available in French), but you must ban any promotion from the News. Finally you don’t have to use the News in order to indicate the gigs dates, they are already referenced on the Metal Alliance Project website located here: www.spirit-of-metal.com/concerts/Metal_Alliance/index-l-fr.html (this page is only available in French) (see paragraph 4.3.5). The only accepted announcements inside the News are the festival’s Flyers.

Any information given must be established, this implies that the rumours are to be banished. If it is turned out that the News is effectively erroneous, your submission will be deleted. Only precise and original News are accepted but moreover: never copy or cut/paste news from other sites. This is a form of plagiarism and shows disrespect for these sites. If you do so, you will have to respond to the administrators from the concerned site(s).

HOW TO SUBMIT A NEWS?

On the homepage, a column of News is located on the left side (if you don't see it, change your glasses or open your eyes). The News situated at the top of column are the last ones, as far as you get down this column as much you will access to the previous ones.

At the end of column, the link "all the news" will allow you to verify on all the pages of news more ancient than the information you wish to add was not already published. If it is the case, you just have to click "to read the suite" to reach the discussion topic opened from the news (every publication of News leads the creation of a discussion topic). You can then express your opinion on the News, to specify it or to modify it if the one who subjected it was not enough precise.

To add a news, please follow the steps hereunder:

Either you click " to add a News " at the bottom of the news column on the homepage, or, if you are came through the link "all the news" to consult more information, click the link "reach the page of addition of news" situated above on the right by the new page so opened.

News must contains 4 indispensable elements:

• The group: if you add News, which does not concern a group in particular, you have to leave this compartment empty. By typing the letters of the name, you will access to the alphabetical list of the present groups Spirit Of Metal. Pay, please, attention on the groups that are several to wear the same name and for which a code indicates the country (see the paragraph 2.2.1.2).

• The title: be precise and concise, by using fast formulae as "Departure of X", "Re-formation", "The Split!", "Release of the new album", "Session of dedications to Paris", etc. The details of the News are not to be indicated here: you give here only a formula which aim is to incite people to read your text knowing what is about.

• The language: you have to choose, on the drop-down menu, the language you will use to write your text (French, English, ...). Naturally, according to this choice, your News will meet either on the language corresponding to the country selected.

• The text: you have a publishing module containing a relatively complete text with various sizes/colours of text, Smileys and a link editor (icon represented by one planet blue and green). Please try to make a nice presentation, without charging it with it too much colours and different sizes (you can use colours and other modules, but the presentation never have to be ridiculous). We invite you to write, as indicated higher, a correct text presenting all the elements of information necessary for the publication of the news. A text of a line like "Such group registers(records) the successor of such album" will not be published as it is, because it is far too much empty to incite to the launch of a topic of discussion.

To finish, we wish to indicate you the utility to add a link. It might sound stupid to specify but, keep in mind that not every user is an expert, so if we have to define the utility of a link let's say that clicking on through will give you a direct access to subject related: official site of the band, a cover or a picture, the member(s) concerned by the News, the origin of the News (band's site, fan's site...).

Ta add a link, use the small icon with planet, a pop up screen will appear and you just will  have to correctly provide the URL. This will then allow every one that might want to access to, to click on the link instead of opening an Internet navigator and type the whole address.

Use the links edit is extremely simple:

• click on the icon with planet, copy the adress of the link in the small window which opens (car, again, on the problem of http:// which already entered automatically), finally click on "OK".

• take back the thread of your text. You will notice that the addition of the link worked, because this one appears in blue in your text: d'ont modify this presentation if you want the added link to work properly.
  
  

THE PICTURES GALLERIES

 

PUBLICATION CONDITIONS

To submit a gallery of photos, you will have to accept the following criteria's. Once more the quality of this site might depend on. You will have to accept the conditions described on the access page and validate it. Find hereunder the details contained:

• You have to be the author of the photos whom you publish: no gallery will be published with photos dug up here or there on the net. If you pass through the control made by our care on the galleries of photos and the real author lodges a complaint for illegal publication of his photos, you should answer it in front of Spirit Of Metal's administration. In such a case, without prejudice of the suites as the author may want to know would who would have plundered him, the administration of the site will delete your gallery and your account, forbidding you the access to Spirit Of Metal in a definitive way.
  
  
• Privilege the quality to the quantity by publishing qualitative photos: forget about those taken of too far, quasi-double, those on who the group in not correctly seen, etc. It is better to post fewer if these are good qualities. It will cheer up all the more your gallery and will give to people the envy to go to consult your following productions.

THE CREATION OF A GALLERY

To submit a new gallery of photos for a group, you must return in the tab "articles" from Spirit Of Metal's homepage. In this tab, below on the left, you have an entitled link "photo galleries", which will take you on the list of all the galleries available on the site.

You can than make a research by the alphabetical, upper left index, or by the module of search in which it is necessary to type the name of the group, above on the right. If the gallery you wish to add does not exist, you can create it by clicking the link "add a gallery".

You access then on the indicated page higher, which reminds you the conditions of publication. You have to validate this page by clicking the link entitled "to create a photo gallery".

Once validated the conditions of publication, we ask you to fill 4 fields before creating your gallery by clicking the link "to create" at the bottom of page:

• The title: chose an explicit one, the place where the gig have been played, the event related to pictures taken, other required mention are already indicated in their dedicated field:

                     - Live at the New York Palladium
                     - Live at Wacken Open Air
                     - Live at the Estec Stadium, Praha

• The band: just specify the band’s name (as going along, a list containing, the referenced groups appear in the drop-down menu).

• The theme: the themes present on this site are sufficiently explicit, they don’t need to be re explained on this guide: gigs, dedication sessions, photo session (globally reserved for the press or organised by the group itself, you shouldn’t have to use it so much) and diverse for all the themes not included on the previous ones (as for an example, you met the band backstage).

• The date: you just have to use the drop-down menu to select the day, the month and the year related to the event you may publish.

Once in the gallery homepage, you may find it empty. You must then, upload your pictures on Spirit Of Metal. To do so, you have a rectangle named "options" dedicated to this action: by clicking on "go through" you can then walkthrough your computer’s files and select the first picture to be uploaded on the gallery. Repeat then as much as needed to upload the whole pictures you may want to add.

You can also delete any picture at any moment. Select a picture on the slide show located on the bottom of the gallery, it will then appear larger. On the top of the picture, you will have a red cross; this one allows you to delete any picture you don’t want to keep.

SUPPLEMENTARY MENUS

Inside the "options" rectangle which helped you to download the pictures, you can also use two supplementary menus to make your gallery a little bit more explicit:

• The link "publish News for your pictures gallery": by clicking on this link, you send a News on the Spirit Of Metal homepage, it will allow to anyone to directly go to your gallery. However we insist, use efficiently this link and don’t create News for each add of a new gallery, just use it for the best you will publish, it’s not useful to overload the News page. Pease remind that anyone can access the whole present galleries from the search module using the alphabetical order. We have already detailed this module on paragraph 4.3.4.2.

• The link "send your photo gallery to all your friends": this link opens a dialog box identical to the internal site’s messaging, from which you can write a small text which will be sent to all your Spirit Of Metal’s friends (the friends are managed from your profile). Once the text written, you just have to click "send" to the end of the message, your friends will be warned about the publication of this gallery.

Then, on the low part of the gallery, you may find as for the reviews, a section named "comments".

You just have to write a text on the memo pad available on this place. Click then on "to add", in order to publish your comment. You can also mark the option "to be warned of the arrival of new comments" if you wish to know automatically the opinions which will be published by the visitors on your gallery.

Finally, on the right part, you will notice a link "All the galleries of the photographer X", X being naturally your pen name on Spirit Of Metal. So, if you publish several galleries, the persons who consult one of your galleries can, through this link, consult very easily all your other galleries.

THE GIGS DATES

The Metal Alliance Project site manages the gigs dates. This site is integrated into the Spirit Of Metal one. You can access it from the Spirit Of Metal homepage, inside the "Band" tab, and through the "Tour dates" link.

You will then be redirected to a homepage allowing you to search a date by two different ways:

• Using the left module, you can search through major themes: the city’s name, le band's name, the country, you can also through this module type key words.

• Using the right module, which looks like a calendar, you can drop-down months using the blue arrows, then click the date of the wished day. If the day number is in small print, it means that there is no concert referenced this day. If the characters are large-sized, you can click above, and it opens you at the bottom of page all the publications made on Metal Alliance for the concerts of this day.

If, from these researches, you don’t find the expected gig, you can add it by clicking on the link "add a gig" (link located underneath the search modules described). This will open a new window in which you will have to fulfil various elements:

• Kind of gig: "gig" for single date including most of the time 1 to 4 other groups, "festival" for a big festival which generally represents at least from 1 to 10 groups playing through several days.

• Number of groups sharing the date: just specify how many groups will be present on the gig / festival.

• Numbers of dates covered: specify how many days cover the event (usually one day for a gig and certainly a few more for a festival).

By validating this first window after click on "next", you will be then redirected to the edition window dedicated to the gigs / festivals.
At first sight, this window seems to be complicated but in fact, it’s very easy, only the number of information is impressive, however filling them is very simple:

• Name of the concert: mostly, we indicate one through another the names of the groups (example: "Iron Maiden + Edguy + Within Temptation") either we put the name of the festival (example: "Hellfest" or "Wacken Open Air").

• The styles: the style is naturally the one of the group, which is top of the bill, the second style being representative the other groups which will be present. Naturally, we cannot sometimes be enough precise with only two entries, in particular for a festival, which would go from the black metal to the hard rock. In that case, you should indicate nothing and to leave cursors positioned on "nobody".

• Your e-mail: as indicated on the page, the publication of the e-mail will never be made. His indication serves only to ask you for precision if you were not rather complete on the publication of the event.

• Flyer (URL): it is simply about the address of the concert’s poster, which you can indicate, so that this one is available on the publication, which you make. This addition is naturally optional.

• List of the groups: you will arrange as many lines as you entered of number of groups on the previous page. It is necessary to you to fill the various fields of this board with, for every group, its name, its style, its country of origin and the address of its official site.

• Date of the concert: using the drop-down menu, indicate the exact date of the concert (in the daytime, month, year).

• Price: indicate the first prize, you will have all the leisure to detail in the memo pad, at the end of page, the various prices if the group chooses to sell places to various prices. Pay attention to indicate the official price and not the one which you would have possibly by a works council, the potential spectators may not be deceived.
  

• Place of the concert: you must fulfil the name of the concert’s place the address (in fact, the number and the name of the street), the city and the country. It allows clearly locate the place of the concert.

• Finally, you have a note pad to indicate a whole lot of the other elements which you consider useful to the knowledge of the public:

- Hour of the concert: this is mandatory!
- Other prices: if you have indicate 25€ as the first price, some of the best places might be more expensive and cost over 50€ for the best places.
- Explanations to locate the place: highway exit and access road, places of parking lot, lines and stops for the public transportation, etc.
- Quite other element that would be good to indicate: presence of an after-party (an evening after the concert), of a session of dedications before or after the concert, presence of a guest star, etc.

When everything is correctly specify, you just have to validate your addition and get back to the page of the Metal Alliance Project to verify well that your publication is taken into account. In case of problem, you can contact our Webmaster Kivan through the internal Spirit Of Metal messaging system or on his address: [email protected].

METAL PLACES

HOW TO FIND A METAL VENUE

Spirit Of Metal references several different venues all related to the metal scene: gigs, concert venues, shops that are more or less specialized (records, apparel, etc …), recording studios, bars, meeting places and so on.

To access to this part of the site from the homepage, click on “Bands” and then on “Metal Venues” a small house-shaped icon appears at the top.

Once “Metal Venues” is selected you will access a new page offering three different search modules:

• An alphabetical index located on the left: Select the first letter of the venue you are looking for (# represents all venues starting with a number) and a drop down menu referencing all of the venues starting with a letter / number will appear.

• A “Search” field: Type in one or more keywords corresponding to the object of your search and click on “Go” to validate your choice.

• A geographical search module: Click on the map with an icon indicating each Metal Venue already referenced. By clicking on the icon, a pop-up screen giving a short description of the venue appears. If you are looking for more information on the venue, click on the name and you will access the venue's card.
  
  

CREATE OR MODIFY A METAL VENUE

To create a new card concerning a non-referenced venue, click on “Add a venue” in the “Search” module (see below).

To modify an existing card (either because you think it is wrong or incomplete), once the venue's card is selected, click on the “edit” field located at the top right and then click on “modify the venue.” A pop-up screen containing some pre-filled fields appears.

In order to create a new Metal Venue or modify an existing one, fill out or modify the following fields:

• Name of the venue: clearly giving it's name without errors would be much appreciated!

• Types: 5 different types of venues can be selected, the names are self-evident: concert/gig venue, music bar, record store, shop, recording studio.

You can select more than one type for a single venue (example: a concert venue with a recording studio). We consider a « Recording studio » as a venue where several bands or      solo artists have composed and / or recorded music to create an album.

We do not consider home studios”as legitimate venues even if they are reserved for or owned by a specific band or artist. Any submission concerning a home studio will be systematically deleted.

• Description: it is possible to draft notes to provide some of the characteristics or elements such as atmosphere and details of the venues. (Do not hesitate to include the cell phone numbers of the hottest barmen and barmaids!)

Please try to be as precise as possible and respect the basic rules: no texting language, no insults or vulgarity, correct spelling and grammar. This description is optional.

•  Country and city: select the country in the drop-down menu, the cities corresponding to the selected country will appear, then select the city.

If a country or city is missing in the menu, contact the admin Tango666 via a private message.

• Address: be as precise as possible indicating the complete address street number, type of street, road, avenue and so on (for example: Kittys Claw Club 2035 5th Avenue New-York, Planet Earth, Second Galaxy on the right).

• Website: give the venue's website if the venue in question actually has one. This is optional, but if one exists, please make sure it is the official one and on the form make sure you incuse the http://.

• Pictures: you can upload three pictures of the venue. To do so, start with the first picture, a pop-up will allow you to upload it from your PC, repeat this action for the two other pictures.

Once all the fields are filled, you can validate your submission by clicking on “Send.” Once it is validated, you will find the new venue in the search module previously described (Bands, Metal’s place).

This venue will then be available for any gig (see chapter 4.3.5) or for add/modification on a record if it concerns a particular recording studio (see chapter 3.10).

If you find a mistake on a card for a Metal Venue and you do not know how to correct it, you can alert an admin by clicking on the “edit” field and then on “report an error.”

A notepad will appear, submit the problem or error encountered and validate. The correction will be made by one of the team members

GLOBAL CONCLUSION - AN EXHAUSTIVE GUIDE

This guide of submissions aims to be as exhaustive as possible that is why he is so detailed, sometimes extremely detailed. We understand that sometimes, it can seems to be too much for experienced persons, for those who understand fast, but we wanted to put this guide at the level of the novices, of those who arrive on the site and have to learn one shot the functioning of a whole system that the oldest one seen evolving day after day, year after year. It seems to us evident, being present since a long time, to contribute to the site, but it is not the case for everybody: the newcomers have numerous questions without answer, to which we hope to give an echo with this guide. Besides, there are numerous persons, present for a long time, who have not assimilated all the site’s rules, in particular the new standards of layout yet, established during summer, 2007. In order to valorise the work done by the various working teams implicated on the site improvement, it is absolutely necessary to perfectly know the functioning of the site concerning the submissions: Spirit Of Metal's quality, it is the affair of each of us, as simple as that.

However, this guide might not bring all questions encountered, or it can be not enough detailed on a specific domain, which as a consequence may still unclear for some users. It also might happen that through different site evolutions, some upgrades can be forgotten. In this case, you can report such mistakes on the dedicated forum “ Spirit Of Metal improvement” on he topic “Submission guide” which are the upgrade of this site (www.spirit-of-metal.com/forum/lire_topic-id_topic-13744-page-1-f-8-l-fr.html, only available in French, but you can contact Aragorn for any problem on this guide).

Our final goal is to produce a guide that may answer to the whole questions raised about the submissions and which be regularly upgraded. This guide is followed by explicit explanations that might be given in case of incorrect submissions sent. These explanations will be part of modification’s requirements. Some penalties might be applied, as well as some part might be deleted in order to focus you on the point you will not have assimilated and send you back to the referent paragraph in this guide.

All the team hope that this guide will give bring all the answers expected and, stay at your disposal if you may need further explanations.

Originally written in french by Aragorn, October 2008 / Translation in english by Bojart, GandhiEgo, HeadCrush, Mademoiselleverte, MightyFireLord & Vinterdrom, 2009-2011.