some weird issue with album artists

[horstepipe 422]

Hello

I'm experiencing some strange behavior regarding the "album artist" tag of my audio book files. My initial plan was to utilize this field for the writer and the "normal" artist field for the reader. But the field does not update consistently when the mp3 tags of the files are being updated. So after each change of the tag (and refresh metadata / library scan) I'm seeing some unpredictable behavior. Sometimes the field updates properly, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the field becomes empty. It's hard to describe. I guess it's best to try yourself. Grab this test album with sample files and add them to an audio book library (without local nfo files in my case). You should see the proper album artist "Album Artist" in Emby. Now change the album artist tag to "Album Artist 2" of these files (e.g. with mp3tag) and update your library. Maybe this change is being applied fine in Emby server too, but now change the tag back again to "Album Artist" and you should see that the change is not being applied in Emby server. 

Sure normally you don't change the tags of your files that often, but I was playing around with it to fit my needs best for audio books and now I'm completely stuck not getting rid of an album artist in Emby although I changed the value in the tag to another name.

 

So in my specific case I see this inconsistency:

 

[PenkethBoy 2068]

its better to get the tags the way you want them before you add to emby

but if you change them and they dont update while in emby - remove the album(s) from emby - lib scan - then add back without any nfo's in the album folders if using them

that usually fixes it

[horstepipe 422]

25 minutes ago, PenkethBoy said:

its better to get the tags the way you want them before you add to emby

but if you change them and they dont update while in emby - remove the album(s) from emby - lib scan - then add back without any nfo's in the album folders if using them

that usually fixes it

Yeah but in this case it doesn’t. Some info seems to remain after deleting the media from database. The issue is persistent.

[PenkethBoy 2068]

if they still remain then another album/file is still present if the issue persists

once you remove the files does the issue disappear or remain?

or

if it comes back when you add the files back then the conflicting data is still in the newly added data

[Happy2Play 9780]

Any extended tags ie musicbrainz ids?

[horstepipe 422]

30 minutes ago, PenkethBoy said:

if they still remain then another album/file is still present if the issue persists

once you remove the files does the issue disappear or remain?

or

if it comes back when you add the files back then the conflicting data is still in the newly added data

yeah if one of these obvious cases were true I wouldn't have opened this thread

- I remove the album from database and the album artist (and artist) disappear as intended.

- After adding them back the album artist shows up again. (now I only added back ONE item where I double checked the tags and the issue persists)

Edited November 9, 2020 by horstepipe

[horstepipe 422]

22 minutes ago, Happy2Play said:

Any extended tags ie musicbrainz ids?

not that I'm aware of. These are the only tags visible in mp3tag (screenshot). Is there another way to verify the tags are not corrupted somehow?

 

[horstepipe 422]

so I'm not able to give reproduction steps for exactly this problem, but I am able to give reproduction steps to show there is some inconsistency at all. I tested on a fresh Emby Server installation (Windows 10).

Just add the attached folder to an audio book library, check and note the artist and album artists Emby is showing, remove the folder from Emby library and change the album artist field to e.g. "album artist 2". Now add the folder back to Emby, take a look at artists and album artists field and repeat the whole process (editing the album artists tag). You will see strange results. E.g. while I'm just testing around I see this inconsistency:

 

In words: I didn't touch the "artists" tag of the file, but Emby doesn't show the artist anymore.

Test Audio Book.7z

Edited November 9, 2020 by horstepipe

[horstepipe 422]

also caught my eye that the "Date added" field of the tracks does not update in emby although I completely removed (scanned library) and readded the album to my library.

Edited November 9, 2020 by horstepipe

[PenkethBoy 2068]

select all the files from one of the problem albums and do ALT+T to bring up the extended tag dialog box

i would guess you will see other tags not in the left hand panel

[horstepipe 422]

thanks.

This is just from one file, but it is the one which I already tried to add isolated from the others where the issue reappeared. Looking fine, doesn't it?

[PenkethBoy 2068]

it may just be one file thats diff - select the whole album or multiple albums and see if MBz tags appear

[PenkethBoy 2068]

i just used your example files

loaded them as is - get "album artist 2" and artist

then edited them in mp3tag to "Album Artist 3" and Artist3 

emby re read them fine with a library scan - rtm would prob work as well - but on my test system quicker to run a lib scan

to me thats working as it should - i have never edited an AA name or Artist in emby - as its smpler to do in mp3tag and its permanent so only have to do it once if i rebuild my library

[horstepipe 422]

25 minutes ago, PenkethBoy said:

i just used your example files

loaded them as is - get "album artist 2" and artist

then edited them in mp3tag to "Album Artist 3" and Artist3 

 

yeah now change it back to "album artist 2"

[PenkethBoy 2068]

LOL - i see now - the AA and A (set it back to Artist) disappear and are not shown - weird

even a remove scan and re add does not bring them back! (with or without the nfo)

Album is there and AlbumArtist 2 is visible but just as a label not a link

Without checking this is a database issue as things are not being cleared/deleted correctly

does the same thing happen with a Music library?

[horstepipe 422]

Not have checked for music library yet. 

[PenkethBoy 2068]

audiobooks is a copy of music with very slight changes so should show same

@Happy2Play can you reproduce?

[Happy2Play 9780]

4 hours ago, PenkethBoy said:

i just used your example files

loaded them as is - get "album artist 2" and artist

then edited them in mp3tag to "Album Artist 3" and Artist3 

emby re read them fine with a library scan - rtm would prob work as well - but on my test system quicker to run a lib scan

to me thats working as it should - i have never edited an AA name or Artist in emby - as its smpler to do in mp3tag and its permanent so only have to do it once if i rebuild my library

3 hours ago, horstepipe said:

yeah now change it back to "album artist 2"

2 hours ago, PenkethBoy said:

LOL - i see now - the AA and A (set it back to Artist) disappear and are not shown - weird

even a remove scan and re add does not bring them back! (with or without the nfo)

Album is there and AlbumArtist 2 is visible but just as a label not a link

Without checking this is a database issue as things are not being cleared/deleted correctly

does the same thing happen with a Music library?

 

Had no issue altering the AA and A, recognized on Refresh.  Then changing them back and refreshed showed original results.  Or just changing AA, Refreshing, then changing back provides the correct changes.

tested on 4.6.0.5

 

[horstepipe 422]

@Happy2Play

I just installed a fresh Emby Server 4.6.0.5 and am able to reproduce the issue easily.

- Grab the folder I provided and add them to an audio books library -> all good

- Change the album artist tag of the files in mp3tag to album artist 3

- Do a refresh / library scan in emby -> all good

- Change the album artist tag of the files in mp3tag back to album artist 2

- Do a refresh / library scan in emby -> Album Artist disappeared from Emby

 

Again, this is a completely new installation of Emby Server. I didn't make any adjustments at all and didn't change any library settings. The problem is that one is completely stuck in this situation. Even completely removing the library and readding it does not help.

edit: you need to re-use values you have used before. E.g. If I enter an unused value (album artist 4) it shows up again, fine. So as @PenkethBoy already pointed out, this seems to be related to uncompleted library cleanups.

 

Edited November 10, 2020 by horstepipe

[horstepipe 422]

@Luke is this going to be fixed?

Edited November 11, 2020 by horstepipe

[PenkethBoy 2068]

@Happy2Play - i tested with a newish library - month or two old - it might be related to the changes in newer db structures thats causing this

is the db you tested with new?

[horstepipe 422]

3 hours ago, PenkethBoy said:

@Happy2Play - i tested with a newish library - month or two old - it might be related to the changes in newer db structures thats causing this

is the db you tested with new?

guess he just didn't follow the steps exactly. Probably his "change back" wasn't what he was saying and the names altered slightly.

[Happy2Play 9780]

On 11/10/2020 at 6:10 AM, horstepipe said:

@Happy2Play

I just installed a fresh Emby Server 4.6.0.5 and am able to reproduce the issue easily.

- Grab the folder I provided and add them to an audio books library -> all good

- Change the album artist tag of the files in mp3tag to album artist 3

- Do a refresh / library scan in emby -> all good

- Change the album artist tag of the files in mp3tag back to album artist 2

- Do a refresh / library scan in emby -> Album Artist disappeared from Emby

 

Again, this is a completely new installation of Emby Server. I didn't make any adjustments at all and didn't change any library settings. The problem is that one is completely stuck in this situation. Even completely removing the library and readding it does not help.

edit: you need to re-use values you have used before. E.g. If I enter an unused value (album artist 4) it shows up again, fine. So as @PenkethBoy already pointed out, this seems to be related to uncompleted library cleanups.

 

 

9 hours ago, PenkethBoy said:

@Happy2Play - i tested with a newish library - month or two old - it might be related to the changes in newer db structures thats causing this

is the db you tested with new?

Sorry on a new portable Windows server I have no issue changing Album Artist 2 to Album Artist 3 and it appearing, then changing it back to Album Artist 2 and it appearing.

[horstepipe 422]

1 hour ago, Happy2Play said:

 

Sorry on a new portable Windows server I have no issue changing Album Artist 2 to Album Artist 3 and it appearing, then changing it back to Album Artist 2 and it appearing.

What software do you use to change the tag?

[Happy2Play 9780]

Just now, horstepipe said:

What software do you use to change the tag?

Same as shown above, Mp3tag v3.0.3