# New Music Release Calendar Scraper (`jungle_synthesizer/new-music-release-calendar-aggregator-scraper`) Actor Scrapes new music releases from MusicBrainz, Apple Music charts, and Metacritic. Returns album title, artist, release date, type, label, Metacritic score, and source links — ideal for weekly release tracking, playlist curation, and music industry research. - **URL**: https://apify.com/jungle\_synthesizer/new-music-release-calendar-aggregator-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [BowTiedRaccoon](https://apify.com/jungle_synthesizer) (community) - **Categories:** News, For creators - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing Pay per event This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## New Music Release Calendar Scraper Scrapes new music releases from three independent sources — MusicBrainz, Apple Music charts, and Metacritic — and returns a unified, deduplicated feed of albums and singles. Ideal for weekly release tracking, playlist curation, sync licensing research, and music industry analytics. ### What it does The scraper fetches releases from three sources in sequence and merges them by artist + title + date: - **MusicBrainz** (canonical spine) — paginated JSON API returning releases with MBID, label, barcode, country, and release type. Covers the broadest range of global releases including independent labels. - **Apple Music RSS** — top-played albums from Apple's marketing feed. Adds Apple Music URLs and genre tags for chart-ranked releases. - **Metacritic new releases** — HTML scrape of the Metacritic music release calendar. Adds critic scores for reviewed albums. Records from different sources are merged when they match on artist + title + date. The `source` field records where the record originated; cross-source enrichment fields (like `metacritic_score` on an Apple RSS record) indicate a successful match. ### Input | Field | Type | Default | Description | |-------|------|---------|-------------| | `maxItems` | integer | 10 | Maximum total records to return across all sources. Each source gets an equal share. Set to 0 for no limit. | | `sources` | array | `["musicbrainz", "apple_rss", "metacritic"]` | Which sources to query. Any combination of the three values. | | `dateFrom` | string | First day of current month | Start of the release date range (YYYY-MM-DD). Used for MusicBrainz query. | | `dateTo` | string | Today | End of the release date range (YYYY-MM-DD). Used for MusicBrainz query. | | `appleCountry` | string | `us` | Two-letter country code for the Apple Music RSS feed. | ### Output Each record in the dataset contains: | Field | Type | Description | |-------|------|-------------| | `title` | string | Album or single title | | `artist` | string | Artist name (multiple artists joined with " & ") | | `release_date` | string | Release date (YYYY-MM-DD format where available) | | `release_type` | string | Album, Single, EP, Compilation, etc. | | `label` | string | Record label (MusicBrainz source only) | | `country` | string | Release territory (MusicBrainz or Apple RSS) | | `mbid` | string | MusicBrainz Release ID — use as a join key with other music datasets | | `barcode` | string | UPC barcode where present (MusicBrainz source) | | `apple_music_url` | string | Direct Apple Music URL (Apple RSS or matched records) | | `metacritic_score` | number | Critic aggregate score 0-100 (Metacritic source or matched records) | | `source` | string | Origin source: `musicbrainz`, `apple_rss`, or `metacritic` | | `genres` | string | Genre tags, pipe-separated (Apple RSS source) | | `source_url` | string | Direct URL to the release page on the source site | ### Example output record ```json { "title": "ICEMAN", "artist": "Drake", "release_date": "2026-05-15", "release_type": "Album", "label": "", "country": "US", "mbid": "", "barcode": "", "apple_music_url": "https://music.apple.com/us/album/iceman/6769568449", "metacritic_score": 54, "source": "apple_rss", "genres": "Hip-Hop/Rap", "source_url": "https://music.apple.com/us/album/iceman/6769568449" } ```` ### Use cases - **Weekly "New Music Friday" tracker** — run weekly with default dates to get every release that dropped this week across all three sources. - **Playlist curation** — filter by `metacritic_score` for critically acclaimed new releases, or by `genres` from Apple. - **Sync licensing research** — use `mbid` to join with MusicBrainz detailed metadata (ISRC codes, work relationships, licensing information). - **Music retail and distribution** — `barcode` and `label` fields from MusicBrainz support retail catalogue matching. - **Market analysis** — combine chart position (Apple RSS rank), critical reception (Metacritic score), and release metadata for trend analysis. ### Rate limits and performance MusicBrainz enforces a 1 request/second limit. The scraper respects this with a 1.1-second delay between pages. For large date ranges, a single run may take several minutes. Metacritic and Apple RSS have no enforced limits. For weekly "new releases" workflows, the default date range (current month) with `maxItems` of 50-100 completes in under 2 minutes. ### Notes - MusicBrainz Lucene queries use month-level granularity (YYYY-MM). The `dateFrom`/`dateTo` fields control the month range. - Metacritic only indexes reviewed albums (typically major label and notable independent releases). It does not cover singles or unreviewed releases. - Apple RSS returns the top N most-played albums in the requested country, not a comprehensive release calendar. - The deduplication key is normalized artist + title + release date. Alternate versions of the same album may appear as separate records if the titles differ significantly. # Actor input Schema ## `sp_intended_usage` (type: `string`): Please describe how you plan to use the data extracted by this crawler. ## `sp_improvement_suggestions` (type: `string`): Provide any feedback or suggestions for improvements. ## `sp_contact` (type: `string`): Provide your email address so we can get in touch with you. ## `maxItems` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of total records to return across all sources (0 = no limit). ## `dateFrom` (type: `string`): Start of the release date range. Defaults to start of current month. ## `dateTo` (type: `string`): End of the release date range. Defaults to today. ## `sources` (type: `array`): Which sources to include: musicbrainz, apple\_rss, metacritic. ## Actor input object example ```json { "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "maxItems": 10, "sources": [ "musicbrainz", "apple_rss", "metacritic" ] } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `results` (type: `string`): No description # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "maxItems": 10, "dateFrom": "", "dateTo": "", "sources": [ "musicbrainz", "apple_rss", "metacritic" ] }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("jungle_synthesizer/new-music-release-calendar-aggregator-scraper").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "maxItems": 10, "dateFrom": "", "dateTo": "", "sources": [ "musicbrainz", "apple_rss", "metacritic", ], } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("jungle_synthesizer/new-music-release-calendar-aggregator-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "maxItems": 10, "dateFrom": "", "dateTo": "", "sources": [ "musicbrainz", "apple_rss", "metacritic" ] }' | apify call jungle_synthesizer/new-music-release-calendar-aggregator-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=jungle_synthesizer/new-music-release-calendar-aggregator-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "New Music Release Calendar Scraper", "description": "Scrapes new music releases from MusicBrainz, Apple Music charts, and Metacritic. Returns album title, artist, release date, type, label, Metacritic score, and source links — ideal for weekly release tracking, playlist curation, and music industry research.", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "OU6X5psH5xwO8Bscn" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~new-music-release-calendar-aggregator-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-jungle_synthesizer-new-music-release-calendar-aggregator-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~new-music-release-calendar-aggregator-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-jungle_synthesizer-new-music-release-calendar-aggregator-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~new-music-release-calendar-aggregator-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-jungle_synthesizer-new-music-release-calendar-aggregator-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "required": [ "maxItems" ], "properties": { "sp_intended_usage": { "title": "What is the intended usage of this data?", "minLength": 1, "type": "string", "description": "Please describe how you plan to use the data extracted by this crawler." }, "sp_improvement_suggestions": { "title": "How can we improve this crawler for you?", "minLength": 1, "type": "string", "description": "Provide any feedback or suggestions for improvements." }, "sp_contact": { "title": "Contact Email", "minLength": 1, "type": "string", "description": "Provide your email address so we can get in touch with you." }, "maxItems": { "title": "Max Items", "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of total records to return across all sources (0 = no limit)." }, "dateFrom": { "title": "From Date (YYYY-MM-DD)", "type": "string", "description": "Start of the release date range. Defaults to start of current month." }, "dateTo": { "title": "To Date (YYYY-MM-DD)", "type": "string", "description": "End of the release date range. Defaults to today." }, "sources": { "title": "Sources", "type": "array", "description": "Which sources to include: musicbrainz, apple_rss, metacritic.", "items": { "type": "string" } } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```