⚡ MusicBrainz API Client for PHP 8.1+ – Lightweight with Maximum Developer Comfort

🚀 MINIMAL YET POWERFUL! Focused, lightweight MusicBrainz API client — as compact as possible while maintaining modern PHP comfort and clean APIs.

📦 Installation

composer require calliostro/musicbrainz-client

✨ Features

• 🎯 Complete API Coverage — All MusicBrainz API v2 endpoints supported (50+ operations)
• 📖 Read & Write Operations — Both lookup/search and authenticated operations (ratings, tags, collections)
• 🚀 Lightweight — Minimal dependencies (only Guzzle)
• 🔒 Type-safe — Full PHP 8.1+ type hints and strict types
• 📚 Well-documented — PHPDoc with all methods and parameters
• ⚡ Performance — Optimized configuration caching
• 🧪 100% Tested — Comprehensive unit tests with full code coverage
• 🎨 PSR-12 — Follows modern PHP coding standards

🚀 Quick Start

Basic Usage (No Authentication Required)

use Calliostro\MusicBrainz\MusicBrainzClientFactory;

// Create client
$mb = MusicBrainzClientFactory::create();

// Lookup by MBID
$artist = $mb->lookupArtist('f4abc0b5-3f7a-4eff-8f78-ac078dbce533');

// Search for artists
$results = $mb->searchArtists('Dua Lipa');

// Browse releases by artist
$releases = $mb->browseReleases(artist: 'c8b03190-306c-4120-bb0b-6f2ebfc06ea9', limit: 10);

// Lookup release with includes
$release = $mb->lookupRelease('0c155a34-f9ed-4ade-a676-3ac0d48ead17', inc: 'artists+recordings');

Search with Lucene Query Syntax

$mb = MusicBrainzClientFactory::create();

// Advanced search with Lucene syntax
$results = $mb->searchArtists('artist:"Billie Eilish" AND country:US');

// Search releases
$releases = $mb->searchReleases('release:"Happier Than Ever" AND artist:"Billie Eilish"');

// Search recordings
$recordings = $mb->searchRecordings('recording:"Levitating" AND artist:"Dua Lipa"');

With Authentication (For Write Operations)

use Calliostro\MusicBrainz\MusicBrainzClientFactory;

// Create authenticated client
$mb = MusicBrainzClientFactory::createWithAuth('username', 'password');

// Submit ratings (0-100, 0 = remove rating)
$mb->submitRating(
    client: 'MyApp/1.0',
    entityType: 'artist', // artist, release, recording, release-group, work, label, event, place, series, instrument
    entityId: 'f4abc0b5-3f7a-4eff-8f78-ac078dbce533',
    rating: 80
);

// Submit tags (comma-separated)
$mb->submitTags(
    client: 'MyApp/1.0',
    entityType: 'release',
    entityId: '0c155a34-f9ed-4ade-a676-3ac0d48ead17',
    tags: 'indie,alternative,2020s'
);

// Get user collections
$collections = $mb->getUserCollections();

// Get releases in a collection
$releases = $mb->getCollectionReleases('collection-mbid-123', limit: 50);

// Add releases to collection (semicolon-separated MBIDs)
$mb->addReleasesToCollection(
    mbid: 'collection-mbid-123',
    releaseList: 'release-1;release-2;release-3',
    client: 'MyApp/1.0'
);

// Remove releases from collection
$mb->removeReleasesFromCollection(
    mbid: 'collection-mbid-123',
    releaseList: 'release-1;release-2',
    client: 'MyApp/1.0'
);

Custom User-Agent

MusicBrainz requires proper User-Agent identification. By default, the client includes a User-Agent, but you can customize it:

$mb = MusicBrainzClientFactory::createWithUserAgent(
    'MyApp/1.0.0 (https://myapp.com)'
);

📖 API Methods

Artist Methods

// Lookup artist by MBID
$artist = $mb->lookupArtist($mbid, inc: 'recordings+releases');

// Browse artists
$artists = $mb->browseArtists(area: $areaMbid, limit: 25);

// Search artists
$results = $mb->searchArtists('Taylor Swift', limit: 10);

Release Methods

// Lookup release by MBID
$release = $mb->lookupRelease($mbid, inc: 'artists+labels+recordings');

// Browse releases
$releases = $mb->browseReleases(artist: $artistMbid, type: 'album', status: 'official');

// Search releases
$results = $mb->searchReleases('release:"Future Nostalgia" AND artist:"Dua Lipa"');

Release Group Methods

// Lookup release group
$releaseGroup = $mb->lookupReleaseGroup($mbid, inc: 'artists+releases');

// Browse release groups
$groups = $mb->browseReleaseGroups(artist: $artistMbid, type: 'album');

// Search release groups
$results = $mb->searchReleaseGroups('releasegroup:"Happier Than Ever"');

Recording Methods

// Lookup recording by MBID
$recording = $mb->lookupRecording($mbid, inc: 'artists+releases');

// Browse recordings
$recordings = $mb->browseRecordings(artist: $artistMbid, limit: 50);

// Search recordings
$results = $mb->searchRecordings('recording:"Blinding Lights" AND artist:"The Weeknd"');

Label Methods

// Lookup label
$label = $mb->lookupLabel($mbid, inc: 'releases');

// Browse labels
$labels = $mb->browseLabels(area: $areaMbid);

// Search labels
$results = $mb->searchLabels('label:"Columbia Records"');

Work Methods

// Lookup work by MBID
$work = $mb->lookupWork($mbid, inc: 'artist-rels');

// Browse works
$works = $mb->browseWorks(artist: $artistMbid);

// Search works
$results = $mb->searchWorks('work:"Symphony No. 9"');

Other Methods

// Lookup area (country, city, etc.)
$area = $mb->lookupArea($mbid);

// Search areas
$areas = $mb->searchAreas('area:"London"');

// Lookup by ISRC
$isrc = $mb->lookupIsrc('USRC17607839');

// Lookup URL
$url = $mb->lookupUrl($mbid);

// Search URLs
$urls = $mb->searchUrls('url:"https://www.example.com"');

Genre Methods

// Lookup genre by MBID
$genre = $mb->lookupGenre($mbid);

// Search genres
$genres = $mb->searchGenres('electronic', limit: 10);

Instrument Methods

// Lookup instrument by MBID
$instrument = $mb->lookupInstrument($mbid, inc: 'aliases+tags');

// Search instruments
$instruments = $mb->searchInstruments('guitar');

Series Methods

// Lookup series by MBID
$series = $mb->lookupSeries($mbid, inc: 'aliases');

// Search series
$seriesList = $mb->searchSeries('Best of', limit: 20);

Event Methods

// Lookup event by MBID
$event = $mb->lookupEvent($mbid, inc: 'artist-rels');

// Browse events by artist
$events = $mb->browseEvents(artist: $artistMbid, limit: 50);

// Browse events by area or place
$events = $mb->browseEvents(area: $areaMbid);
$events = $mb->browseEvents(place: $placeMbid);

// Search events
$events = $mb->searchEvents('festival 2024');

Place Methods

// Lookup place by MBID
$place = $mb->lookupPlace($mbid, inc: 'aliases+annotation');

// Browse places by area
$places = $mb->browsePlaces(area: $areaMbid, limit: 25);

// Search places
$places = $mb->searchPlaces('Madison Square Garden');

📚 Complete API Reference

Read Operations (No Authentication Required)

Artist: lookupArtist, browseArtists, searchArtists
Release: lookupRelease, browseReleases, searchReleases
Release Group: lookupReleaseGroup, browseReleaseGroups, searchReleaseGroups
Recording: lookupRecording, browseRecordings, searchRecordings
Label: lookupLabel, browseLabels, searchLabels
Work: lookupWork, browseWorks, searchWorks
Area: lookupArea, searchAreas
Genre: lookupGenre, searchGenres
Instrument: lookupInstrument, searchInstruments
Series: lookupSeries, searchSeries
Event: lookupEvent, browseEvents, searchEvents
Place: lookupPlace, browsePlaces, searchPlaces
ISRC: lookupIsrc
URL: lookupUrl, searchUrls

Write Operations (Authentication Required)

Ratings: submitRating - Rate artists, releases, recordings, release-groups, works, labels, events, places, series, or instruments (0-100, 0 removes rating)
Tags: submitTags - Add tags to artists, releases, recordings, release-groups, works, labels, areas, events, places, series, or instruments
Collections: getUserCollections, getCollectionReleases, addReleasesToCollection, removeReleasesFromCollection

🎯 Parameter Styles

The client supports multiple parameter styles for maximum flexibility:

// Positional parameters
$artist = $mb->lookupArtist('5b11f4ce-a62d-471e-81fc-a69a8278c7da');

// Named parameters (recommended)
$releases = $mb->browseReleases(
    artist: '5b11f4ce-a62d-471e-81fc-a69a8278c7da',
    type: 'album',
    limit: 10
);

// Mixed positional and named
$results = $mb->searchArtists('Billie Eilish', limit: 25);

// Associative array (for dynamic parameters)
$params = [
    'artist' => '5b11f4ce-a62d-471e-81fc-a69a8278c7da',
    'limit' => 10,
    'inc' => 'recordings'
];
$releases = $mb->browseReleases($params);

🔧 Advanced Configuration

Rate Limiting

MusicBrainz has rate limiting (one request per second). Consider implementing rate limiting in your application:

use GuzzleHttp\HandlerStack;
use GuzzleHttp\Middleware;

$stack = HandlerStack::create();
$stack->push(Middleware::retry(function ($retries, $request, $response, $exception) {
    if ($response && $response->getStatusCode() === 503) {
        return $retries < 3; // Retry up to 3 times on 503 errors
    }
    return false;
}));

$mb = MusicBrainzClientFactory::create([
    'handler' => $stack,
    'timeout' => 10,
]);

Custom Guzzle Options

$mb = MusicBrainzClientFactory::create([
    'timeout' => 30,
    'proxy' => 'http://proxy.example.com:8080',
    'verify' => true,
]);

📝 Response Format

All methods return arrays with the JSON-decoded response from MusicBrainz:

$artist = $mb->lookupArtist('f4abc0b5-3f7a-4eff-8f78-ac078dbce533');

// Access response data
echo $artist['name']; // "Billie Eilish"
echo $artist['country']; // "US"
echo $artist['type']; // "Person"

foreach ($artist['life-span'] as $key => $value) {
    echo "$key: $value\n";
}

🧪 Testing

# Run unit tests
composer test

# Run integration tests (requires internet connection)
composer test-integration

# Run all tests
composer test-all

# Generate coverage report
composer test-coverage

🔍 Code Quality

# Check code style
composer cs

# Fix code style
composer cs-fix

# Run static analysis
composer analyse

📚 Resources

• MusicBrainz API Documentation
• MusicBrainz Search Syntax
• MusicBrainz Rate Limiting
• MusicBrainz Database

📄 License

MIT License – see the LICENSE file for details.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• MusicBrainz for providing the excellent open music encyclopedia and metadata API
• Guzzle for the robust HTTP client
• The PHP community for continuous inspiration

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