Discogs Scraper

Scrape Discogs — the world's largest music database and marketplace, covering 17M+ releases, 9M+ artists, and 2M+ labels across every genre and physical format. HTTP-only via the official api.discogs.com REST API. Anonymous reads work; an optional personal access token raises rate limits from 25 req/min to 60 req/min.

What this actor does

• 12 modes — search the database, lookup by release/master/artist/label/listing, fetch full discographies, marketplace stats, or any Discogs URL
• Universal IDs — numeric Discogs release IDs, master IDs, artist IDs, label IDs, listing IDs
• Filters — type, format, genre, style, country, year range, collection have/want, marketplace condition
• Marketplace stats — number for sale, lowest price, currency for any release
• Empty fields are omitted

Modes

Mode	What it returns	Required input
search	Free-text search of releases / masters / artists / labels	searchQuery
byRelease	Single release with full tracklist + community stats	releaseId
byMaster	Master release (canonical work, all pressings collapsed)	masterId
byMasterVersions	Every pressing/version of a master	masterId
byArtist	Artist profile, members, aliases, name variations	artistId
byArtistReleases	Full discography of an artist	artistId
byLabel	Label profile, sublabels, parent label	labelId
byLabelReleases	Full release catalog of a label	labelId
byMarketplaceListing	Single marketplace listing with seller, condition, price	listingId
marketplaceSearch	Search releases + enrich with marketplace stats	searchQuery
marketplaceStats	Number for sale / lowest price for a release	releaseId
byUrl	Resolve any Discogs URL (release / master / artist / label / listing)	urls

Output per record

Common fields:

• id — Discogs numeric ID
• recordType — release / master / artist / label / marketplaceListing / marketplaceStats
• title / name — primary string identifier
• discogsUrl — canonical URL on www.discogs.com
• coverImage / image — CDN URL when available
• dataQuality — Discogs editorial quality flag
• scrapedAt — ISO 8601 UTC timestamp

Release-specific:

• year, released, country
• artists[] (with id, name, url), primaryArtist
• labels[] (with id, name, catno, url), catno
• formats[], formatDescriptions[], formatQuantity
• genres[], styles[]
• notes, status
• tracklist[] (with position, title, duration)
• have, want, ratingAverage, ratingCount
• numForSale, lowestPrice
• masterId, masterUrl

Master-specific:

• mainReleaseId, mainReleaseUrl, mostRecentReleaseId, mostRecentReleaseUrl

Artist-specific:

• realName, profile, nameVariations[], aliases[], members[], urls[]

Label-specific:

• profile, contactInfo, urls[], sublabels[], parentLabel

Marketplace listing:

• condition, sleeveCondition, comments, shipsFrom
• price, currency, shippingPrice, allowOffers
• seller (with username, rating, totalRatings)
• release (id/title/year/format/url)

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
mode	enum	search	Mode dispatcher
searchQuery	string	miles davis	Free-text query
type	enum	release	release / master / artist / label / any
format	enum	any	Vinyl, CD, Cassette, etc.
genre	enum	any	Discogs top-level genre
style	string	–	Specific style, e.g. Free Jazz
country	string	–	Country of release
yearMin, yearMax	int	–	Year range
releaseId, masterId, artistId, labelId, listingId	string	–	Numeric IDs
urls	array	–	Discogs URLs (mode=byUrl)
sortBy	enum	default	year / title / format / label / artist / catno / country / have / want
sortOrder	enum	desc	asc / desc
minHave	int	–	Drop releases owned by fewer collectors
minWant	int	–	Drop releases wanted by fewer collectors
marketplaceCondition	enum	any	Mint / NM / VG+ / VG / G+ / G / F / P
apiToken	string (secret)	–	Optional Discogs personal access token (60 req/min)
userAgent	string	(apify default)	Custom User-Agent
maxItems	int	50	1–10000

Example: search for jazz vinyl

{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchQuery": "miles davis",
  "type": "release",
  "format": "Vinyl",
  "genre": "Jazz",
  "yearMin": 1955,
  "yearMax": 1975
}

Example: full Nickelback discography

{
  "mode": "byArtistReleases",
  "artistId": "108713",
  "sortBy": "year",
  "sortOrder": "asc",
  "maxItems": 200
}

Example: Discogs URL batch

{
  "mode": "byUrl",
  "urls": [
    "https://www.discogs.com/release/7426074-Miles-Davis-Miles-Davis-At-Fillmore",
    "https://www.discogs.com/master/65664-Miles-Davis-Miles-Davis-At-Fillmore",
    "https://www.discogs.com/artist/108713-Nickelback"
  ]
}

Use cases

• Music intelligence — pull entire catalogs for record labels and artists
• Vinyl pricing — track marketplace prices and rarity (have/want ratios)
• Discography research — every pressing of every album, with country-of-issue
• Genre / style mining — comprehensive Discogs taxonomy across 16 root genres
• Artist relationships — aliases, group memberships, name variations
• Label catalogs — every release on a label, including sublabels

FAQ

Do I need a Discogs API token? No. Anonymous reads work for every endpoint. A token only raises rate limits from 25 to 60 req/min.

Why do I see 25 req/min warnings? Discogs throttles anonymous traffic. The actor sleeps ~1.1 s between requests so it never crosses the limit.

What's the difference between a release and a master? A master is the canonical recorded work (e.g. Miles Davis at Fillmore). A release is one specific pressing of it (US 1970 Columbia LP, Japan 1985 reissue, etc.). One master has many releases.

Can I scrape user wantlists or collections? No — those endpoints require user auth (OAuth) and aren't supported by this actor.

Why is marketplaceSearch slow? Each result is enriched with a separate /marketplace/stats/{id} call to get number-for-sale and lowest-price. We cap at the configured rate limit.

Are images included? The first cover image URL is exposed as coverImage. Full image lists require auth.

Limitations

• User-specific endpoints (collection, wantlist, identity) require OAuth and aren't supported.
• Marketplace condition is annotated, not strictly server-side filtered (Discogs marketplace search is OAuth-only at the listing level).
• Anonymous rate limit (25 req/min) makes runs over a few hundred items slow.