Cataloging of Soundtrack albums

Led-Zeppelin wrote:

How do I stop itunes from separating an album because of multiple artists on the album? I've read some posts but Im still not clear about the solution when it comes to soundtracks because there is no such a thing as "album artist".

Yes, there is.

To prevent splitting, the Album Artist field and the compilation field both need to be correct. Read on.

Assuming that you are using the genre to identify "soundtracks", and that you haven't found an ingenious alternative method, then the Album Artist field is there. Study the screenshot below, of a soundtrack album in my collection:

As you can see in the example above, by selecting all the songs on the album and using the edit feature, Album Artist is indeed present:

• on a multiple artists album (such as the example), you must ensure that the wording in the Album Artist field is Various Artists and that the compilation box is ticked (checked). In this situation, each individual track has the performing artist in the Artist field, so when multiple tracks are selected, the Artist field shows the text "Mixed".
• on albums with featured artists on one or more tracks, but where the album is by a specific artist, such as the Loose album by Nelly Furtado, the Album Artist field needs to have the main artist's name in it, while the individual songs have the main artist and the featured one. The compilation box should be empty, even if the album is considered to be a compilation of one artist's work:

• finally, on single-artist albums, iTunes is not fussy (nor, I think, are any of Apple's devices); the Album Artist field can be empty or it can have the name of the artist in it. Some alternative software programmes are fussy; you need to have the Album Artist field completed for every album (even a single-song album).

If the points above do not fix the issue with the specific album, perhaps the problem lies elsewhere. A good source of trouble is the Album Title. Trailing spaces can cause issues and can be difficult to spot. The trick is to copy the album title from one track and paste that text into every track on the album, thereby ensuring that every track on the album has the exact same title.

Ah, why didn't you say? (That's British humour, don't take it seriously).

When ripping from CD there is a partial fix (yes, sorry, it's only a partial fix. The complete fix comes later):

• On iTunes' top bar menu, go into Edit/Preferences/General>When you insert a CD: and change the setting to Show CD:

• Insert a CD into the CD drawer and once iTunes sees it, it will switch to the Import CD window (and surprise, surprise, it will show you the CD). Now's your chance to correct some errors
• In the top right corner, click on the CD Info button (1.)
• In the dialogue that opens up, you should see the text Various Artists into the artist box (2.) but more importantly at this time, make sure that the compilation box (3.) is ticked (checked). You would expect that as the artist box states Various Artists, this would be the album artist field once the album is imported. Unfortunately not (well done Apple...):

• Use this opportunity to correct any obvious errors such as mis-typed album title etc. One particular error to look out for is an artist's Greatest Hits albums. (See below for more about this)
• Click on the Import CD button and allow iTunes to rip the CD
• The album should now be imported correctly, with all tracks held together as one album. However...
• (this is the complete fix I mentioned); select all the songs on the album and use Edit/Get Info to type Various Artists into the album artist field

Now, I assume you're going to say "but why doesn't iTunes do all this for me?"

Good question. The answer is that it's not all within Apple's (iTunes) power. They don't control all the information.

iTunes gets CD information from the Gracenote database, over which Apple have no ownership. Gracenote gets the information from:

• • bored record company employees, who would rather be far away and on their holidays
  • the artist themselves. In my experience, the artist is hardly ever the best person to complete the CD information. Just look at albums available directly from an artists, they often don't add much of the information you and I would want. (Sometimes, even their song titles are useless)
  • fans of the artist. Often, this is the best source of reliable information because they know what they want to see in iTunes

And there's another thing to consider: some software programmes do not have the ability to add every field to a song, or perhaps the programme does it in a different way, that rival software doesn't understand. Frustrating, I know, but that's life I'm afraid.

So, when you say that iTunes recognises an album as a soundtrack, nothing could be further from the truth. iTunes is simply using what someone else has specified. One reason why I'm particular about the compilation flag is because as far as iTunes is concerned (and myself), a "compilation" album" is one on which each track is by a different artist. But record companies tend to mark Greatest Hits albums (by any of their artists) as "compilations". The problem with that is that the album is then listed on iPods as a Various Artists album and if it's the only album you have by that artist, you will not find that artist in the Artist menu. So in this case, Apple have redeemed themselves; Apple 1, record companies 0.

So my suggestions here will ensure that the album appears correctly in your iTunes library when you import it. But look on the bright side; the Show CD option gives you the opportunity to correct typing errors, not just with the album title genre and year (as shown in the CD Info panel, but also to correct errors in the song title, artist name and to change the genre on individual tracks (if you so wish).

To summarise:

• if a various artists album is split in iTunes' Songs view, then the album title is inconsistent
• if a various artists album is split in iTunes' Albums view, then the album artist field is missing the text Various Artists*
• if a various artists album is split on any iPod etc. then the compilation flag is not on
• if a single-artist album does not display the artist on an iPod, then the compilation flag is on when it should be off

* Edited by author, after initial posting

It's not a matter of you and I separating.

Are you aware of the parable of the irresistible force meeting the immovable object?

Feel free to send feedback to Apple, Feedback - iTunes - Apple but:

• • you will not receive an acknowledgement
  • Apple may or may not act upon your suggestion. (Clue: I very much doubt that they will at this stage in iTunes' lifecycle)
  • at this point in time, you are the irresistible force and Apple is the immovable object

Beyond the steps I've suggested, this issue cannot be fixed before importing from a CD.

Led-Zeppelin wrote:

Maybe they need to add "album artist" to the CD info screen that comes up if you select "Show CD" in import settings.

As I have previously pointed out...

... Apple have not covered themselves in glory on this matter.

If you feel that strongly about it, find another CD ripper that does what you want. Then, once it's done that, use iTunes' File/Add Folder to Library in order to add the album into the library.

All I can do is offer suggestions to help you get the best from iTunes. I cannot fix iTunes. If I could, their Podcasts app would not have become the complete and utter rubbish that is now is, that's for sure! (Therein lies a clue: I have my own frustrations with iTunes, and I'm just as powerless as you. My solution to the Podcasts debacle has been to find a non-Apple Podcatcher app instead.)

Led-Zeppelin wrote:

I still blame the itunes programming LOL :)

That thought may be adversely affecting your progress.

The Album Artist field (box):

It is there. If you edit a song in iTunes, the Album Artist field will be shown. Please post a screenshot of an example of where is it is not visible (and please state which format the song is in). Let's look again at the album by Nelly Furtado, that features guest artists on four of the thirteen songs. Below is a screenshot in Songs View, showing the Artist column, the Album Artist column and...

Oh! When you say that the Album Artist is not visible, do you mean in the Songs view shown below, which shows the Album Artist column?

If this is the problem, say so. If not - and you're referring to the edit views; when you edit a song, you will see the Album Artist field as a box, on the Details tab, as shown below:

Your #16 song:

I have an album by one/same artist with 16 songs on it. 15 of the songs by the same artist, but one song (#16) is with that artist and another artist. When show CD album info screen showed up, artist name was the name of that one/same artist (there is no "album artist" field in that screen, only "artist").

Please provide a screenshot of your example of the missing Album Artist field. It's the only way to clear up this particular point, one way or another.

To keep the album together in your iTunes Library, the song Edit Info panel must have the Album Artist field completed with the name of the prime artist (Nelly Furtado in the example above), while the Artist field must have the name of the main artist and the featured one (Nelly Furtado feat. Juanes). All the songs on that album must have the Album Artist field completed with the exact same text. Use copy-and-paste if necessary.

The next thing is to clear up the mention of the word "folder":

as far as I'm concerned, there is only one use of the word "folder" in iTunes and that's a Playlist Folder:

Whenever anyone uses the word "folder", my concern is that they are referring to (and changing) folder names in Windows Explorer. If that's what you're doing, I strongly recommend that you don't as it will simply cause iTunes to lose track of songs. iTunes will create folders in Windows file system, that's its job. Let it do so; that's how it manages so successfully. If you try to fight it, it's a recipe for disaster.

The place to edit music is inside your iTunes Library:

iTunes is set to ignore "The" (and the "A") in band names and in song titles when sorting. It still shows "The", it just doesn't sort on it:

In the example above, note that the main display shows The Age / The Last ..., but the sorting field removes "The". iTunes does this on your behalf.

Here is a screenshot of the album list, showing both both the album and single entries for The Age Of Understatement, which you can see are listed in correct alphabetical order, between Age Of Loneliness and Ah Feel Like Ahcid:

Note that when you make tag changes in iTunes, the tags for the songs are edited in the files, but the Windows folder name is not.

My expectation was: itunes creates one album folder/entry under the name of the album name for that one artist. What actually happened: itunes created 2 albums: it created one album for the 15 songs under that one/same artist PLUS another folder under the name of that artist with the other artist for song #16.

Yes, and that happened to me with the Nelly Furtado album:

I can't recall whether the Nelly album was my oversight, or simply iTunes being efficient, ... but so what?

You have a choice. Either:

• • accept that this is what iTunes does sometimes (especially if you didn't take the appropriate action to prevent it), understand it and thereby instinctively know where to find files for songs - if you ever need them - or
  • move files around in Windows Explorer, to put them all in one folder - after you've added the songs to your iTunes Library, help iTunes re-locate the files for those songs when it loses track of the files (which it will do if you move or edit in Windows Explorer), get annoyed by the process...

Your choice. It may seem as though I'm being unsympathetic on this topic, but I cannot stress enough just how much extra work you will create for yourself if you do this the wrong way. Let iTunes do the management of files. You can still edit the fields for the song, by using iTunes. And Album Artist is there.

If you ever need to locate the file for a song, use iTunes: highlight the song, right-click/Show in Windows Explorer, or simply look at the Song Info/File tab for the location of the file.

It's been a while since I've done surgery on my music collection in iTunes (now the Music app on later macOS versions) but I seem to recall one setting was important: Make sure that each track in the album has been marked as 'Album is a compilation of songs by various artists'. You will need to put a tick in the box towards the foot of the Get Info box for every song. Ensure too that the Track x of x is also filled out. Of course, the album name has to be the same on every track.

Soundtrack can be chosen as a genre but it is a bit of a red herring in your question. The real problem is iTunes (Music) separating songs in one album by using a sorting tool you don't want to use.

...and the song remains the same.

To reduce the likelihood of a misunderstanding:

You're welcome.

By the way, podcasts within iTunes itself is no better than their app on iPods etc.