Wikipedia:WikiProject Music/Music genres task force/Guidelines

These guidelines exist to promote a constant style for music genre articles in Wikipedia and to help improve articles to WP:GOOD, WP:1.0 and WP:FA standards.

Lead
An articles lead section should be of the appropriate length in relation to the total length of the article and briefly explain the genres origins, general sound and culture.

Genrebox
Articles should include a genrebox template filled out with the relevant information.

"Subgenres" are subcategories where everything in the "child" genre counts as within the "parent" genre i.e., rock music > alternative rock > indie rock > math rock

"Derivative forms" are styles of music that are influenced by the subject genre without necessarily being a "child" to that genre i.e., psychedelic rock > progressive rock > math rock, etc.

"Fusion genres" are subgenres that fuse the parent genre with other distinct genres/subgenres, i.e., industrial metal would be mentioned as a fusion genre on industrial music and heavy metal music.

Characteristics
A musicological description of common musical characteristics and instrumentation should be provided. For examples, see Heavy metal music, Punk rock, Funk, Bouncy techno. For more ideas on what to write about, see WikiProject Music terminology.

History
A history section, spanning both the origins and developments of the genre name usage (note that some genre names have multiple uses, such as heavy metal music or darkwave, something that needs to be noted) with verifiable with sources cited wherever possible. Avoid using weasel words or peacock terms (you know you can do better ;).

Artists
Artists/bands/acts that are generally representative of the genre should be described in prose with references. Do not include artists who have only done a small number of tracks related to the subject genre when compared to the rest of their body of work as this will confuse the reader.

Per Manual of Style/Music, "Music genre articles should not contain lists of performers."

Samples
Brief samples of notable tracks that represent the genre are recommended for obvious reasons. For info on fair use see here. Samples need to be in Ogg Vorbis format and ideally be around 30 seconds in length. For tips on creating samples, see the previous link. Recommended formatting;


 * [[Media:NonFreeImageRemoved.svg|"I Wanna Be Sedated"]] by The Ramones, from Road to Ruin, 1978. (File Info)

or alternatively, use listen.

List of pages featuring samples:
 * Goa trance music
 * Golden age hip hop
 * Hip hop music
 * Intelligent dance music
 * Old school hip hop
 * Punk rock
 * Shoegazing
 * Power noise

Footer
The appropriate footer template should be included at the bottom of the article but before any stub, categories or transwiki code.

Images
Appropriate images should be included, i.e., relevant album covers/artist/band/act/equipment pictures should be peppered throughout the article. Be careful to watch the size and placement of images so as to not mess up the general layout of the article.

Examples
The following is a list of articles that are fairly well developed;
 * Punk rock
 * Soul music
 * Funk