MusicBrainz API
Overview
MusicBrainz is a free, open music encyclopedia that provides detailed metadata about artists, releases, recordings, and labels. Its API requires no authentication for read queries, making it one of the easiest music APIs to start with. You can look up albums, track lengths, ISRCs, and much more using simple HTTP requests.
Beginner Tip
Always include a descriptive User-Agent header (e.g., "MyApp/1.0 ([email protected])") in your requests — MusicBrainz requires this and will block generic user agents.
Available Data
Example Response
{
"name": "Bohemian Rhapsody",
"artist": "Queen",
"album": "A Night at the Opera",
"duration_ms": 354000,
"popularity": 92,
"preview_url": "https://p.scdn.co/mp3-preview/..."
} Field Reference
id The unique MusicBrainz Identifier (MBID) for the entity. name The name of the artist, release, or recording. score Relevance score (0–100) indicating how well the result matches your search query. type Entity type, e.g. "Person", "Group", "Album", or "Single". country ISO 3166-1 country code indicating where the artist or release originated. life-span Object containing "begin" and "end" dates for the artist's or release's active period. Implementation Example
const url = "https://musicbrainz.org/doc/Development/XML_Web_Service/Version_2";
const response = await fetch(url);
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data); What Can You Build?
Note: These code examples are AI-generated and unverified. Always refer to the official API documentation for accurate usage.
Common Errors & Troubleshooting
Matrix Score Breakdown
Fully tested on Apr 5, 2026
Technical Specifications
Related Tags
Alternatives to MusicBrainz
Technical alternatives for different use cases.
Community-maintained open music database
User listening statistics and social features
Accurate metadata and music identification
Open-source music database with community-maintained data
Audio streaming and user-facing features
Accurate music metadata and ISRC/ISWC identifiers
Similar APIs
View All →Bandsintown
Bandsintown provides programmatic access to music events via REST API.
Gaana
Gaana is an unofficial API wrapper for the popular Indian music streaming platform Gaana.
Genrenator
⭐ Beginner's PickGenrenator is a fun, no-auth API that generates random music genre names on demand.
iTunes Search
iTunes Search provides programmatic access to software products via REST API.
JioSaavn
JioSaavn is an unofficial API wrapper for the popular Indian music streaming service JioSaavn.