Describe how you'd implement the database for a music service that allows users to rate, review, and purchase songs.

Question Analysis

The question asks you to design a database schema for a music service. This service has several functionalities: allowing users to rate, review, and purchase songs. Key considerations include identifying entities (such as users, songs, reviews, and purchases), establishing relationships between these entities, and defining the attributes of each entity. The goal is to create a relational database that efficiently supports the required operations.

Answer

To implement the database for a music service that allows users to rate, review, and purchase songs, we need to create tables representing the core entities and their relationships. Below is a proposed schema using relational database design principles:

1. Tables and Relationships:

   • Users Table: Stores user information.
     • Attributes: user_id (Primary Key), username, email, password, created_at.
   • Songs Table: Stores song information.
     • Attributes: song_id (Primary Key), title, artist, album, genre, release_date, price.
   • Reviews Table: Stores user reviews for songs.
     • Attributes: review_id (Primary Key), user_id (Foreign Key), song_id (Foreign Key), rating (e.g., 1-5 scale), comment, review_date.
     • Relationships:
       • user_id references Users(user_id).
       • song_id references Songs(song_id).
   • Purchases Table: Records user purchases of songs.
     • Attributes: purchase_id (Primary Key), user_id (Foreign Key), song_id (Foreign Key), purchase_date, amount.
     • Relationships:
       • user_id references Users(user_id).
       • song_id references Songs(song_id).

2. Database Design Considerations:

   • Normalization: Ensure that the data is normalized to avoid redundancy. For example, song details should not be repeated in the Reviews or Purchases tables; instead, they are referenced through foreign keys.
   • Indexes: Consider creating indexes on frequently queried fields such as user_id and song_id to improve query performance.
   • Transactions: Use transactions to ensure data integrity, particularly when handling purchases to ensure that payments and song access are consistently recorded.
   • Security: Encrypt sensitive information such as passwords and consider role-based access control to protect user data.

This schema provides a robust framework to handle the functionalities of rating, reviewing, and purchasing songs within a music service, ensuring data integrity and performance efficiency.