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I've recently noticed (mainly as I'm a recently new member) that a lot of song-Id questions are stated as being off-topic in the comments. However I haven't seen links to (semi or otherwise)- official policies on the topic. There are many conversations about it in meta here, but I don't know if any of them are the consensus on the issue that we can refer people to. (and by consensus, I mean general agreement in the community or decisions made by the moderator team)

So, to be clear, I'm not asking what makes a song-ID question on- or off- topic, but if the rules on that have already been decided and, if so, where we can point people to when those types of questions are asked.

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  • Yes, we do, it's the respective question on the matter you just read a few minutes ago. That is where the rules are decided and where people are to be pointed at.
    – Napoleon Wilson
    Commented Feb 16, 2015 at 1:52
  • @NapoleonWilson well, there are other questions on this topic, but that seems to be the most active, so that is probably it. Can you post that as an answer (Or, alternatively, can a moderator perhaps edit the question to note that it's the one we should refer people to?)
    – DA.
    Commented Feb 16, 2015 at 2:07

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Currently, this discussion, its highest voted answer and the general community consensus it has brought.

To summarise:

Off-topic:

if the ID in question is "I like this song and wanna listen to it", it's trivial and tangential to the movie.

On-topic:

If it's "Hey, I liked the way this song sounded, can someone tell me the name and why it would be used in that scene?" it contributes materially to the experience.

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  • Think we can answer why a song was used in a particular scene with much authority?
    – DA.
    Commented Feb 16, 2015 at 18:20
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    @DA.: I think we can make a best guess. As with all plot explanation questions, it really is a best guess based on the evidence presented. When it comes to why a song was used, such as "A Horse With No Name", we can look at the lyrics, the style and feel, compare and contrast it to the scene and postulate a theory - or, alternatively, find interviews or the like from the film makers which explicitly say why they used a piece.
    – Andrew Martin
    Commented Feb 16, 2015 at 18:35

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