[x] Crydajam

OK, another "who's a member of this band" question.

The band in question: Crydajam ( [www.discogs.com] http://www.discogs.com/artist/Crydajam )

The first release given on that site, [www.discogs.com] http://www.discogs.com/release/60726 , has some zoomed-in images: [www.discogs.com] http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?what=R&obid=60726
The last image on that page says "Crydajam, the Crydamoure jam sessions featuring: <names>". (Crydamoure is the record label in question, started by two of the people who appear of the album.)

Then each individual track has a list of the performers, as well as "featuring".

So what I'm suspecting (without proof) is that we have a label, Crydamoure, that's run by a couple friends and issues releases for their other friends. They get together one day for fun, write a bunch of songs, various people perform them, and they collect a couple as a release called "Crydajam". Then later they re-issue all these songs, credited to Crydajam, on various compilations (see the band page above for list).

So the questions are:
(1) Is there an actual band called "Crydajam"? Is it a "jam band" under rule 7?
(2) It seems very wrong to list the union of these songs' performers as the membership; but should it be listed with
(2a) Three lineups, one for each song on the release (since the performers are quite clearly credited)? This would presumably be what we'd do if we decided this wasn't a "jam band" in the rule 7 sense.
(2b) One lineup containing only "Rico" (Eric Chedeville), the label founder (since he alone appears on all three songs)? (In this case, the band could not be added to the queue, since he isn't in our DB.) This or the next thing is presumably what we'd do if Crydajam _is_ a "jam band".
(2c) No members, just a collaboration without connectivity (in which case only Mederic Nebinger is currently in the DB)?

I'd probably know the answers to these better had I ever worked with jam bands or the French electronic music scene before...

Let me post a follow-up on my thinking here:

If you actually look at the membership and releases of a lot of the groups in this scene (French house etc.), the vast majority are groups that release one single or one 12", with many people being in at least a dozen such groups. Thus the unquestionably "legitimate" bands are no more productive and no better credited than this one, where we've been told exactly who wrote and performed each song. So really what it seems like we have is not so much a "band" called Crydajam (initially) as an album called Crydajam, with three unnamed "bands" performing on it. Then later the songs are re-issued on other compilations credited, in each case, to "Crydajam".

Given all this, I feel like entering the release in the DB as a three-lineup album is what most closely matches both the credits of the album and the pattern we've followed in other cases.

But maybe other people will feel differently.

I think this is a perfect example of what Rule 7 is supposed to handle. There are obviously reasonable arguments for any interpretation here, but I think the proper thing to do is either 1) one lineup with the single core member or 2) one lineup with all of the members. As tempting as it is to go with three distinct lineups, I don't think that's proper because all of the participants presumably were there together making music in various combinations. If they were all in this "band" simultaneously and they're all on the album, then we reflect only one lineup.

However--the solution you propose may be the best way to handle these so-called jam bands after all. Right now we list only Josh Homme, the single core member, of Desert Sessions, another Rule 7 band. Like Crydajam, Desert Sessions started out as an album-based concept and later advanced to a band-based concept with even a live performance and music video. Perhaps it would make sense to list the various recording lineups on those albums instead of just Homme (who does not even play on every song).

There are tons of drawbacks about doing that though. Among other things, we'd have to be able to accurately categorize a band as a Rule 7 band, and we'd also have to be able to figure out all the individual recording lineups. What a headache.

I think in theory the "individual lineups" case actually captures the reality of "jam band song collection" albums best, in both your case and mine. However, as you mention, making it work is difficult unless (as with Crydajam) you have good documentation about what the lineups are.

I would assume the categorization issue doesn't change from how it currently is -- we generally assume the recorders of an album are a band's members, unless we find evidence to the contrary. That doesn't seem like it would get harder.

One argument I could make against myself, though, is that the solution I'm proposing is not much different in spirit than saying that a studio artist is a band member for the songs he plays on. Then again, if a band releases only one album or single, records it all in the studio, and never plays live -- or maybe releases a second album, with all the members changed except one -- how is that situation different either? Ugh.