Introduction

Artist Relations is a feature in Helium that shows how a selected artist connects to other artists — through membership in bands, stylistic similarities, influences, and more. When you open an artist's detail page and at least one relationship exists, a Relations tab appears in the tab bar. Clicking it reveals an interactive diagram on the left and a summary list on the right, giving you a clear picture of that artist's place in the wider music world.

Usage

Opening the Relations Tab

  1. Select an artist in your library to open their detail page.
  2. Look for the Relations tab in the tab bar at the top of the Artist Details panel. This tab only appears when the artist has at least one relationship recorded.
  3. Click the Relations tab to load the diagram and side panel.

The Diagram

The diagram fills the left side of the Relations tab and gives you a visual map of the artist's connections.

  • The selected artist appears as a large circle in the centre, showing their photo and name.
  • Related artists appear as smaller circles arranged around them, each connected by a coloured line. The colour indicates the type of relationship (see Relationship Types below).
  • Hover over any circle to highlight it and see the artist's name in a tooltip.
  • Click any circle to expand the diagram outward and show that artist's own connections (up to three steps out). The main panel also navigates to that artist's detail page. Previously shown artists remain visible for context.
  • A legend in the corner of the diagram lists all eight relationship types as coloured dots. Click any type to hide or show those nodes. Click Reset to restore all types.

The Side Panel

The right-hand panel lists the same relationships in a more readable format.

  • Artists are grouped under headings such as GROUP MEMBERS or SIMILAR ARTISTS.
  • Each artist appears as a coloured pill badge matching their relationship type.
  • Artists who are in your Helium library appear with a bright badge. Artists not in your library appear with a dimmer badge.
  • Click any badge to navigate to that artist's detail page. The diagram also updates to show their connections.

Exploring artists not in your library

Related artists who do not have any tracks in your Helium library are shown with a dimmer badge in the side panel and as a less prominent circle in the diagram. These artists are not dead ends — you can still use them to discover further connections that may lead back to artists you already own.

To follow a chain through an artist not in your library:

  1. Click the dimmed artist's badge or circle to navigate to their artist page.
  2. On their page, click Download to fetch data from the internet — this populates their biography, photo, and their own set of relations.
  3. Return to the Relations tab. New connections will now be visible, and some of those newly discovered artists may already exist in your library.

Example: Blue System exists in your library with a Group Member relation to Dieter Bohlen, who has no tracks in your library (dimmed badge). Click Dieter Bohlen and download his data. A Member Of relation to Modern Talking appears — and Modern Talking does have tracks in your library. The diagram now shows a path Blue System → Dieter Bohlen → Modern Talking, connecting two artists you own through a bridge artist you do not.

Quick-Access Relation Buttons

At the top of the Artist Details panel, shortcut buttons appear for each relationship type that has data — for example, SIMILAR, INFLUENCED BY, or GROUP MEMBERS.

  • Clicking a button opens a flat list of all artists of that type, rather than the full diagram view.
  • These buttons are a quick way to browse a specific category of related artists without switching to the Relations tab.

Relationship Types

Helium supports eight relationship types, each displayed in its own colour throughout the diagram and side panel.

Relationship Description
Similar Artists Artists with a similar sound or style.
Also Known As Aliases or alternative names for the same artist.
Influenced By Artists who influenced the selected artist.
Followers Artists who were in turn influenced by the selected artist.
See Also Loosely related artists worth exploring.
Performed Songs By The selected artist performs or covers songs originally by this artist.
Group Members The individual members of this group or band.
Member Of The groups or bands that this individual artist belongs to.

Editing Relations

You can add, change, or remove relationships at any time through the Edit Artist dialog.

  1. Open the Edit Artist dialog for the artist you want to update.
  2. Locate the section for the relationship type you want to edit.
  3. Type the names of the related artists in the text field, one name per line.
  4. Add, remove, or correct names as needed.
  5. Click the confirm button to save your changes. The diagram and side panel will update to reflect them.