Album Artist vs Artist

When sorting by Artist iTunes will sort on the first non-blank value from Sort Album Artist, Album Artist, Sort Artist and Artist. If all fields are empty the item goes the bottom of the list and is stored in an Unknown Artist folder if iTunes is managing the file path. This sort of stuff isn't documented anywhere, it is elucidated by trial and error. iTunes is supposed to just work. You couldn't put that description in the column heading so Artist will have to do.

As you point out the iPod classic still doesn't accommodate album artist, which perhaps hints at how likely it is that a request to change the way iTunes behaves will be taken. Don't let it stop you from asking, but develop your workarounds on the basis that it might well never change. See Grouping tracks into albums for my thoughts on this topic.

tt2

This may or may not be relevant to your problem, but I have been listening to Black Light by John Mclaughlin and the 4th Dimension for the past year or so on Apple Music, but went I went looking for it today I see that all the 4th Dimension's catalogue has been pulled from Apple Music. (For the One, Now Here This, The Boston Record and Black Light).

I have the first two on CD and vinyl but was relying on Apple Music for the other two.

Not surprising knowing JM's views on streaming services....

I think you are using artist and album artist backwards. Album artist is the major sort field. If an album is by band X but a track has a guest Y then the album artist should be X and the artist should be X except for the one track where it is X with Y. I would review how you are doing things then make suggestions to Apple. Realize this is a pretty obscure request so don't hold your breath.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html

Llimnos is correct, you are using these fields in exactly the opposite way of how they were intended. Album Artist is the main artist (or band) under whose name the album was released. Artist field can include not only the main artist, but also gues artist, or featured artist.

In sorting order, Album Artist takes precedence in most views, but if there's no Album Artist entered, the sort will use Artist.

You can sort list views by whatever field you want. Just click on the column header. Click again to reverse order.

@jcallund... this has been confusing for many people as you can see by a few threads discussing this topic. I think it's a worthy request and one that many others have.

saying there is a correct/incorrect way to use these metadata fields is irrelevant. saying there is an intended way is presumptuous and lacks a pointer to any reference. saying not to "hold your breath" is impolite.

consider that my iPod classic is an early generation mp3/media player, and of the browsing options available "Album Artist" is not, only "Aritst." yet on your iPad it sounds like the other way around. and iTunes gives you the option to sort by one or the other, at least when browsing by "Songs."

I recommend doing what works best for you based on what device or software you use, how you prefer to browse your library, create playlists, organize artists, etc. yeah it's a bummer if you've spent a lot of time organizing your library one way, that works on your PC with iTunes, to find out a mobile device you purchased can't accommodate it. given all the customization options available on Apple devices it's a wonder why they can't be set to browse on a preferred iTunes metadata field.

i prefer to browse by an artist's albums on my iPod and since "Album Artist" is not an option, rather than guess which entry of 'artist' + 'guest' is the album i want, i put a single [primary] artist in the "Artist" field.