Discogs Help

API Documentation

Artist, Label, and Release data is made available to you via a Public Domain license. That means there are no restrictions on what you can do with the data.

The Discogs API supports a RESTful interface. This means you interact with the API by sending HTTP GET and POST requests and you get XML documents back.
When you send a request, you'll get a response that looks like this: <resp stat="ok" version="1.0" requests="1"> [Data in XML format - see below] </resp> If you supplied a valid API Key the "resp" section will contain a "requests=X" value indicating the number of requests you have made to the API within this 24 hour period. See below for information about the usage limits.

If there was an error, the service will respond with an HTTP error code (usually 400), and an error message about the problem. <resp stat="fail"> <error msg="Error message"/> </resp>

Accessing the API

As of now all API methods are read-only so you can access the API with HTTP GET requests and your API Key.

Example GET request: http://www.discogs.com/release/1?f=xml&api_key=<api_key> Restrictions:

API usage is limited to 5,000 requests per 24-hour period, per IP address.
Clients must send the "Accept-Encoding: gzip" header. The service will gzip most API responses so your application must be able to decode gzipped data.
Clients must supply an API Key with each request.

Methods

Get Release

Example request: http://www.discogs.com/release/1?f=xml&api_key=<api_key> Example response: <resp stat="ok" version="1.0" requests="1"> <release id="2" status="Accepted"> <images> <image type="primary" width="400" height="300" uri="http://www.discogs.com/image/R-28347-2834.jpeg" uri150="http://www.discogs.com/image/R-150-28347-2834.jpeg"/> <image type="secondary" width="450" height="350" uri="http://www.discogs.com/image/R-18347-2834.jpeg" uri150="http://www.discogs.com/image/R-150-18347-2834.jpeg"/> </images> <artists> <artist> <name>Mr. James Barth & A.D.</name> </artist> </artists> <title>Knockin' Boots Vol. 2 Of 2</title> <labels> <label catno="SK026" name="Svek"/> </labels> <formats> <format name="Vinyl" qty="1"> <descriptions> <description>12"</description> </descriptions> </format> </formats> <genres> <genre>Electronic</genre> </genres> <styles> <style>Techno</style> <style>Tech House</style> </styles> <country>Sweden</country> <released>1998-06-00</released> <tracklist> <track><position>A1</position><title>A Sea Apart</title><duration>5:08</duration></track> <track><position>A2</position><title>Dutchmaster</title><duration>4:21</duration></track> <track><position>B1</position><title>Inner City Lullaby</title><duration>4:22</duration></track> <track><position>B2</position><title>Yeah Kid!</title><duration>4:46</duration></track> .. </tracklist> </release> </resp>

Get Artist

Example request: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Aphex+Twin?f=xml&api_key=<api_key> Example response: <resp stat="ok" version="1.0" requests="1"> <artist> <images> <image type="primary" width="400" height="300" uri="http://www.discogs.com/image/A-28347-2834.jpeg" uri150="http://www.discogs.com/image/A-150-28347-2834.jpeg"/> <image type="secondary" width="450" height="350" uri="http://www.discogs.com/image/A-18347-2834.jpeg" uri150="http://www.discogs.com/image/A-150-18347-2834.jpeg"/> </images> <name>Aphex Twin</name> <realname>Richard Dick James</realname> <urls> <url>http://url</url> </urls> <namevariations> <name>AFX</name> <name>Aphex Twin, The</name> </namevariations> <aliases> <name>Blue Calx (2)</name> <name>Dice Man, The</name> </aliases> <releases> <release id="63114" status="Accepted" type="Main"> <title>Analogue Bubblebath Vol. 2</title> <format>12"</format> <label>Warp Records</label> <year>1994</year> </release> <release id="35834" status="Accepted" type="Remix"> <title>Minsdtream</title> <trackinfo>Mindstream (The Aphex ...)</trackinfo> <format>12"</format> <label>Rephlex Records</label> <year>1994</year> </release> .. </releases> </artist> </resp>

Get Label

Example request: http://www.discogs.com/label/Svek?f=xml&api_key=<api_key> Example response: <resp stat="ok" version="1.0" requests="1"> <label> <name>Svek</name> <images> <image type="primary" width="400" height="300" uri="http://www.discogs.com/image/L-28347-2834.jpeg" uri150="http://www.discogs.com/image/L-150-28347-2834.jpeg"/> <image type="secondary" width="450" height="350" uri="http://www.discogs.com/image/L-18347-2834.jpeg" uri150="http://www.discogs.com/image/L-150-18347-2834.jpeg"/> </images> <contactinfo>Contact info in here</contactinfo> <profile>Profile in here</profile> <urls> <url>http://url</url> </urls> <parentlabel>This label's parent</parentlabel> <sublabels> <label>Label One</label> <label>Label Two</label> </sublabels> <releases> <release id="116265" status="Accepted"> <catno>SK001</catno> <artist>Calico</artist> <title>Unfinished Diary Chapter One</title> <format>12"</format> </release> ... </releases> </label> </resp>

Search

Example request: http://www.discogs.com/search?type=all&q=afx&f=xml&api_key=<api_key> Example response: <resp stat="ok" version="1.0" requests="1"> <exactresults> <result num="1" type="artist"> <title>"Aphex Twin"</title> <anv>AFX</anv> </result> </exactresults> <searchresults start="1" end="20" numresult="150"> <result num="1" type="release"> <title>AFX* - 2 Remixed By AFX</title> <uri>http://www.discogs.com/release/19175</uri> <summary>AFX* - 2 Remixes By AFX Label: Men Records Catalog#: MEN 1 CD Format: CD, Maxi-Single ... Flow Coma (Remix By AFX) (4: 59) Remix - AFX* 2 DJ Pierre Box Energy (Remix By AFX) (6: 30) Remix - AFX ... * 3 AFX* Untitled (1: 58)</summary> </result> <result num="2" type="release"> <title>AFX* - Analord 07</title> <uri>http://www.discogs.com/release/444484</uri> <summary>AFX* - Analord 07 Label: Rephlex Catalog#: ANALORD 07 Format: Vinyl, 12" Country: UK ... Lisbon Acid (8: 29) B1 Pitcard (6: 18) B2 AFX Acid 04 (5: 37)</summary> </result> ... </searchresults> </resp>

About Images

When an Artist / Label / Release has images, there will be an "images" section in the API response. This contains a set of "image" tags, each with the following values:

type - primary or secondary
uri - a uri to download the image
width - the width of the image
height - the height of the image
uri150 - a URI to download the smaller version of the image (always 150 pixels wide or smaller)