"Album Artists" instead of "Artists" in "More Like This" / Artist Page

[MistD 30]

Hi guys,
I noticed that Emby supports multiple artists within the artist field (separated by semicolon ;  ) and this feature enables the "Appears On" section within the artist page.
Super Cool 

So, now, i can use the semicolon to separate "featured" artists in all the tracks and stop using the traditional "feat."

One particular issue this creates is that the "Artists" section now becomes a dumping ground "littered" with all kind of "lower quality" artists (some of them really underground that appears just on singles).
I mean it's ok, we have "Album Artists" for the "big guys" and "Artists" for "general population"  

One suggestion though ...

In the Artist "profile" page, within the "More Like This" section, can we use "Album Artist" instead of "Artist" ?

It's cool that i can see more artists like the one i'm viewing, within the same genre ... just wanted to switch that module from displaying "album artists" instead of "artists" in order to eliminate the "lower quality" ones (those that appears only on "features" within tracks).

PS: Thanks for all your work !

Edited January 11, 2024 by MistD

[MistD 30]

UP! This thing still exists and is really frustrating sometimes because it "devalues" all the artists recommendations within the "more like this" section in the artist profile page.
Since we use the semicolon (;) to split multiple artists, now we have a huge amount of "obscure" or "feat." artists that litters Emby. 

Maybe you guys should focus the interface on "Album Artists" instead of "Artists". Basically, all the main artists in a music collection are "Album Artists" and by using the "Artist" you devalue recommendations.

I think that "More Like This" section in the Artist profile page should be populated by "Album Artists" instead of "Artists".

Since i implemented the multiple artist semicolon separation; even the "Artist" main page became irrelevant since is cluttered with everybody making it totally useless

Please, focus on "Album Artists" through the interface. 

[user24 214]

10 hours ago, MistD said:

I think that "More Like This" section in the Artist profile page should be populated by "Album Artists" instead of "Artists".

I've also noticed that the "More Like This" section may also include "Composers" in some instances. Therefore this is another area of Emby where the combining of "Album Artists", "Artists" and "Composers" can be useful for some, but problematic for others.

10 hours ago, MistD said:

Please, focus on "Album Artists" through the interface.

I would personally agree with this sentiment, but think that more flexibility is also worthwhile to allow for diverse use-cases:

• Some people are contemporary album-oriented!
• Others have a dedicated classical composer-focussed music library!
• Others just want to make playlists of songs!
• Many have some combination of the above!
• Most have a diverse music library and a unique way of curating and listening to it!

Yes, the combining of the three entities does cause pollution/dilution of the various music views and therefore much frustration in many instances.

Perhaps the ultimate solution is better filtering/grouping options, across the UI, to allow for differences in personal preference? It's good that Emby has "Album Artist", "Artist" and "Composer" as top-level menu tabs. It would be really great if more options were available beyond this!!! 

[HeroHabit 6]

I totally agree with this request. When composers are blended with album artists I have well over 5,000 people to sift through. I love having the tabs for each type of person but would love the option to set a default artist display anywhere such displays exist.

Edited July 16, 2024 by HeroHabit

[MistD 30]

Yes, having a “default artist” setting that controls what type of artist (album artist, artist, composer) is displayed in suggestions is a great solution.

In my case the “Artist” top-level tab and it’s page is totally useless and redundant. If i could i would just completely remove it

Since i use the multi-artist feature (separating feat. artists by semicolon in the artist field) … the main and relevant artists within my library are the “Album Artists”. All the rest are just clutter. 

Even if you have a “singles” based library without actual albums, having the “album artist” tag filled will help to differentiate the main artist from the feat/collab within a multi-artist per song scenario.

[user24 214]

1 hour ago, MistD said:

In my case the “Artist” top-level tab and it’s page is totally useless and redundant. If i could i would just completely remove it

If you're just using the server/web app browser then you may be able to customise your menu tab with CSS. Here is what I currently have:

This was achieved with the following code:

/* HIDE MUSIC TABS "SUGGESTIONS", "ARTISTS", "COMPOSERS" */
[data-index="2"] .tabs-viewmenubar-slider [data-index="0"] {display: none;}
[data-index="2"] .tabs-viewmenubar-slider [data-index="3"] {display: none;}
[data-index="2"] .tabs-viewmenubar-slider [data-index="4"] {display: none;}

/* REORDER "GENRES", "ALBUM ARTISTS", "ARTISTS", "SONGS", "PLAYLISTS", "TAGS", "FOLDERS" */
[data-index="2"] .tabs-viewmenubar-slider {display: inline-flex}
[data-index="2"] .tabs-viewmenubar-slider [data-index="6"] {order: 0}
[data-index="2"] .tabs-viewmenubar-slider [data-index="2"] {order: 1}
[data-index="2"] .tabs-viewmenubar-slider [data-index="1"] {order: 2}
[data-index="2"] .tabs-viewmenubar-slider [data-index="7"] {order: 3}
[data-index="2"] .tabs-viewmenubar-slider [data-index="5"] {order: 4}
[data-index="2"] .tabs-viewmenubar-slider [data-index="8"] {order: 5}
[data-index="2"] .tabs-viewmenubar-slider [data-index="9"] {order: 6}

It may be a bit tricky to set up though (with the right data-index number) depending on your server and database. Perhaps have a look in the CSS forum for a bit more info if you're interested. If you use another client app, you're out of luck for the moment.

1 hour ago, MistD said:

Since i use the multi-artist feature (separating feat. artists by semicolon in the artist field) … the main and relevant artists within my library are the “Album Artists”. All the rest are just clutter.

Yes, I use multi-artist (and also multi-album artist) to get great cross-referencing and grouping of albums without the need to set up separate collections. Album Artist (both top level and individual level) is more important for me too, but sometimes Artist and Composer are useful and I discover random unknown connections to explore.

1 hour ago, MistD said:

Yes, having a “default artist” setting that controls what type of artist (album artist, artist, composer) is displayed in suggestions is a great solution.

Emby mostly has very good flexibility for music and, with some creativity and simple workarounds, it's possible to set up music very well. However the combining of Album Artists/Artists/Composers is much more difficult to easily overcome. It really is a fundamental design limitation that needs improving, but may well be a low priority for Emby at the moment?

There's a few interesting threads to possibly follow and support on this. Some go back quite a few years. Here's a recent one that you may not have come across as yet?

2091 Album Artists, 3126 Artists, 6635 Composer = How many EmbyArtists

Myself and others have put forward some suggestions, but you might have other good ideas as well??? Cheers!!!