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Artist Photos Missing in iTunes 12.5.1

I've noticed a few artist photos are missing since upgrading to 12.5.1. Any ideas on how to fix or refresh? They are mainstream artists, nothing obscure.

Posted on Sep 13, 2016 10:07 AM

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466 replies

Jan 11, 2017 10:08 AM in response to tusaoulesapple

Everytime a new iTunes released I am looking all the known bugs to check what they fixed this time. Now the Artist icon is a huge bug with still no answer and except that there are more issues to talk about. If you import every day music and specifically discographies, you might have duplicate artists on artists view. Check screenshot below.


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To fix that you need to rename all songs with Album Arist: Various Artists for example to Various Artists1. Then you'll have 1 only Artists name Various Artists. Now, some of my Various Artists had an Artist icon from one of the artists included in compilations, that is crazy. When I renamed it the icon was gone.


After reading this thread I checked again for icons on Artists view and I find out that I have some duplicate Artists, but the name is exactly, no mistyped spaces on - or anything else.


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I triple checked and I dont have icons only from the Purchased music and from what I see that is a huge bug. Let's hope iTunes 13 is fixed from all these.

Jan 25, 2017 10:57 AM in response to tnorris

Im to having this issue for month now. At least i think i found the logic behind the pattern what artist shows up with a cover:


Some artists have a "custom" page in the itunes store:

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in my collection these will show up with a cover:

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those without an cover:

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just got the default page within the itunes store:

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So i am guessing Apple is just taking their own artist cover from the store if available, otherwise we will get this pretty pink monster 😟

Sometimes the cover in Itunes will match those in the store, in some case not.


Maybe someone can verify this. I aware that this is no soloution, but it explains the behavior of Itunes. btw: im running Win10 and Itunes 12.5.5.5


Greetings

Volker

Jan 27, 2017 6:02 PM in response to Strunki

Seems that this issue is not an issue after all. Apple is taking pictures from the Apple Music artist icon. Here is an example for the band Cilver


This is what it looks like on my Artist view

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and this is where the icon is taken from


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Here is another example with Creed

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The strange thing is that I cannot find Daft Punk on Apple Music, but even the picture on artist view is there but it's not the same.


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Any ideas?

Mar 7, 2018 8:40 AM in response to turingtest2

I must admit haven't looked at this topic for a couple of years.

its sad to see that Apple can be bothered to sort this issue.


I'm due to buy a new computer and phone but looks like they've lost me.


I couldn't really care what their reason is, whether its because we want to upload our own CDs to iTunes, or the file format, the reason is irrelevant. It's the fact that it shows they do not really care about their customers experience at all.


If it is because we have uploaded CDs etc what gives them the right to presume they are not legitimate, they are not the police.


I now run Spotify in my car for this precise reason, so in effect they are just losing revenue through their own, arrogant, stupidity.


People don't need this kind of interference and hassle in their lives, they move on to better things.


So its the end of apple road for me, it may seem trivial to some , but when you have spent years building a music collection, you don't deserve to have it trashed by some faceless company that really doesn't care.


My rant is over


Happy days folks, there is always sunshine somewhere else in the world of music.

Sep 20, 2016 9:56 AM in response to tnorris

I know people like to rant and rave but I honestly think this was an oversight. They are trying to merge commonality with the iPhone and I think they only tested downloaded music and not ripped music. The developers probably don't rip music on their development machines. They need to be more thorough in their testing but I am sure they will fix this if we just take the time to submit Feedback. Use the feedback assistant if you are Beta Tester if not:


The problem only seems to be related to Ripped Music and some rare older artists.


The only way this will get fixed is if enough people report it


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

Apr 21, 2017 10:03 AM in response to tnorris

I have the same problem and have found that there are a number of reasons why no artwork is downloaded.


  1. If the Artist in Apple Store has no Artist Photo - then the mic graphic remains.
  2. if the artist name is not exactly as in the apple store - then the mic graphic remains. So a good example is Pink vs P!nk.
  3. If the Album Name is not exact - then the mic graphic remains. I am not 100% sure but it may also be cap sensitive.
  4. the 'The" issue. Some Artists and Albums in the past have the "the' after the name. in the latest versions of iTunes is expects the "the" to be at the front of the string. for example "The Gap Band" finds the Artist Photo, "Gap Band, The" does not.

By correcting all of the above, I have got most of my Artist Photos back. However, there remain a few exceptions.


If the Artist Information in the Apple Store has a flash graphic rather than a simple photo. The mic graphic remains.
eg. Lady Gaga, Paul Weller, Robert Plant. etc etc as you say major artists!


Like most people, I fail to see why the Apple Store can't have photos for all Artists - or - Default the graphic to the first Album artwork for that Artist?. Amazon and Spotify don't have any problems in this regard!

Jan 8, 2017 1:51 AM in response to Girshon Rutstein

Do they even test these things before releasing to the public? It's crazy!! Unfortunately, most mainstream music apps are taking this approach, Google Music and Amazon Music apps have the exact same issue. If this is the approach they are taking there should at least be a setting to ask wether we actually want the artist artwork pulling from there servers/database. Personally, I would rather just have the album artwork as it has been for years. I actually really like the music app, but I won't use it until this gets resolved, which looks unlikely. So, in the meantime I've been using "Cesium Music Player" which doesn't have any ugly microphone images.


Hopefully Apple read these posts and do listen to there customers and get this resolved in future updates.

Jan 8, 2017 11:22 AM in response to Wacker293

I don't think any major company would modify the design of an application, just because people don't like the way it looks.

They would only do if their business would drop in sales. Let's say hypothetically Apple had an increase in sales or stay the same. Directors would think, why do we need to change anything if it's ain't broken? We still have the same sales or even more. So what if there is a microphone showing. People still download and buy music.


I think any CEO of a company would not do any modifications unless there is a drop in sales, which I believe in the Apple's case there is none, otherwise, the show of artist's artwork issue would have been resolved a long time ago.

Jan 8, 2017 12:28 PM in response to Girshon Rutstein

Girshon Rutstein wrote:


I don't think any major company would modify the design of an application, just because people don't like the way it looks.

They would only do if their business would drop in sales. Let's say hypothetically Apple had an increase in sales or stay the same. Directors would think, why do we need to change anything if it's ain't broken? We still have the same sales or even more. So what if there is a microphone showing. People still download and buy music.


I think any CEO of a company would not do any modifications unless there is a drop in sales, which I believe in the Apple's case there is none, otherwise, the show of artist's artwork issue would have been resolved a long time ago.

Well said.

Jan 8, 2017 1:40 PM in response to poikkeus1

Actually, Apple constantly changes things just for the sake of change breaking software and hardware in the process. To your other point Tim Just got a 15% pay cut from Apples board of directors because of lagging Apple sales that have been in steady decline for years. This thread is a great example of customer frustration over either a bad change in design or huge bug and I'm sure more than a few customers will leave over this issue alone. For many it will indeed be the final straw. Companies loose customers all the time over mistakes they are blind to and many don't notice until its to late. Even companies approaching the size of Apple can disappear. Remember Kodak, Motorola, or Blackberry to name just a few? Just sayin.

Jan 8, 2017 2:00 PM in response to Forgotten Rebel

In my opinion, the artist display issue is not a major flaw. It does not affect the functionality of an iTunes. Also, there is a solution for a display artist on the iPhone. Any third party EQ players display artist like it was on iTunes before.


I have been using it for years because iPhone preset EQ does working for me. Why do I need to listen to music the way someone suggesting. I like to use the settings my way and save it as my own preset. I always was hoping that Apple would make that feature, but they never did. And I believe it's a big mistake because by using non-Apple players people are drifting away from the Apple store and purchasing music offered by the EQ applications.


And since we have this Artist issue, people would eventually switch to 3rd part players rather than using iTune player, which could affect on total sales.


The conclusion... Apple should fix the problem.

Jan 8, 2017 2:18 PM in response to Girshon Rutstein

The EQ presets were always a joke for me.


For example Jazz, Rock, Classical, Lounge etc. Everyone has different taste, different ears, different listening habits, besides there are never the same quality recordings or final mix. If the sound engineer in the studio decides to make bass little louder or highs little lower it does not mean I will like it.


How come there are no presets in home stereo? Because it sounds better? Not necessary, today some headphones or earbuds, can make an iPhone sound like a studio.

Jan 9, 2017 1:05 PM in response to tnorris

Same problem, same frustration.


Remember Snow Leopard, the best OS X ever. It was an 'under the hood' update - no gimmicks, just making the mac experience smooth. I guess Jobs was still around back then and consumer demand for 300 USD wristbands was at a low.


Hate to say it, but after the issue with battery life, the price upgrade and poor specs of the MBP, and these kind of annoyances (also, why can't we download lyrics?), I cannot recommend Apple products any longer.

Artist Photos Missing in iTunes 12.5.1

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