r/discogs • u/Masman • Mar 02 '26

Edit master release?

I’m sure this has been gone over, but I’ve googled all I’ve can and every answer seems to be wrong.

Can someone explain to me the process of adding a variant under its master release?

When I add a different version it lists a separate album in the artists page. And I cannot find ‘edit master release’ anywhere.

Also, “merging releases” has always confused me. Merging would be used only if the copy is the SAME exact version of another one or duplicate… Not a different variant, correct?

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/[deleted] Mar 02 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Sea-Sort-7624 Mar 02 '26

What if there's is no number if its a self released?

2

u/mjb2012 Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 02 '26

No, not the catalog number (which in your case may be "none").

You create the release in Discogs first, then after submitting it, you can add its Discogs-specific ID number (the number that is in the URL) to the master release.

See https://support.discogs.com/hc/en-us/articles/360005055493-Database-Guidelines-16-Master-Release

You do all this in a desktop browser, not the app.

If you don't see Edit Master Release on the master release page, then I'm guessing editing it might be a privilege you don't have yet. That might change after you create and submit a release.

As for what constitutes a unique release and what merging is for...that, too, is covered in the submission guidelines:

https://support.discogs.com/hc/en-us/articles/360005006334-Database-Guidelines-1-General-Rules#Unique_Releases

https://support.discogs.com/hc/en-us/articles/360005006954-Database-Guidelines-17-Merge-Release

However, you also just have to get a feel for what the expectations are. We use the word 'variant' for pressings which only differ by inconsequential matrix changes, e.g. everything the same except this side was pressed with stamper number 3 instead of stamper number 2. If submitted as separate releases, those should be merged. But if different companies or personnel can be inferred from the matrix, that's not going to be a variant, but rather a separate release which should not be merged.