This page should serve as a complete guide to creating, or adding information to, artist pages. Once you've read all the information here you should have all the guidance you need to start adding content!
Please don't feel completely restricted by this guide - if there is something you think is important for a page but doesn't exactly go with the things set out in this guide, don't be afraid to add it. You won't get into trouble! Similarly, if you're worried about creating a page just in case you miss a point in this guide, just go ahead and create it - we can always make modifications later if needed.
Eligibility for a page[]
An artist is eligible for a page on this wiki if they meet these two requirements:
- The artist identifies as a Christian, or has done so in the past
- The artist has released at least one song centered around faith
That's it! If an artist has not publicly stated they are a Christian, but all (or nearly all) of their work is Christ-centered, this is also reasonable grounds for allowing them to have a page on this site. This isn't the place to judge whether an artist is a Christian or not; we should take their word for it if they say they are.
Please do check that an artist doesn't already exist on the site before creating the page; this can be done by a simple search of the artist's name to see if anything comes up.
Sections[]
All pages on the site should follow a structure similar to the one described below. This is a 'loose' structure, so don't feel as though you need to include all the sections in order to create a page. Sections with different titles can also be added if required.
Introduction[]
This should be the first sentence (or sentences) of an artist's page. The introduction could outline, if known, the name, date/year of birth, and nationality of the artist, plus anything else the artist is significantly known for (for example, you could include the number of albums released, or a particular song/album the artist is known for)
Infobox[]
This is the name for the box which appears on the top-right of most artist pages. You can add one to a page by moving the cursor to before the first word of the article, then clicking 'insert', then 'template', and then search 'Info Box - Artist'. A list of fields should appear; add the 'name' field plus any others you can find information about.
Early Life[]
This is an optional heading you could use for solo artists, or for certain groups (e.g. if all memnbers of the group are siblings). If there is any information available regarding the early life of an artist (for example, their place of birth, when they started playing music, if they migrated to another country), this can be placed under this heading.
Career/History[]
This heading is the main section, and all the information related to the career (for an individual) or the history (for a band) of the artist can be included here. This may include (but is not limited to) when albums/singles were released, the success of such albums, any changes in a band's lineup, and any awards won by an artist. Do feel free to include anything that you think might be useful here though!
In general, an artist's career is easiest to read if written in chronological order. For example, if an artist released albums in 2014 and 2016, and won an award in 2015, this may be included in the article in the order Album 1, Award, Album 2.
Personal Life[]
This is another optional heading for solo artists. If there is any significant information related to a person's personal life (for example their marriage, where they currently live, if they have any health conditions), this can be included under this header.
Faith[]
Whilst this heading won't be found on traditional Wikipedia pages, on this site it is reasonable for you to include a section on the artist's beliefs, as it allows readers to consider their own faith in the light of the faith of the artist. This heading can include when the artist became a Christian, any interview quotes relating to their faith, the church they attend or work at, and anything else significant relating to their faith. Please avoid making any judgements on an artist's faith on their article; see Christian Music:Neutral point of view for more detail on this.
Discography[]
The discography of an artist is the list of albums and singles they have released. This can be done as a Wikipedia style discography (see example), or as simply a list of italicised albums and songs. An artist's Spotify page is generally a good place to find an artist's albums/singles and the dates they were released (although for older artists, Spotify may be a little unreliable).
Categories[]
It would be really good if you could add a couple of categories to your article. Categories are useful as they allow artists with things in common to be grouped together, allowing the reader to find artists fitting under a certain criteria easily.
If known, these categories could be added to an artist page:
- The 'Artists' category
- A genre category (include as many as you think necessary)
- A nationality category (if the artist can be considered to be of two different nationalities, include categories for both)
- A decade of birth category for artists, or a decade of formation category for groups (if the year of birth/formation could potentially be in one of two decades, for example an artist may have been born in 1989 or 1990, include categories for both decades)
If there are any other categories you think a page could reasonably be added to, go ahead and add them!
References[]
Previously, references have generally been discouraged on this site. However, references are very useful on user-generated sites for a number of reasons:
- References provide evidence that the information on the site is correct, increasing the reliability of the site as a whole
- If a page has enough good quality references, it may be possible to prove that an artist is notable enough for a Wikipedia page
- Linking to interesting articles about an artist allows a reader to learn more about them than the summary given in the articles on this site
To add a reference to a page, move your cursor to the end of the statement requiring the reference, press the book icon in the top corner, and press 'Basic'. You can then copy and paste the URL of the site into the box, and then rename the reference in the form Website Name - Page Name (for example, Cross Rhythms - An Interview with Chris Tomlin). At the end of the page, include a header with the title 'References', press 'insert' and then 'References List' for the list of references to occur.
There are a few different types of sources:
News/Magazine Articles[]
These are the best references to use, as they are unconnected to the artist in question (and affiliated with a company as opposed to an individual), meaning information included in them is likely to be more reliable. These may not always be the easiest to find for musicians, as the first page of Google is usually filled with Wikipedia pages and links to buy their albums, so here are a few tips to help you find some:
- Search through Cross Rhythms' Music Articles; these go back to the early 1990s so they include articles for most reasonably well-known musicians
- For information on a particular album, a Google search of '[Artist Name] [Album Name] interview' (for example, 'Needtobreathe out of body interview') will bring up articles relating to that album, if there are any
- Searching in the 'News' section of Google can also bring up articles relating to artists
Primary sources unconnected to the artist[]
These are websites containing primary information, however are not managed by the artist or their agent. Examples of these sources include the chart history of an artist on a particular chart, or the website of a church the artist works at.
These sources can often be used to complement the information found in articles; for example, you may include a reference to an article describing the release of an album, and then a reference to the Billboard chart history of the artist to include where the album peaked.
Primary sources connected to the artist[]
These sources are those which an artist directly influences; for example, their official website, Spotify profile or social media profiles. In general, these sources should only be used for facts that can't be disputed (for example, date of birth, nationality, song/album release dates etc. are all such types of facts, but an artist saying, for example, that they are a 'leading figure in the British worship industry' isn't enough to warrant such a statement being included on their page). The 'faith' section of a page can also always be taken from these sources, as a person's faith is personal to them.
For lesser-known artists, it may be the case that it is only possible to only find primary sources connected to them. In this case, it is perfectly fine to create a page just consisting of these sources (here is a good example of this). However, we challenge you to try (if possible) and find at least two newspaper/magazine references for each article you create!
Things to avoid using as references[]
In general, we would discourage using any community-created sites (e.g. Wikipedia, last.fm, forums, other Fandom sites) as references. This is because, as anyone can contribute to them, we can't guarantee what they say is correct (it probably is, but I could quite easily slip an incorrect fact into a last.fm profile and lead people to believe it is true). These sites can of course still be useful for helping us find other sources which confirm the information they say, so no need to avoid them completely!
Examples[]
Here are some examples of good articles to help you get started:
- For a reasonably new artist: Blessing Offor
- For a more established artist: Chris Tomlin
- For a band: Needtobreathe
Go ahead and get creating!