Grouping Albums by Album Artist

[ronjames]

Hi,
It's obviously somewhere in the Moode Audio preferences but I haven't been successful so here I am.
In library mode I would like my albums to be grouped by 'Album Artist' not by 'Artist'. At the moment I have one separate album cover for each distinct artist (for any album with multiple artists) when I would like to have only one entry in the library under the album artist name.
In other words I'd like my collection to be organized by Album Artist / Year / Album

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Tim Curtis]

Below is the help from Prefs, Album view sort.

by Album: Albums are sorted alphabetically.
by Artist: Albums for each artist are sorted alphabetically.
by Artist/Year: Albums for each artist are sorted chronologically.
by Year: Albums are sorted chronologically.
Note that when sorted by year if not all tracks in the album have the same year then the latest year will be used. If no year tag exists or if the year tag is not a number then no year information will be shown for that album.

These options work for most collections because one of the most common tagging schemes is to set Album Artist = Artist, or if the album is a compilation then Album Artist = a text string for example "Various Artists" thats used consistently in the collection to designate compilation albums.

[ronjames]

Hi Tim,
Thanks for your prompt reply and explanations.
I believe that organizing albums by 'Album Artist' is a important option for many music collections. It is true that it is far from affecting all albums but it really depends on one's music collection, and it's a major problem for classical music albums (various interpreters i.e. artists for a single musical work (opera, symphony...). I outline below some arguments in favor of my request (with some help from ChatGPT :

1. Album Cohesiveness:
Issue: Sorting albums by individual track artists may lead to a lack of cohesiveness within albums, especially for compilation albums or albums featuring multiple artists.
Solution: Sorting by "Album Artist" ensures that all tracks from the same album are grouped together based on the primary artist or band associated with the entire album, providing a more coherent listening experience.

2. Consistency Across Genres:
Issue: Some music genres, such as classical or soundtracks, often involve multiple artists contributing to a single album. Sorting by individual track artists may result in a fragmented view of these albums.
Solution: Sorting by "Album Artist" maintains consistency across various genres, ensuring that albums with collaborative efforts are presented in a unified manner.

3. Better Handling of Various Album Configurations:
Issue: Some albums may have featured artists or guest appearances on specific tracks, making the concept of a single "Artist" for the entire album less applicable.
Solution: Sorting by "Album Artist" accommodates complex album configurations by focusing on the primary artist associated with the entire album, providing a more accurate representation.

4. Enhanced User Experience:
Issue: Users may find it challenging to locate and navigate through albums, especially if albums have different primary artists for each track.
Solution: Sorting by "Album Artist" improves the user experience by presenting a more organized and user-friendly display of albums, facilitating easier navigation and selection.

5. Customization Options:
Issue: Users often have different preferences regarding how they organize and navigate their music collections.
Solution: Providing an option to sort by both "Artist" and "Album Artist" caters to diverse user preferences, allowing individuals to choose the sorting method that best suits their needs.

6. Industry Standard:
Point: "Album Artist" is recognized as an industry-standard metadata tag in digital music files.
Benefit: Adhering to industry standards ensures compatibility with various music file formats and promotes interoperability between different music software and devices.

7."Album Artist" is already available as an option in the "Tag view artist" option in Moode Audio Preferences. The same option available in "Albumview sort order" (and maybe "Tagview sort order") could be added at "low cost" I guess.

8. In the absence of the 'Album artist' option, the only solution to address the issue of the same album being listed as many times as it has distinct artists would be for the music collector to replace the names of individual artists in the 'Artist' field with a single name identical to the 'Album Artist.' This does not appear to be a feasible solution as it represents an unacceptable loss of crucial information.

Apologies if my message was a bit lengthy (blame ChatGPT, but I understand you have a busy schedule, and user requests are competing for your attention.

I would be happy to help if I can (testing?) if you decide this is worth the effort.
In any case thanks for offering this great tool to the community.
Great day!

[the_bertrum]

The grouping already is works as you describe.  See my player in Tag view:
   
You will see that "Mark Knopfler" as Artist in the top left pane, which is the value of the "Album Artist" tag.  Then in the bottom right, you will see the various values for "Artist" that each track on the album has.

[Tim Curtis]

@ronjames, zip up some albums from your collection and send a download link to tim at moodeaudio dot org so I can see how your tagging scheme actually works in the Library and whether or not it's possible to modify the code to accommodate it.

[TheOldPresbyope]

I'm too old to get mixed up in metadata wars any more so I'll go along with whatever alternative sorting schemes y'all come up with. I might adjust my metadata to fit the schema I like best, or not, as the spirit moves me

I can't help, though, but put on my curmudgeon hat and point out that "industry standards"  with respect to digital metadata are mostly crap and we all keep trying to find workable solutions within their restrictions.

For me, the notion of "Album Artist" is pretty arbitrary; it could just as well be labelled "Column 1" when I look across my classical music collection which is modest but which spans some 80 years of performances packaged in various ways as "albums". The musicbrainz_albumid is the most reliable tag for tracks comprising an album but how many have that 3rd-party tag populated for all the tracks in their collection?

Ah, my coffee has finished brewing. Time for my first cup of some calming caffeine.

Regards,
Kent

[ronjames]

Thanks Robert,
Local Hero ... this brings me a few decades back
OK, back to our subject. I don't know if it's because we use different versions of Moode but I cannot replicate your screen.



https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Rbh63NO...drive_link

Comparing our displays:

1. You don't have the Genre tag on the left. I cannot find how to remove it.

2.Moode displays the list of what should be 'Album Artists' if I understand properly (I chose 'Album Artist' in the Tag view artist in Preferences) but there are issues on my side (see "A Tribe Called Quest ..." multiple entries. Before writing this post I double checked the tags in my files (with Tag&Rename) and all albums have the same Album Artist "A Tribe Called Quest", the other names listed under Album Artists in the Tag view (for example "A Tribe Called Quest feat. Busta Rhymes") are actually coming from the "Artist" tag in my files, not the "Album Artist".

3. The track list in your screenshot is also different from mine. In yours, the third columns seems to show both the Artist for any given track on the first row, and then I guess the Album artist on the second row. In my case (it does not show on my screenshot but I checked) the third column lists only the Album Artist.

I am sorry if this is trivial but I am confused and your help is much appreciated.

Olivier

[Tim Curtis]

Thanks Robert,
Local Hero ... this brings me a few decades back
OK, back to our subject. I don't know if it's because we use different versions of Moode but I cannot replicate your screen.



https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Rbh63NO...drive_link

Comparing our displays:

1. You don't have the Genre tag on the left. I cannot find how to remove it.

2.Moode displays the list of what should be 'Album Artists' if I understand properly (I chose 'Album Artist' in the Tag view artist in Preferences) but there are issues on my side (see "A Tribe Called Quest ..." multiple entries. Before writing this post I double checked the tags in my files (with Tag&Rename) and all albums have the same Album Artist "A Tribe Called Quest", the other names listed under Album Artists in the Tag view (for example "A Tribe Called Quest feat. Busta Rhymes") are actually coming from the "Artist" tag in my files, not the "Album Artist".

3. The track list in your screenshot is also different from mine. In yours, the third columns seems to show both the Artist for any given track on the first row, and then I guess the Album artist on the second row. In my case (it does not show on my screenshot but I checked) the third column lists only the Album Artist.

I am sorry if this is trivial but I am confused and your help is much appreciated.

Olivier

I'm getting "Access Denied" and am not able to download the file.

[ronjames]

Sorry about that, it should work now.

[Tim Curtis]

@ronjames, zip up some albums from your collection and send a download link to tim at moodeaudio dot org so I can see how your tagging scheme actually works in the Library and whether or not it's possible to modify the code to accommodate it.

Were you able to zip up some albums and mail me the download link?

The other link you posted is just a screenshot of tag view.