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Topic: How to tag the 'featuring artist(s)' (Read 7819 times) previous topic - next topic
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How to tag the 'featuring artist(s)'

Hi all,

I am cleaning my music library and I come across a lot of tracks which have multiple artists. Thus, I split them with ';', so foobar recognizes them as separate artists.

However, I don't know what to do with tracks which have a featuring artist, like 'Black Eyed Peas (BEP) feat. Justin Timberlake (JT)'. What is the suggested way to handle this? I can think of the following (of cours enot exhaustive) possibilities:
  • Tag both the BEP and JT as artists, split by ';'
  • Tag the artist as 'BEP ft. JT' and tag the album artist as BEP
  • Tag the artist as 'BEP' and tag a field like %FEATURING% as 'JT'


I think option number 1 would be the way to go as I think the field from option number 3 does not exist and option number 2 creates an artist which does not exists (as the track has two artists). However, the 'featuring' information is lost and I believe there is no sort order when using multiple artists.

What would you advise me to use?

How to tag the 'featuring artist(s)'

Reply #1 –
Two options that I can think of:

1) Put featured artists in PERFORMER fields (FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, Opus) or maybe TPE3 (MP3, ID3v2).
2) Don't bother and just put it in the title: Instant Crush (feat. Julian Casablancas)

I've stopped giving into my OCD with regards to tagging, so I currently use option #2. I don't want those artists to show up in my tagged-based library anyway.

How to tag the 'featuring artist(s)'

Reply #2 –
Quote from: skamp on
Two options that I can think of:

1) Put featured artists in PERFORMER fields (FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, Opus) or maybe TPE3 (MP3, ID3v2).
2) Don't bother and just put it in the title: Instant Crush (feat. Julian Casablancas)

I've stopped giving into my OCD with regards to tagging, so I currently use option #2. I don't want those artists to show up in my tagged-based library anyway.


Option two seems reasonable, as indeed the 'featuring' artists won't pollute my library.

I'm still interested if other people also use this approach.

How to tag the 'featuring artist(s)'

Reply #3 –
Quote from: ernstblaauw on
I'm still interested if other people also use this approach.

I do, mostly to keep my last.fm clean.
Music: sounds arranged such that they construct feelings.

How to tag the 'featuring artist(s)'

Reply #4 –
Quote from: ernstblaauw on
  • Tag both the BEP and JT as artists, split by ';'

This.

I add a "display artist" tag (there is a nice semi-automatic feature in MusicBee) with whatever is written on the record's sleeve. I do this also with aliases, some duos or any variation on an artist's name.

DISPLAY ARTIST = The Miles Davis Quintet
ARTIST = Miles Davis

DISPLAY ARTIST = The Memphis Horns feat. Mavis Staples
ARTIST = The Memphis Horns
ARTIST = Mavis Staples

DISPLAY ARTIST = The Johnny Otis Orchestra with Little Esther and Mel Walker
ARTIST = Johnny Otis
ARTIST = Esther Phillips
ARTIST = Mel Walker

DISPLAY ARTIST = John Cougar
ARTIST = John Mellencamp

DISPLAY ARTIST = Otis and Carla
ARTIST = Otis Redding
ARTIST = Carla Thomas

etc.

How to tag the 'featuring artist(s)'

Reply #5 –
I've chosen this format:

ARTIST: Main Artist
TITLE: Title (feat. Featured Artists) [Optional Remix or Version]

It's not the best, dedicated fields for this things would be nice but if there's any i guess nothing really supports them. Hardware players would not display them anyway.

How to tag the 'featuring artist(s)'

Reply #6 –
Quote from: ernstblaauw on
2. Tag the artist as 'BEP ft. JT' and tag the album artist as BEP

What would you advise me to use?

Like many things this is personal preference, and there's no "correct" answer, but FWIW I do your option "2", and I sleep well at night.