Music Cataloging at Yale Sound recording cataloging

Dates on sound recordings

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Dates in the fixed field || ℗ versus © dates || Dates on compact discs

Historically important dates for sound recordings:
° LPs were first available in 1948
° pre-recorded reel-to-reel tapes were first available in 1954
° pre-recorded audio cassettes were first available in 1965
° audio compact discs were first available in Japan in October 1982, in Europe in February 1983, and in the US in March 1983.

Dates for any of these types of recordings cannot be considered publication dates. A later date from the container or accompanying material may be useful in determining a publication date.

There are several different bibliographic "events" for sound recordings, each of which implies a date:
° original capture date
° release as a recording
° release in a new recording medium (e.g., 78 rpm later re-released on compact disc)
° copyrights of graphic design or accompanying textual material

Sources for dates on sound recordings:
° the label 2
° the container 3
° the accompanying textual material

2The "label" is defined as permanently affixed paper, plastic, or other material. If there are labels on two or more sides, treat all as a single source. For CDs, which have no label per se, consider the information appearing on the disc itself to be the label.
3Consider any information on the insert that can be seen through a closed cassette case or jewel case to be on the container.


The date is tagged in ‡c of the 260 field.
The rules that deal with transcription of dates are found in AACR2 1.4F and 6.4F.
   If unknown, give copyright date (1.4F6)
   If absent, give date of manufacture (1.4F6)
   If none of these, supply an approximate date of publication (1.4F7)

When necessary, include a note to explain differences (1.4F7):
   500 Originally issued on LP in 1963.
If the date of recording appears on a published sound recording, give it in a note (6.4F2):
  500 Recorded in 1961.


Dates in the fixed field (008)
Type of Date/Publication Status (DtSt)
s = Single date
p = Date of publication and date of recording.
   " issue date/recording date1 when there is a difference
r = Reissue date and original date (only if all works were previously issued)
   " a sound recording is considered a reissue when it is issued with a new manufacturer number, issued on a new
   label or in a new format,or when it is a collection with previously released material from numerous sources.
t = Publication date and copyright date

Order of precedence of dates for non-serial items; single or multipart, complete in one year:
1. r
2. s
3. p
4. t

Date 1 and Date 2 (Dates)
" Date of item in hand goes in date 1
" Earlier date (e.g., recording date, original released date, earlier copyright date) goes in date 2.
   " When there is a span of recording dates, the earliest date of recording goes in date 2.
" Use u for missing digits
   260 ‡c [199-]
   fixed field: 199u


℗ versus © dates

℗ = copyright date for the recorded sound
Multiple℗ dates:
" One work on the recording: use the latest date, as that date applies to the recording as a whole.
" Multiple works on the recording: each ℗ date will apply to one or more of the works. Use the latest one to estimate a date of release. Enclose the date in brackets, because it is a supplied date. Do not precede the date with "p", since no ℗ date applies to the recording as a whole.

© = copyright date (after 1971) for the art on the container or the textual material on the container or in the insert. This date may also apply to the work(s) performed on the recording. A © date can be useful in estimating a date of release, which should be given in brackets.
LCRI 6.4F1: "Do not regard as a copyright date for the recording a date preceded by the copyright symbol that appears on the container or accompanying text. This symbol can apply only to the printed text. However, it can be used as evidence for supplying a date of publication according to 1.4F7 when neither a date of publication nor a 'p' date appears on the item."

When there is no ℗ date on a recording, a © date before 1971 should be considered the copyright date, but with a © date after 1970, a date of publication must be estimated.

When no date is found on the item, there are several means of estimating a date:
1. Use the recording date, keeping in mind that LPs probably were released within a year of the recording date, but CDs may not be released for years.
2. Use manufacturer's file or discographies, with the caveat that not all record companies release their recordings in numeric order.
3. With contemporary music, dates of composition can help place the earliest a recording could have been made, and therefore, released.
See also Tips on Dating the Undated LP by Wendy Sistrunk, UMKC


Dates on compact discs

CDs were first available in Japan in October 1982, in Europe in February 1983, and in the US in March 1983. You cannot consider dates earlier than these to be a release date for a CD.

" You rarely find a date of publication.
" Copyright date (since 1971):
– ℗ is copyright of sound
– © is copyright of printed material
" If you have a © date, use it to surmise a publication date. Never use a © date (e.g., c2002) for a CD.

On disc: ℗ & © 1993
   260 New York, NY : ‡b GRP Records, ‡c p1993.

AACR2 1.4F5 Optional Addition
Give the latest date of copyright following the publication date if the copyright date is different.

On disc: p1975
On insert: p1975 and c1997; Recorded July 16, 1975; Remastered 1997
   260 ‡c [1997], p1975.

You have come up a publication date for the CD, surmised from the copyright date of the printed material accompanying the disc. Because the publication date is cataloger supplied (i.e., not stated on the item as a publication date), it appears in brackets. Date of copyright (p1975) is allowed under optional addition.

On disc: p1977; no other date anywhere (disc, container, insert).
Possible cataloging:

The date "1992" was surmised from the date the bibliographic record was input on OCLC. The date is given in brackets, because it is supplied by the cataloger.
   260 ‡c [1992?], p1977.

The date "1992" was found on the web and the question mark was removed.
   260 ‡c [1992], p1977.

Use a dash to indicate a decade.
   260 ‡c [199-], p1977.

Use a dash followed by a question mark for a probably decade.
   260 ‡c [199-?], p1977.


Sources
Saunders, Sharon. Audio-Visual Cataloging Forum: Sound Recordings, 2003; presented at the 2003 NELA conference.
       http://abacus.bates.edu/~ssaunder/homepage/NELA/NELA_files/v3_document.htm
Koth, Michelle. Cataloging Sound Recordings, c1998; presented at the 1994 OLAC conference.
       http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/cts/olac/conferences/1998/kaus-koth.pdf
Smiraglia, Richard. Music Cataloging: The Bibliographic Control of Printed and Recorded Music in Libraries. Englewood, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1989.
Weitz, Jay, in MOUG Newsletter, no. 57, p. 11.
Weitz, Jay. Sound Recordings Cataloging Workshop Examples; presented at the 1996 OLAC Conference.
      http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/cts/olac/conferences/1996/jw.html

Comments to Mickey Koth Yale University Music Library
©Yale University Library Last revised May 9, 2012.