Artist and AlbumArtist

[dzangger67]

If AlbumArtist has a value and Artist doesn't, it seems that Artist is using the value from AlbumArtist. Can it be something I'm doing?

Here is the track in Mp3Tag

This is my Debug

And this is the code that writes the Debug line

I see there is an OriginalArtist field. Is that Artist?

As always, thank you.

[Zeugma440]

Hi there,

Artist, AlbumArtist and OriginalArtist are three different fields that don't interact with each other within the library.

I bet your issue is due to the fact that your file has multiple tagging systems (e.g. both ID3v1 and ID3v2) - ID3v2 has a value for AlbumArtist only, but the other one might have a value for Artist and isn't shown on screen because you told it to read ID3v2 only.

You can check that by looking at the properties dialog in MP3Tag (right click on your file inside MP3Tag > Properties).

I see there is an OriginalArtist field. Is that Artist?

Nope. That's a field to describe the original artist, as in "the original performer of the song". Here's the definition according to the ID3v2.4 specs

[dzangger67]

Hi and thank you for your reply. I'm thankful you clarified those fields for me.

I don't know how a lot of my tracks ended up different formats. Must be from all the different tools over all the years. Is there one that just works the better than the rest? I use some 3rd party apps that insist on the Artist field to be populated.

[Zeugma440]

Is there one that just works the better than the rest?

I've been using MP3Tag for eons without any roadbump

use some 3rd party apps that insist on the Artist field to be populated.

Now you know that one's Track.Artist 😉

[dzangger67]

Thank you very much for explaining this. I'll stick with Mp3Tag and get rid of the others :)