Music Search

An Obsidian plugin that searches the MusicBrainz database and creates structured notes for music releases.

Features

• Search for albums, EPs, singles, and other releases by artist, title, or both
• Rich metadata: genres, tracklist, release date, cover art, MusicBrainz/Discogs/Wikipedia links
• Optionally downloads cover art locally to your vault
• Fully customisable note output via template variables, custom frontmatter fields, or a full template file

Usage

Open the command palette and run Search music release, or click the music note ribbon icon. Type an artist name, album title, or both, then select a result from the list. The plugin fetches full release details and creates a note in your configured folder.

Settings

Setting	Description
Note destination folder	Where new notes are saved. Leave empty for the vault root.
Note file name template	Template for the note filename. Supports all {{variables}}. Default: {{artist}} - {{title}}
Tags	Comma-separated tags added to every note's frontmatter.
Album art folder	Folder to save downloaded cover images. When set, {{coverUrl}} and {{coverEmbed}} resolve to the local vault path instead of a remote URL. Leave empty to use remote URLs.
Open note after creation	Automatically open the newly created note.
Show cover art in search results	Display album artwork in the release picker.

Note Template

Two modes are available, selectable via the Note Template tab in settings:

Custom Fields — Extends the built-in default template with additional frontmatter fields. Each field can use {{variables}} in its value. This is the right choice if you just want to add a few extra properties.

Template File — Points to a Markdown file in your vault that is used as the full note template. All {{variables}} are substituted. Use this for complete control over note structure.

Template Variables

Variable	YAML type	Description
{{title}}	string	Album/release title
{{artist}}	string	Artist name(s)
{{artistMbid}}	string	Artist MusicBrainz ID
{{year}}	string	First release year (e.g. "1997")
{{date}}	string	First release date (e.g. 1997-05-21)
{{trackCount}}	number	Number of tracks
{{trackList}}	string	Formatted tracklist — use in the note body, not frontmatter
{{genres}}	string[]	Genres as a YAML list
{{genresInline}}	string	Genres as a comma-separated string
{{coverUrl}}	string	Cover art URL, or local vault path if art folder is configured
{{coverEmbed}}	string	Embedded cover art: ![[path]] for local files,  for remote — use in the note body, not frontmatter
{{mbid}}	string	MusicBrainz release group ID
{{releaseGroupMbid}}	string	MusicBrainz release group ID (alias for {{mbid}})
{{mbUrl}}	string	MusicBrainz release group URL
{{discogsUrl}}	string	Discogs master release URL
{{wikipediaUrl}}	string	Wikipedia article URL
{{releaseType}}	string	Release type (Album, Single, EP, etc.)
{{disambiguation}}	string	Disambiguation comment
{{tags}}	string[]	Custom tags from settings
{{DATE}}	string	Current date in YYYY-MM-DD format
{{DATE:FORMAT}}	string	Current date in a custom format, e.g. {{DATE:DD/MM/YYYY}}. Tokens: YYYY, MM, DD, HH, mm, ss

Default Template

When no template file is set and no custom fields are configured, the plugin generates a note like this:

---
tags: []
artist: Radiohead
title: OK Computer
genres:
  - alternative rock
  - art rock
album-art: "https://coverartarchive.org/..."
album-type: Album
track-count: 12
release-date: 1997-05-21
release-year: "1997"
disambiguation:
mbid: a7ccb528-da8a-11e8-b9e4-005056ad73f4
artist-mbid: a74b1b7f-71a5-4011-9441-d0b5e4122711
link-musicbrainz: "https://musicbrainz.org/release-group/..."
link-discogs: "https://www.discogs.com/master/..."
link-wikipedia: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK_Computer"
---
![[Radiohead - OK Computer.jpg]]
## Tracklist

1. Airbag (4:44)
2. Paranoid Android (6:23)
...

Data Sources

• MusicBrainz — release metadata, genres, URL relations
• Cover Art Archive — album artwork
• Wikidata / Wikipedia — Wikipedia article links via Wikidata sitelinks

Development

npm install
npm test
npm run build

Tests use Jest with ts-jest.

License

AGPL-3.0. See LICENSE.