MusicBrainz Artist Search: Artists, Countries, Types & Tags

Search MusicBrainz, the open music encyclopedia, for artists and bands. Returns MusicBrainz ID, name, type, country, area, active years, disambiguation, tags and link. Free open data (CC0) with proper rate limiting, no key needed.

What does MusicBrainz Artist Search do?

Search the open MusicBrainz music database for artists: type, country, active years and genre tags.

What can you use it for?

• Match artist names to stable MusicBrainz IDs.
• Build music catalogs and recommendation datasets.
• Find bands by country or genre tag.
• Enrich playlists and event listings.

Why use this Actor?

• Fast and cheap: lightweight HTTP-based Actor with no browser, so runs finish in seconds and cost very little.
• No API keys or accounts needed for the data source (see notes below).
• Clean, structured JSON that you can export as CSV, Excel, JSON or XML, or pull through the Apify API and integrations.
• Scheduling, webhooks and integrations: run it daily and send results to Google Sheets, Slack, Zapier, Make, n8n or your own API.

Input

Configure the run in the Input tab (all fields have sensible defaults).

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
query	string	yes	-	Artist name or MusicBrainz query, e.g. radiohead or tag:k-pop.
maxResults	integer	no	25	Maximum artists to return.

Example input

{
  "query": "radiohead",
  "maxResults": 25
}

Output

Results are stored in the default dataset. Download them from the Output tab or via the API.

Example result

{
  "id": "c74f4726-2671-4011-81b6-f70da905c05a",
  "name": "On a Friday",
  "sortName": "On a Friday",
  "type": "Group",
  "gender": null,
  "country": null,
  "area": "Abingdon-on-Thames",
  "disambiguation": "pre‐Radiohead group, until 1991",
  "beginYear": 1985,
  "endYear": 1991,
  "ended": true,
  "tags": "indie pop, uk, oxford, united kingdom, successor",
  "matchScore": 64,
  "url": "https://musicbrainz.org/artist/c74f4726-2671-4011-81b6-f70da905c05a",
  "license": "MusicBrainz core data is CC0",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-09-25T09:03:44.276Z"
}

Output fields

Field	Type	Example
id	string	"c74f4726-2671-4011-81b6-f70da905c05a"
name	string	"On a Friday"
sortName	string	"On a Friday"
type	string	"Group"
gender	null	null
country	null	null
area	string	"Abingdon-on-Thames"
disambiguation	string	"pre‐Radiohead group, until 1991"
beginYear	number	1985
endYear	number	1991
ended	boolean	true
tags	string	"indie pop, uk, oxford, united kingdom, successor"
matchScore	number	64
url	string	"https://musicbrainz.org/artist/c74f4726-2671-4011-81b6-f...
license	string	"MusicBrainz core data is CC0"
scrapedAt	string	"2026-09-25T09:03:44.276Z"

How much does it cost?

The Actor is billed by Apify according to the pricing shown on the Pricing tab of this page. Runs are small and fast, and the Apify Free plan includes monthly platform credits so you can try it at no cost. You can set a maximum cost per run, and the Actor stops cleanly when that limit is reached.

Notes and limitations

• Requests are throttled to 1 per second as required by MusicBrainz, so large exports take time.

Tips

• Start with a small test run, then scale up the input.
• Use Schedules to automate recurring runs and Webhooks or Integrations to deliver the data where you need it.
• Call the Actor from your code with the Apify API or the official JavaScript and Python clients.

FAQ

Can I use Lucene syntax?

Yes: e.g. artist:radiohead AND country:GB.

Feedback

Found a bug or need an extra field? Open an issue from the Issues tab of this Actor and it will be looked at quickly.

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