This is a really comprehensive list; unfortunately since it only has two levels, I would argue that it's not as practical (even for general use) as a structure such as this one: …
Obviously it would require quite a bit of effort to further classify the genres you've included into sub-genres. Note that in Alec's implementation of sub-genre structuring, he opted not to use "subgenre" tags, which I think is the most appropriate solution for making it accessible to normal users.
I might try to merge the two in the Community Version
The problem with defining an extra subgenre level is that only deciding on a main- and child- category already is a subjective matter. Deciding on a third level becomes even more subjective.
When doing a web-search on what music genre is a subgenre of what other genre, you'll find that opinions usually differ a lot and are seldom unambigous.
And in many cases when somebody calls something a subgenre, in reality it will be more of an amalgam of more than one genre.
And e.g. what would be appropriate subgenres for a 'World' category'?
Spain?, Spanish?, English?, Gaelic?, Celtic?, Baltic?, Swedish?, Nordic?
(don't even try; been there, tried it, failed)
Also, the average user will probably look at the name of a genre.
Jazz-rock? Must be Rock.
Nu jazz, must be Jazz.
Dream house? Must be House.
Swamp-pop? Must be Pop.
(spoiler: guess again)For some less genre-conscious users this will already pose some confusion in a two-level hierarchy, but adding a third level is prone to making things even more difficult or confusing.
The genre hierarchy list I specifically designed for 'general use' has the intention to be as objective, unbiased, and easy-to-use as possible.
(my personal version is a very different story and does contain more levels, but is also pretty useless to anybody else)I feel this version is already an enormous improvement on what have been MusicBee's default genre- and genre grouping lists for many years.
(which received no complaints at all that I am aware of)
Your observation and suggestions are valid though, and it's food for thought to perhaps improve my list.
I'll see if I can find some area's where I can safely add another level that will improve navigation for the average user without threading into too subjective territories or triggering discussion or confusion.
But the main objectives for this particular list will remain:
- containing all, and only currently considered 'valid' genres that MusicBee users are likely to encounter when auto-tagging genres.
- trying to avoid too much bias.
- having an efficient and comfortable navigation structure.
Anything deviating too much from that in my opinion is better suited to be offered as an optional feature/download.