I'm bringing this back to the top. I really hope someone can help me solve this. I realize it is likely an issue with the way my phone is choosing to display the tags, as I never had this issue with my Sansa Fuze. Still, the more artists I add to the phone, the more annoying it becomes to search for an album I want under Unknown artist.
My understanding was that "Contributing artist" as displayed in windows is the same as Artist on other systems, while Album Artist is used more for when you need to have "Various Artists" as the album artist to show an album is a compilation, but I may well be wrong of course.
Check one of your compilations albums, mine are tagged this way.
I did an experiment with tracks from three different compilation albums.
1. Armageddon soundtrack. This shows up under (Multiple Artists) in my Library. (Complete with parentheses, so it's near the top.) Each track has a different artist when the album is viewed in MC. I transferred track 3, What Kind of Love Are You On by Aerosmith. When I look at the converted stack file in Windows, the Contributing Artist is Aerosmith, and the Album Artist is blank. This album appears under Unknown on my Andorid.
2. Saw 3 soundtrack. Appears under Soundtrack when viewing albums by artist in MC. When viewing the album, each track lists a different Artist. Transferred track 15, Killer Inside by Hydrovibe. No converted file created because the originals were already wma. When viewing in Windows Explorer, Contributing Artist is Hydrovibe and Album Artist is Soundtrack. Appears under Soundtrack on the Android.
3. Liquor and Poker Music Presents: Girls Got Rhythm 3. (Compilation of metal covers by female artists.) Appears under Various in MC. EVERY track has "Various" as the artist in MC. Transferred track 1, Thunderstruck/Thunderstruck. (The way the names of the tracks are titled for this album "Artist/Title." Converted stack file in Windows shows Contributing Artist is Various, Album Artist is blank. Shows up under Unknown on the Android.
The conclusion I can draw from this is that the actual artist for a particular track is displayed under the Artist column in MC, but usually shown as Contributing Artist in Windows. If the Album Artist is blank in Windows, the artist will be Unknown on the Android.
For a regular album with the same artist for all tracks, I feel like Album Artist and Contributing Artist should be the same.
But Album Artist must be populated for it to show up on the Android, and that isn't always happening. How do I make this happen without manually editing tags for every album I rip?