Artist vs Album Artist TAG: Someone can explain? Options

[Antigen]

Hi to all,

i'm using XLD to rip my collection of Audio CD.

The question is:

- for Example for CD as ADELE 21 i use in the both field ARTIST and ALBUM ARTIST ----> ADELE 21

Now I have see that if I use iTunes to rip a CD in the most case the ALBUM ARTIST FILED is empty.

What is the better solution?

Actually for ALL the CD I have completed the ARTIST/ALBUM ARTIST with the same data.

Please explain, thanks

[probedb]

You'd normally set the Album Artist differently if it's got tracks by different artists on it. I.e. set it to Various Artists then each track will have the Artist tag set to that tracks Artist.

It doesn't really matter if the Album Artist tag is empty.

[Antigen]

You'd normally set the Album Artist differently if it's got tracks by different artists on it. I.e. set it to Various Artists then each track will have the Artist tag set to that tracks Artist.

It doesn't really matter if the Album Artist tag is empty.

I don't have "compilation2 like HIT MANIA and other CD composed from different artist.

It's a problem that I had compiled the ALBUM ARTIST/ARTIST in the same matter for CD like:

- ADELE 21
- DIRE STRAITS
- etc...

They have only an Artist that is the same of Album Artist, for that I had compiled in the same matter


Correctly or not?

[skamp]

The name of the artist is "Adele" though, and "21" is the name of the album…

[db1989]

As was said:

It doesn't really matter if the Album Artist tag is empty.

Some people fill both with the same value; others leave album artist empty unless it’s different from artist. Most software – anything with decent programming and behaviour, I wager – will not react differently either way.

So, do whatever you want. Has your current method created any problems? Assuming not, then you can leave it how it is, or you can change it because you think the other way looks nicer, or whatever. There’s no standards committee from whom you must receive approval for every little thing like this.

[probedb]

The name of the artist is "Adele" though, and "21" is the name of the album…

As I said, you can fill in the Album Artist as well as the Artist if they are the same it doesn't really make any difference. In fact a lot of software would be happy with just the Album Artist.

It's entirely up to you.

[db1989]

What skamp was referring to is this:

- for Example for CD as ADELE 21 i use in the both field ARTIST and ALBUM ARTIST ----> ADELE 21

That is, the implication that Antigen includes the album title in the artist / album artist.

[Nessuno]

i'm using XLD to rip my collection of Audio CD.

Ok, so you are on a Mac.

iTunes treats n songs as an album if they have the same value in the album AND artist tags. If you want to let it recognise as such an album by different artists, you have to check the "compilation" flag or make use of the albumartist tag. The first case is obvious, the second applies when you have an album where each song has a different "performer" as artist but you can recognize a "reference" artist, say in an album where a leading singer makes duets with friends you put the albumartist as that singer, in an album of covers you put the covered one as albumartist etc...

[apodtele]

For example, "Pulp Fiction Movie Soundtrack" album.
Album artist is "Various Artists" for ALL songs.
The Artist is different for each song.

Any more questions?

[db1989]

I have one! Did you actually read the post that started this thread? Antigen was asking what to do with releases whose artist and album artist are the same, not compilations. Besides, what to do in the latter case was already covered by probedb in the first reply.

This post has been edited by db1989: Apr 19 2012, 19:45

[icstm]

lol, agreed.
That was why I and I am sure others did not add anything to the answers provided as they explained exactly what could vary (single artist and compilations) and what to do.

For What its worth, I always complete AA, even in single artist albums.