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Comprehensive Tagging for a Wide Range of Music


adamstewiegreen

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adamstewiegreen

(I'm using Classical Music as an example, but this would certainly apply to other genres such as Jazz, Blues, and even some Folk)

On MacOS I know of only one music player that offers comprehensive tagging of classical music, and that's the (very expensive) Roon.

 

Tagging classical music is notoriously difficult, but here is what you need to get your foot in the door.
 

Title

Artist

Album

Track Number

Track Length

Album Artist

Album Artist (Sort)
Artist (Sort)

Composer

Composer (Sort)

Conductor

Conductor (sort)

Genre

Performer

Soloist

Work

Movement

Movement name

Movement #

There will seem to be a lot of repetition because the first 8 or so are used for modern music, in Classical music this is usually tagged to personal preference because it's inadequate.  So if we tagged, say a Bach Concerto it might look something like this:

 

Title: Concerto No.1 in F major BWV 1046 - I Allegro

Artist: Consort of London, Robert Haydon Clark

Album: Bach Edition, I: Orchestral Works/Chamber Music

Track Number: 1

Track Length: 3:58

Album Artist: Johann Sebastian Bach

Album Artist (Sort): Bach, Johann Sebastian
Artist (Sort): Consort of London, Clark, Robert Haydon

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

Composer (Sort): Bach, Johann Sebastian

Conductor: Robert Haydon Clark

Conductor (sort): Clark, Robert Haydon

Genre: Classical

Performer: Consort of London

Soloists: n/a for this piece
   1.

   2.

   3.

   etc...

   etc...

Work: Brandenburgisches Konzert {Concerto}:: Nr. 1 F-Dur, BWV 1046 {No.1 in F major …}

Movement: Allegro

Movement name: Allegro

Movement #: 1

Here the title isn't the same as the work since the (complete) work is 4 separate tracks, also the performer, conductor and soloists are all different and could certainly all be different to the 'Artist' tag depending on how one decides to use the tags for modern music.  These sorts of tags become even more important because many people who enjoy classical music have the same pieces performed by different people.  Different conductors/soloists interpret different pieces in different ways.  Sometimes I'm in the mood for Rachmaninoff played by Earl Wild and sometimes van Cliburn.

 

Jazz poses some of the same problems.  Old songs are played by different people, or the same people with different backup bands and soloists etc.  With the limitations of tagging for modern music it gets hard to separate them all.

I think Emby should seriously consider a robust tagging system that accommodates a wide range of musical styles for the simple reason that others are not doing it, and the ones that are doing it are premium (read: expensive) services.  And in doing so, win a lot of music lovers to your platform.

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