Metal-Archives Scraper (Encyclopaedia Metallum)

Scrape band data from Metal-Archives.com (Encyclopaedia Metallum) — the world's largest encyclopaedia of metal music with 170,000+ bands.

Features

• Search by band name — find any band with fuzzy matching
• Browse by letter — alphabetically browse the entire database (A-Z, NBR for numbers)
• Full band details — country, location, genre, lyrical themes, status, years active, current label
• Complete discographies — every release with type (Full-length, EP, Demo, Single, etc.), year, review count, and average review score
• Pagination support — handles large result sets automatically
• PPE monetization — pay-per-event billing for each result

Output Example

{
    "name": "Metallica",
    "bandId": "125",
    "country": "United States",
    "location": "Los Angeles/San Francisco, California",
    "genre": "Thrash Metal (early); Hard Rock (mid); Heavy/Thrash Metal (later)",
    "themes": "Introspection, Anger, Corruption, Deceit, Death, Life, Metal, Literature, Films",
    "status": "Active",
    "formedIn": "1981",
    "yearsActive": "1981-present",
    "currentLabel": "Blackened Recordings",
    "photoUrl": "https://www.metal-archives.com/images/1/2/5/125_photo.jpg",
    "logoUrl": "https://www.metal-archives.com/images/1/2/5/125_logo.png",
    "discography": [
        {
            "name": "Kill 'Em All",
            "type": "Full-length",
            "year": "1983",
            "reviewCount": 44,
            "reviewScore": 88,
            "url": "https://www.metal-archives.com/albums/Metallica/Kill_%27Em_All/538"
        },
        {
            "name": "Master of Puppets",
            "type": "Full-length",
            "year": "1986",
            "reviewCount": 44,
            "reviewScore": 81,
            "url": "https://www.metal-archives.com/albums/Metallica/Master_of_Puppets/547"
        }
    ],
    "albumCount": 58,
    "url": "https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Metallica/125",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-04-25T12:00:00.000Z"
}

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
searchQuery	string		Band name to search for (e.g. "Metallica", "Iron Maiden")
browseLetter	string		Browse bands by first letter (A-Z, NBR for numbers). Used when searchQuery is empty.
maxResults	integer	50	Maximum number of bands to return (1-5000)
includeDiscography	boolean	true	Fetch full discography for each band
proxyConfiguration	object		Optional proxy configuration

Usage

Search for a specific band

{
    "searchQuery": "Metallica",
    "maxResults": 5
}

Browse all bands starting with "D"

{
    "browseLetter": "D",
    "maxResults": 100
}

Quick search without discography (faster)

{
    "searchQuery": "Death",
    "maxResults": 20,
    "includeDiscography": false
}

Rate Limiting

The scraper is configured to be respectful to Metal-Archives servers:

• Maximum 3 concurrent requests
• Maximum 20 requests per minute
• 1.2 second delay between paginated AJAX calls
• Proper User-Agent header

Cost

This actor uses Pay-Per-Event pricing. You are charged per band result returned to the dataset.