SQL: Do you need an auto-incremental primary key for Many-Many tables?

Question

Say you have a Many-Many table between Artists and Fans. When it comes to designing the table, do you design the table like such:

ArtistFans
    ArtistFanID         


        

Answer 1

The standard way is to use the composite primary key. Adding in a separate autoincrement key is just creating a substitute that is already there using what you have. Proper database normalization patterns would look down on using the autoincrement.