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Kai2k Author

Level 1

0 points

iTunes match - on iPhone iPad split albums and wrong album artists

Hello everyone,

I'm having real trouble with iTunes match. So I have no issue actually playing the music, but the albums are being not only split but they have the wrong album artists. None of the issues are present on iTunes on my Mac, its all on iOS.

Firstly, I'd say my iTunes library was pretty much well organised pre-match. Albums had the correct art, the ID3 tags were such that everything looked correct and made for functional searches when using an iOS device.

All of my issues seem to be because of match. At first when I saw the split albums I thought it was just the ID3 tags being messed up somewhere but I've since wasted hours experimenting and I just can't seem to fix it.

I've tried (in no particular order)

Turning match on and off

Re-booting all devices

Making sure the iOS devices had all music wiped (via iTunes) before enabling match

Using iTunes to correct ID3 tags

Using the Yate ID3 editor to correct ID3 tags

When I say correct I mean select all tracks in a given album and make sure:

Album artist equal

Artist equal

I've tried the 'add a space on to artist / album artist then take it back off' trick

Remove any other 'mixed' fields such as composer

Check there is only one cover art file and it's the same for all tracks

Remove any mixed sorting fields

Renamed files

Renamed folders (then re-imported)

Now the interesting thing is that there is no pattern, some are correct and some are not. One album for example is Energy Never Dies by the black eyed peas. I bought this from a shop and ripped it. It's split into 3, one artist is the Black Eyed Peas, one is Elton John and one is Rhianna.

I've noticed the when the artist is wrong it's always the same artists (Elton John and Rhianna for example)

Interestingly, the wrong artists are different on the iPad to the iPhone, but the albums are split the same. Also, the one of the bad artists is one I made up for a mix tape, which makes me think the bad info is not on Apple's servers.

It's as if some old album artist data on the device from what was on there pre-match is corrupting things, but I don't fancy wiping the devices.

One way around it is to delete all artist and album artist info, but keep the album name the same (for grouped tracks). I can then search by album name and the album art is correct. This isn't ideal though as I cannot search by artist.

I've done some research before coming on here and I've tried quite a few fixes what have been suggested but I'm still no further forward. I'm hoping someone has some ideas otherwise I'm going to go through my library and remove all of the artist info as the work around like I say.

I'd like to report the bug to Apple but I can't seem to see a way of doing so. If anyone knows how to do this I'd appreciate a tip please.

Many thanks in advance,

Kai

Posted on May 4, 2015 3:01 PM

Top-ranking reply

Brandon_71

Level 1

0 points

Posted on May 5, 2015 3:30 PM

Had the same problem. Complete mess. I found a solution that solved it for me, but it's a chore. Anyways.

First I restored both the iPhone and the iPad. It seemed like the devices remembered some of the wrong metadata, so this seemed like the only solution. Then I deleted everything from iTunes Match and created a new, empty library. I added a few albums by an artist, for example Stevie Wonder. In iTunes on the Mac the metadata was correct, but on the iPhone it was still a mess. Albums split up, some with Elton John as artist, some with Miles Davis.

I then selected all the albums I just uploaded and deleted them (make sure to check the "also delete from iCloud"). I then added them to the library again, but changed both the artist and album artist name to something else, for example Stevie Wonderboy instead of Stevie Wonder. I updated iTunes Match and all the songs and albums were then correctly placed under Stevie Wonderboy. Finally, I changed the artist and album artist name back to Stevie Wonder and it worked!

In steps:

1. Restore devices

2. Delete iTunes Match library and create a new one.

3. Add albums and select "Update iTunes Match".

4. Delete albums from the cloud and make sure they are gone on your iPhone or iPad (do not select "Update iTunes Match").

5. Add the same albums again and change artist and album artist name. Press "Update iTunes Match".

6. Make sure that the albums and songs are placed correctly under the new artist name on your phone or iPad.

7. Change the artist and album artist name back to original name. Do not press "Update iTunes Match" after changing the name back, just let the changes trickle through.

This worked for me. Have to do this for pretty much every band and artist I add to iTunes Match. What a mess. Hope it works out for you.

Also, remember to backup!

View in context

146 replies

May 13, 2015 10:55 AM in response to Mike Brudenell

Sorry Mike. a bit late getting back to you. The guy in the Apple Store was talking about grouping all the tracks on the particular album to remove the album artist. Like I said it's happening on too many albums for me plus it then splits it up some of the albums in my iTunes library on the iMac if individual tracks are eg: Madoonna featuring... I've just given up with iTunes match though I've managed up update a lot of tracks to higher bit rate so it's not a total loss, apart from where some tracks have downloaded the sanitised versions without swearing!

May 13, 2015 2:05 PM in response to ruffianUK

Just to add to the discussion. I am having this issue too with a single album that I'm trying to import tonight. Its a compilation and I have the album artist set to Various Artists, naturally.

I found the fix myself before I found this thread but I really don't want to delete the Album Artist field from all the new albums that I add, I am very anal with my collection and have spent a lot of time importing all my music and getting all the tags how I want them.

I will just follow this discussion and wait for apple to hopefully fix this.

I am on PC by the using Windows 8.1 and iTunes 12.1.2.27.

KB.

May 13, 2015 2:14 PM in response to Wintertje

Hi,

I have the exact same issue as Wintertje...Split albums on my iPhone and my iPad as well !

I definitively think that this is a new bug that was recently introduced in Itunes Match. All was OK a few months ago !

And I've tried many things to address this and nothing has fixed the problem.

Itunes Match is a nightmare since its introduction in 2011...We all have to wait for a bug fix from Apple...Again !

Torp

May 13, 2015 6:02 PM in response to torpidlittle

I have submitted the bug to the "Apple Bug Reporter" site ! I hope they will fix this soon...

May 14, 2015 5:03 AM in response to Kai2k

Same problem here in Holland!

Made 1 album out of 50 different artists, what a mess on the iphone!

When i let the albumartist blank, its sorted well on the iphone! (be sure to select the whole album and checkmark compilation!)

Now it only says unknown artist, instead of various artists on the iphone.

For now ill wait for an update before i upload my library to itunes!

s2s

Level 1

41 points

May 14, 2015 8:01 PM in response to Kai2k

Don't think they will fix it, I am having the same problem and Googled and found it appeared since 2011 or 2012...

The same album could be split into 2 albums on my iPhone, and split into 3 on my iPad, and those "extra" albums all have the same Artist who actaully does not have any track in this album, don't know why iTunes Match links him to those spilt albums.

To me this is for sure iTunes Match problem, the meta data is currupted on the cloud or devices, all of suggested fixes, editing this field or that field won't fix any problem but just trigger uploading updated meta data to the cloud, and chances correct currupted meta data on devices if you are lucky.

May 15, 2015 12:02 AM in response to s2s

No this is definitely a new issue and not the same as the ones you say appeared in 2011-12.

KB.

May 15, 2015 11:53 AM in response to KieranBowley

Yes, this is DEFINITELY a new issue. I have reported it on a different thread as I thought it was limited specifically to compilation albums, however (unfortunately), this is not the case - it also affects albums by a single artist.

Most frustrating!! As others have mentioned, all seems fine in iTunes, however, when viewed (via Match) on a device (iPad, iPhone, iPod), the album is split (apparently randomly).

Kai2k Author

Level 1

0 points

May 16, 2015 2:39 AM in response to Innesisms

Thanks guys. This is great that you are all providing input. The more people that see this and speak out, the more likely Apple will see it and respond. I'd urge anyone who has not done so send feedback to Apple via 'iTunes feedback' and put a link to this thread.

Thanks.

May 18, 2015 9:49 PM in response to Kai2k

i just purchased this defective product last week, here's an example, no idea how to fix it, if i had known that this would do this i wouldn't have spent the $. even google play didn't screw this one up. I'm of the opinion either apple fixes it or give me a refund.

May 19, 2015 1:08 AM in response to Kai2k

I have been having the same issue and have spoken to 5 senior iTunes engineers with still no progress. I have been using iTunes match for some time now and this is a new bug. Before you guys go to the extreme like I have I will list what I have tried......

1) turning off iTunes match from MBP and iPhone

2) removing all songs from phone, and MPB whilst turning match on and off

3) deleting 169GB of music from the icloud, and rematch

4) getting a refund for match and it being removed from my apple ID then re signing up and matching all songs again

I have tried everything you guys have listed above, and I must add that my iTunes library is formatted correctly. I even had a senior engineer remote on to my MBP and check all the formatting and still no explanation as to why this is happening.

I have another call from an engineer booked today. I will update.

s2s

Level 1

41 points

May 19, 2015 1:46 AM in response to Innesisms

i tried to download everything in other Mac and windows computers, all albums look correct, so I guess the issue is not in iTunes Match cloud, but something wrong on iOS music app...

kief.com

Level 1

0 points

May 19, 2015 2:45 AM in response to s2s

I also have the issue and I totally agree with you, I think it is an iOS problem.

Yesterday, I read something interesting. It doesn't describe our problem, it talk about an other issue on iOS music app but reading this article made me think about our issue and I think it is closely linked...

http://www.mcelhearn.com/when-ios-devices-replace-artwork-for-some-of-your-album s/

May 19, 2015 2:38 PM in response to kief.com

Is it really an iOS problem?

If I turn off match and sync an affected album manually - there´s no split!

Turnin on iTunes match again on the iPhone replaces the synced album with the splitted match entry. Hm...

Must be a problem with the online database for iOS devices.

Do the change my metadata? Or provide "just" wrong sort records in their database?

Theres no need for such neighborhood effects for my personal library.

Twilight of the streaming gods?

May 20, 2015 9:14 AM in response to Kai2k

Same problem here with iTunes Match on iPhone and iPad.

This issue is fairly recent, did not see it before today, while I was browsing the song library on my iPhone. And it concerns only one song (don't know if it's relevant but the song in question is from Dream Theater - On the backs of Angels).

Tried pretty much everything to fix it (turning off/on iTunes Match, changed the artist tag...) without result, the album is still splitted between two artists with exactly the same names.

Everything is completely fine in iTunes on Mac OS.

iTunes match - on iPhone iPad split albums and wrong album artists