How to delete "Album artist" information on all my songs

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Level 1

10 points

How to delete "Album artist" information on all my songs

I want to delete the "Album artist" information on all my tracks. How do I do that? In previous iTunes versions there used to be a box I could tick in multiple song details, and after pressing "okay", that would remove the information on all tracks, but it seems like they removed this box in iTunes 12.

It seems to me that I've got two different options, and none seems appealing because both will take a lot longer time then it needs to: 1) Go through this artist by artist. 2) Change the "Album artist" to something (so they have the same information), and then remove it.

Any ideas, is it possible to do this as efficient in iTunes 12 as in earlier versions?

MacBook Pro, iOS 8.3

Posted on Jun 15, 2015 2:52 AM

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Answer 1

Limnos

Level 10

411,271 points

Jun 15, 2015 8:14 AM in response to Levs Doon

Hmmm..., I use an older iTunes from before the "now, now, Apple knows what's best for you" innovations of late. If it really is gone then check the Dougscripts web site.

April 2015, hhgttg27 tips on metadata editing in iTunes 12.1 - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7017001?answerId=28155719022#28155719022 - including availability of particular fields with particular media kinds, and a workaround.

Tip for iTunes12.1: This $2 script emulates the old style "Get Info" presentation - http://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=multiitemedit

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Answer 2

turingtest2

Level 10

272,905 points

Jun 24, 2015 2:32 AM in response to Levs Doon

The layout of the Get Info box has changed, but you can still use Get Info on multiple items. Clicking in the album artist field should indicate that you want to replace the <Multiple Values> with nothing. That said the album artist field can provide a useful function in linking together tracks from the same album when different tracks have guest or featured artists.

tt2

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Answer 3

Levs Doon Author

Level 1

10 points

Jun 24, 2015 10:34 AM in response to Limnos

Thank you for your reply, I like the dougs script idea, it will work, but I want to try to find a way that's free and a part of iTunes itself. I might go for this if I can't find another way.

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Answer 4

Levs Doon Author

Level 1

10 points

Jun 24, 2015 10:45 AM in response to turingtest2

Either I don't understand you, or you don't understand me. If you mark two tracks with different album artists, it will say "Mixed" under "Album artist" in a gray-ish writing. It doesn't help to remove the "Mixed"-text and press "OK", it doesn't change the info.

I know you can change album artist info in most cases, but they have to share the same information if you want to replace it with just an empty field. Check it out!

(It's the same for all categories, "Album", "Artist" etc., I just thought it was easier to explain when I write about something specific)

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Answer 5

turingtest2

Level 10

272,905 points

Jun 24, 2015 11:15 AM in response to Levs Doon

Ah, I've missed that development. Irritating for you but it will save the metadata for those who have tried outdated "refresh my tags" tips.

Try typing in X to set the mixed values to something and then delete the X to clear it down. Works here in Windows. Not at the Mac to confirm it there but I would expect the same behaviour.

tt2

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Answer 6

Levs Doon Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 13, 2015 4:14 AM in response to Levs Doon

Ah, I just updated the mac and with it came iTunes 12.2. Now they've fixed it, so I can select any multiple tracks and delete all the information in any category simply by pressing the backspace key, and they don't have to share the same information in the first place. Just like in the old days 😉 Thank you for your help and comments!

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