Where is there a comprehensive listing of musical artists that I can
use? I need a source for this information that is without terms of use
that prohibit my displaying significant amounts of their data on my
own web site. Alternatively, how can I compile such information myself
(e.g. by using a Perl script)?

I was initially excitied about musicbrainz.org, since it offers unrestricted
access to a database of artists, albums, and track names on each
album. More perfectly still, musicbrainz offers open source
programming libraries for accessing their database. However, they are
missing listings for many albums, while they have multiple listings
for other albums.

The source can be a web site, or some database that I can access through a
web service (via a program that I would write). I would prefer the
latter, but would be quite happy with either.

Thank you.

Hi jcr2102-ga,

You could try to download information from the Gracenote CDDB. (This
is the CD database licensed by Apple for use in iTunes.)

I'm not sure if you are using this information for commercial or
non-commercial purposes. (You must pay unless you are a non-commercial
developer, such as downloading information for your own, personal
use.)

Go to http://www.gracenote.com/developer/licensing.html and register
as either a commercial or non-commercial developer.

Then, go to one of the following pages to download the Gracenote CDDB
SDK, depending on your operating system:

Macintosh:  http://www.gracenote.com/developer/registered.html/OS=mac
Windows:    http://www.gracenote.com/developer/registered.html/OS=win
UNIX/Linux: http://www.gracenote.com/developer/registered.html/OS=unx

I am not a developer, so I unfortunately cannot help you from here on.

Best regards,

smtrtyeb-ga