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[rsg]

Anyone have any tips on how to organize compilations of songs in MC? Right now, they seem to be scattered in several places in the library, including 'Various', 'Various Artists', and 'Multiple Artists.'

[JimH]

Fill in the Album Artist tags.

[rsg]

Fill in the Album Artist tags.

Yes, I do that for compilations by a single artist, but these are compilations of mixed artists, sort of "Best of 70's Rock" type thing...

[JimH]

There are two tags.  One for Artists, one for Album Artists.  Try selecting them and editing the Album Artist tag.

https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Album_Artist_and_Album_Artist_(Auto)

[RD James]

Media Center has a great feature, which is the [Album Artist (auto)] field.

• If the [Album Artist] tag has a value in it, it outputs: Album Artist
• If the [Album Artist] tag is empty and all of the tracks have a single artist listed, it outputs: Artist
• If the [Album Artist] tag is empty and there are multiple artists listed for the album, it outputs: (Multiple Artists)

I really like the choice to use (Multiple Artists) because it means that compilations appear at the top of a list, rather than under 'M' or 'V'.
 
If your view uses [Album Artist (auto)] and compilations are being grouped by 'Various', 'Various Artists', 'Multiple Artists', or anything else, it means that the [Album Artist] tag is not empty and actually contains that as a name.
 
To fix this, what you would do is clear the [Album Artist] tag.
Then [Album Artist (auto)] should kick in and place everything into the (Multiple Artists) group.
Alternatively, fill the [Album Artist] tag with something else, if you want it under a specific grouping which is not (Multiple Artists).

[rsg]

Oh, that is totally brilliant! Now all my multiple artist compilations reside near the top of 'Artists' in (Multiple Artists). Thank you!

[Dawgincontrol]

Anyone have any tips on how to organize compilations of songs in MC? Right now, they seem to be scattered in several places in the library, including 'Various', 'Various Artists', and 'Multiple Artists.'

What I do is change the "album artist" field to match the cd. 

Example, "#1 R&B Songs From the 1950's", I change the album artist field to "50's R&B Artists".  That way they keep the grouping, are separate form other compilations, and are easily found since they correlate.

Another thing I do is group compilations with others by year.  If I don't care about the album being kept together, I have pseudo albums that are by year, subject, etc.  I name an album, "Songs From 1995", ie, or by music type, or whatever you like.  Then I change the "album artist" field to "Artists Of 1995", or "Rock Artists Of 1995" or Jazz Artists Of 1995, etc.

That's what works for me so I don't have 500 "Various Artist" mixed together.  The key is the "album artist" field.  Don't change the "Artist" field.  That way you can still find the individual artists without a problem.