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[UncleFestis]

Many jazz albums list the artist as Joe Bop Quintet, Joe Bop Quartet, Joe Bop Big Band, etc...

I wonder what the best was to tag the artist fields is?  When playing a song I want the display to reflect the artist as on the album, but when browsing the file system or view schemes I want all "Joe Bop" albums to be together.

Can I do this using the standard Artist and Album Artist fields or do I need to add a custom "Main Artist" field?

[AoXoMoXoA]

I use the Album Artist in conjunction with the Artist field to do this myself.

In your example:
Joe Bop Quintet,
Joe Bop Quartet,
Joe Bop Big Band
I would place these into the Artist field, and then use Joe Bop as the Album Artist. I also create my folders using the Album Artist so that the three in your example will all be in the same "Joe Bop" folder. 
Since I name my files Artist - Album - track # - Name, the "Joe Bop Quartet" and such will be properly retained in those tags under Artist so the name is not lost.

In my case the file name string used for "Rename Files From Properties" which I use to rename the files and place them into the proper folders is:
(Drive Letter)\[Album Artist]\[Album]\[Artist] - [Album] - [track #] - [Name]

Unfortunately there is one functional flaw in this scheme, while there is a right-click command Find Artist, there exists none for Find Album Artist. You could reverse the fields but then that creates other flaws.

For now this is the best I have found, and hopefully there will eventually be a Find Album Artist command added.

[Alex B]

AoXomoXoa,

Are you aware about MC's clever automatic system that uses the "Album Artist" and the "Album Artist (auto)" fields in conjunction?


UncleFestis,

You may want to use the Album Artist (auto) field as a view scheme item instead of or besides the Artist field.

You can write the common artist name in the Album Artist field and MC will automatically use this value as the Album Artist (auto) value. (These two fields are separate)

I have posted more information about these two fields for example in this reply:

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=33255.msg227921#msg227921

[Alex B]

For now this is the best I have found, and hopefully there will eventually be a Find Album Artist command added.

Right-click > Locate > Advanced > Album Artist or Album Artist (auto)

If you set the "Right-click recent command count" advanced tree & view option to 8 it will stay in the top part of the right-click menu for some time.

[AoXoMoXoA]

AoXomoXoa,

Are you aware about MC's clever system that uses the "Album Artist" and the "Album Artist (auto)" fields in conjunction?

Actually, yes I am.
However I routinely use the "Move/Copy Fields" function to fill the "Album Artist" field. I then often need to manually edit the "Album Artist" to change it from i.e. - "Joe Bop Quartet" to "Joe Bop".
I think I'd need to do this in any case to get "Album Artist (auto)" to reflect the correct data I desire.
At this point I find it just as easy to use the "Album Artist" field in the rename string since I filled it to reflect exactly what I wish it to say.
I guess I have an aversion to using the Auto functions: Auto-Import, Album-Artist (Auto), etc.  

Right-click > Locate > Advanced > Album Artist or Album Artist (auto)

If you set the "Right-click recent command count" advanced tree & view option to 8 it will stay in the top part of the right-click menu for some time.

OK, when did they sneak that in there?   

Ya just can't keep up with these guys.

[Alex B]

... I routinely use the "Move/Copy Fields" function to fill the "Album Artist" field. I then often need to manually edit the "Album Artist" to change it from i.e. - "Joe Bop Quartet" to "Joe Bop" ...

Actually, the "Album Artist (auto)" field would do a part of your procedure automatically.


The "Album Artist (auto)" field displays automatically the "Artist" value, unless:

1) The album has multiple artists. In this case the automatic value is (Multiple Artists).

or

2) You add a value in the "Album Artist" field. This value will automatically replace the default "Album Artist (auto)" value.


You would need to manually add an "Album Artist" value only when you want to override the automatic value.

[hit_ny]

Many jazz albums list the artist as Joe Bop Quintet, Joe Bop Quartet, Joe Bop Big Band, etc...

Strip the grouping out so the Artist just says Joe Bop.

I wonder what the best was to tag the artist fields is?  When playing a song I want the display to reflect the artist as on the album, but when browsing the file system or view schemes I want all "Joe Bop" albums to be together.

Can I do this using the standard Artist and Album Artist fields or do I need to add a custom "Main Artist" field?

ar=joe bop (in the search box) will find them all.

[Alex B]

Here's the relevant part of the old reply (which I linked earlier):

... MC fills the "Album Artist (auto)" field automatically. You can override the automatic selection by filling the "Album Artist" field when needed. You should use only the "Artist" and "Album Artist (auto)" fields as view items because the "Album Artist" field is normally empty unless you have used it for making a custom album artist.

This is from the program help file:

Multiple Artist Albums

Media Center comes with a number of tools to help automatically identify compilation albums that include various artists.


Album Artist (auto)

This is a built-in automatic field.  It auto-completes as follows:

- If something is manually typed in the Album Artist field, that content is included in the Album Artist (auto) field as well.
- If the Album Artist field is empty, then the Album Artist (auto) field gets completed as follows:
     - Single-artist name in the case of a single-artist album.
     - (Multiple Artists) in the case of a multiple-artist album*.

* In order for (Multiple Artists) to appear automatically, the album must be in its own exclusive directory (i.e., if there are files from more than one album in a directory, the program will not label it as Multiple Artist).

Here is the logic. A track is a mix if all the files with the same [Album] value in the same directory:

- have more than one [Artist] value among them
- have no other [Album] values used by any other file in the same directory
- are Audio and have a non-empty [Album] value


Automatic Assorted

When you rename files (right click > Library Tools > Rename Files from Properties), the window that appears provides the option to "Use Assorted for [Artist] on multi-artist albums". This is just under the Directories Rule. When selected, the files will be saved in a directory called Assorted if you have included the [Artist] rule in the directory rule.

Example:

Artist: Stackabones, Album: Best of Truck Driving Songs

Directory Rule:
Base path: M:\Music\
Rule: [Artist]\[Album]
"Use Assorted [Artist] on multi-artist albums" is checked.

Result:
M:\Music\Assorted\Best of Truck Driving Songs\Filename rule


Complete Albums

Media Center can automatically display complete and incomplete albums. An album is considered complete if all the files with the same [Album] value in the same directory:

- are sequentially numbered tracks starting at 1
- have at least 2 files or 10 minutes of audio
- are Audio and have a non-empty [Album] value.

View Schemes for Multiple Artist Albums
Create the following scheme to view Multiple Artist Albums:

1. Right click on Audio in the tree.

2. Select Add View Scheme.

3. Click "Add", Standard View Item, and add the following:
- Album Type (shows multiple vs. single artist albums, and whether they are complete or incomplete). Note: you may have to scroll up the list to get Album Type. Press Ok.
- Repeat, and add Album

4. Or display fields for each of the items displayed in #3:  Album Type, Album Artist (auto), Complete Album, Album.

You can now quickly view your Multiple Artist albums, and better yet, you can view all of your complete and/or incomplete albums. Complete albums are indicated by a "1", and "0" displays incomplete albums.

In this post I explained how I use the "Album Artist" field for overriding the automatic "Album Artist (auto)" value:

In any case you can always write whatever you like in the Album Artist field. Album Artist (auto) will use the same value.

I don't like the automatically filled (Multiple Artists) value in the "Album Artist (auto)" field. After the first 100 or so multiple artist albums I decided to write something meaningful in the Album Artist field instead. For example, I use the album series or DJ's name. Or the main artist of the album like in this example from last December:

I just bought this record: "Louis Armstrong & Friends - What A Wonderful Christmas." I filed it like this:



I wanted this album to show up besides the other Louis Armstrong albums instead of "multiple artists" or "Louis Armstrong & Friends". Also, I saved the disk files in the "Louis Armstrong\What A Wonderful Christmas" path, not in the "Louis Armstrong & Friends\..." path. With this filing system I can search for track artists as well. For example, I can use the standard Artist field for finding all Eartha Kitt tracks even she is not an Album Artist in my library.

[AoXoMoXoA]

Strip the grouping out so the Artist just says Joe Bop.
ar=joe bop (in the search box) will find them all.

This will work, but you will not retain the data of the complete actual group name. In some cases (or to some of us that are sticklers for details) this would not be acceptable. I chose to go with my more cumbersome method so as not to give up that info as I may at some point wish to use it.

i.e.: what if you wish to play a Janis Joplin album with the Kozmic Blues Band or the Full-Tilt Boogie Band instead of Big Brother & Holding Company?
In my setup I retain this ability, while if I understand correctly your suggestion sacrifices this ability

[hit_ny]

This will work, but you will not retain the data of the complete actual group name. In some cases (or to some of us that are sticklers for details) this would not be acceptable. I chose to go with my more cumbersome method so as not to give up that info as I may at some point wish to use it.

Right, but the featured artist is Joe Bop regardless of how many others are accompanying

I plan to one of these days enter in all the supporting players into a custom field, which if you use one of the newly introduced expressions, listcount i think it is, will tell you how many players to the group there are so there's your grouping right there.

i.e.: what if you wish to play a Janis Joplin album with the Kozmic Blues Band or the Full-Tilt Boogie Band instead of Big Brother & Holding Company?
In my setup I retain this ability, while if I understand correctly your suggestion sacrifices this ability

Thats a unique name of a band accompanying, so in this case would say
Janis Joplin & The Kozmic Blues Band
Janis Joplin & The Full-Tilt Boogie Band

[AoXoMoXoA]

Right, but the featured artist is Joe Bop regardless of how many others are accompanying

I plan to one of these days enter in all the supporting players into a custom field, which if you use one of the newly introduced expressions, listcount i think it is, will tell you how many players to the group there are so there's your grouping right there.
Thats a unique name of a band accompanying, so in this case would say
Janis Joplin & The Kozmic Blues Band
Janis Joplin & The Full-Tilt Boogie Band
 

The possibilities are endless, aren't they? It becomes mind boggling after a while.   

[hit_ny]

when the artist have the same names i have to qualify it with the instrument they play.

Bill Evans : for the piano player

Bill Evans (sax) : for another artist that plays sax.

The more known, the shorter the name

Jazz is a bit involved, not too different to classical in the tagging aspect.