A Single Catalog. Ten Artist Sites.

Challenges

Artists' websites must have correct information but cannot be duplicates of each other. Re-entering credit, track and release information on each site creates fragility in maintaining consistency. The goal was to link a common catalog to independently designed public websites.

My Role

As part of my Mission HQ and Free the Line work I managed the requirements, relationships and reviews process using AI-assisted development. I developed the methods for transferring data from the catalog to the public pages and checking if the output of this transfer matched the records in the catalog.

Changes

The rollout successfully aligned the structured data (music) across ten artists' websites. Structured data included relationships between recordings and releases, ordered track lists, durations and performer identities. Each website retained its unique visual identity. Shared information was handled as data rather than copied promotional text.

Lessons Learned From Outdated Information

Only updates to a website are useful when they are displayed by the website. A caching problem could allow old information to continue to be served by treating a previous snapshot of the catalog as if it is current. The solution for this problem allowed freshness of information to be dependent upon the snapshot's actual generation time, along with a regression check for expired data.

Limitations and Verification

Both build tests and structured data tests were used along with observation of public pages. Observations of public pages are dated due to changes in availability.

Although the structured data is being implemented, there remain several records in the catalog that require editing before they can be considered complete.

Additionally, the implementation does not guarantee that search engines will display specific results for users.

Broader Practice

I am fortunate to be involved in the overlaps between web development, information architecture, operations and a legitimate creative business. I find that I apply the same approach whenever two or more websites require separation but also the ability to share accurate, maintainable information.