Q: Artist Photos Missing in iTunes 12.5.1

Same problem here

Yep, same problem here.  Pink **** microphones for miles.  Have sent feedback, well and truly over Apple and their inept fiddling - I've not desire to pay for Apple Music, however I have a keen desire for MY content to be displayed and accessible simply and easily.  Hopefully this is a glitch (shocker) that will be FIXED sooner rather than later, but if not and for some possessive reason Apple will keep these Pink microphones of death, then I will be taking my business and technology needs somewhere else.  I'm too afraid to 'upgrade' to sierra because god knows El Cap was enough of a challenge to get working correctly.... #damnyouapple

The only way I found out for mac at present is to add "artist ID" tag to show the photos of artists.

But this is not a convenient method.

You can try it if you like.

(Maybe it's useful for windows, too. I'm not sure.)

The tools you need:

Subler (You can download it from the internet, it's free)

A mp4 video (A small size is OK)

I'll take YELLOWCARD for an example.

Step 1:

Find out the artist in iTunes Store and open it in Safari.

You can find the ID of artist at the end of the URL address.

Step 2:

Open the mp4 video in Subler.

Add artist and artist ID tags. (Click the + button to choose.)

These 2 tags are necessary, you don't need to add other tags.

And make sure that the type of the video is "Music Video".

Save it.

Step 3:

Drag the mp4 video into the iTunes.

You'll see the photo of YELLOWCARD.

The photo is still there even if  you delete the mp4 video from the iTunes.

The mp4 video is just used to add the photos of artists, you don't need to keep it in iTunes.

You can only edit one mp4 video to add all the photos of artists.

But as I said in the beginning, this is not a easy way to add photos.

Please let me know if you guys have some other methods to solve this problem.

Thank you.

(My English is not very well. Hope you can understand it.)

Interesting if it's working. But in real life not practicable.

I'll sit one week in front of my iMac doing all that stuff. After that Apple releases a new iTunes version and the thumbnails are gone again.

No. It's up to Apple to deliver a solution.

I as well am having the same issue. With the last batch of updates, Apple really came in an eviscerated my music library. On the iPhone I cant sort by artist year. On my laptop and my phone I am missing artist pictures for the vast majority of them.

When I was on android I had free reign over my music library.  Didn't like an artist picture, I could change it. I could sort any way I wanted to. When I switched I did it for integration reasons completely forgetting my biggest complaint about Apple. They love to control their customers.

No! In the list of artists with music purchased from apple, there are many missing photos, too. Purchasing it from apple is no guarantee to have a proper music library.

With every update of iTunes we get new problems!

...it would help if everyone stopped asking the same questions

• there is a problem
• it's not related to where one buys or rips the music
• the release is just rubbish
• complain to Apple
• wait
• drink some tea

Milk and two sugars please .

Just to add to what everyone else is saying.

Music bought from iTunes is still showing the 'artist preview' thumbnail. However, my own personal music's thumbnails are non existent. My album covers are all still there which was very reassuring.

I almost didn't upgrade to the new iTunes, although no real big deal, I still hope Apple comes up with a fix because this is a step backwards. Although, the photos were often times difficult to make out (as the article stated), you think it would save Apple resources if they just allowed the user the option to download a physical copy to their iTunes library. That way it's always there no matter what device it is synched to (Similar to the download album artwork in the past but much better please?).

It really shouldn't be this complicated.

Like I was saying before, I think it's a "promotional" pictures VS "album artwork" pictures. Artists who doesn't have a promotional photo on the Apple Store get the pink microphone. Before the update, when an artist didn't have a promotional photo, iTunes was taking one of their album artwork to represent the artist. Now it doesn't.  Look at the artist images in your iTunes which appear correctly. I'm sure they are ALL "promotional" pictures.
Can someone confirm that lead?

No they used promotional artwork for ALL artists. Now they are only using promotional artwork for music BOUGHT on iTunes. The thumbnails were NEVER the album artwork prior to the update unless it was just coincidence. They probably are saving a lot of energy and bandwidth by preventing this, but I think a simple end user download would fix this as I previously stated. If I view my library by album instead of by artist, it's the same prior to the update, just harder to navigate.

edit: grammar & added

Just left iTunes feedback.  This blows.

"Given that this is my library, I should be able to control how it appears.  iTunes has always been a mess (it's true) -- but when you don't let me control what photo goes with what artist or track, you're becoming invasive.

In "Artist View" -- I should be able to control the icon.  Not Apple, me.  It's my music that I have collected for decades, not yours.  How you want to identify an artist is not necessarily the way I want to identify an artist.  The Madonna pic you choose may suck, but I'm stuck with it.  The Michael Jackson picture may be obscure and confusing, but I'm stuck with it. 

For Gwen Stefani, you show a photo of Calvin Harris as the artist badge.  Why?

I need choices, I need control.  Why are you hindering the way I want my library to look?  What's it to you?"

Euh no. A LOT of my artists had an album artwork as thumbnails. The majority in fact. Like smaller bands and local artists.

Just submitted feedback too, this is very annoying.

You can do so here: https://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html

Same here, I preferred it that way too. Some of the promo shots they use aren't as instantly recognisable.