A Cover Credit and a Songwriting Credit Answer Different Questions

Blank index cards, paper record sleeves and a pencil on a wooden desk
AI-created illustration of a fictional listening space.

A name printed prominently on a sleeve may belong to the photographer rather than a musician. Collection notes become clearer when names travel with their stated roles.

Read the words around the name

Look for design, photography, written by, performed by or another explicit credit. Preserve the wording if its meaning is uncertain. Do not use visual prominence alone to decide who created the music or image.

Create role-specific fields

Instead of one long list of names, give artwork and musical contributions separate places. Where a credit applies only to certain tracks, carry those track references with it. A shared surname does not establish that two credited people are the same person.

Try cataloguing one sleeve from the printed evidence alone. Then add any verified external information as a separate source. The exercise often reveals how many people contributed to the object without inviting guesses about work the packaging does not describe. It also makes a later search for a favourite cover designer much easier.