Track artists in compilations (Again)

[vln]

(20-08-2013 23:18)simoncn Wrote:  

(20-08-2013 15:00)vln Wrote:  Out of the above instructions, I understand that in order to use the tagFormat setting specified,

- 'tagCustom' needs to include 'TitleArtist'
- 'itemTags' needs to include 'TitleArtist'

.. but I don't understand how to "set this tag for your compilations only".

This means you would need to add TitleArtist tags to all tracks that are part of compilation albums, but not to other tracks.

Quote:Ideally, I would like the artist name to be "Various Artists", and then - as is implied above - the actual performer as part of the song title, separated by a hyphen.

Example:

Album Title: "Marching Band Evergreens 1950 - 1960"
Album Artist: "Various Artists"

..and track 1 should be displayed as something like: "Mfftataaa, Mfftataa - The German Marching Band All Stars"

To set the artist name for the compilation album to 'Various Artists', you can set the AlbumArtist tag to this value on all the tracks of the album.

To get the display you want for track 1, you can add this to tagFormat:

Title.displayFormat={$title^$artist^ - }

This will have the side effect of applying this custom title formatting to non-compilation tracks as well.

Yes, but above you mentioned that using

Title.displayFormat={$titleartist^^ - ^$title}

would avoid this problem? (i.e. the problem that all tracks would have the 'Track Name - Artist' view)

Regarding

"To set the artist name for the compilation album to 'Various Artists', you can set the AlbumArtist tag to this value on all the tracks of the album."

Could you elaborate - what is the syntax and which field do I use it on?

Given that iTunes offers an Album Artist field, wouldn't that be ideal to use for compilations - i.e. enter 'Various Artists' (or whatever generic name you want for compilations) there, and then associate AlbumArtist in MinimServer to this value, and then use

Title.displayFormat={$titleartist^^ - ^$title}

on these (and only these) albums?