"and" vs "&" in artist names

[simbun]

(01-11-2026 12:13)till burkert Wrote:  I have looked through all the sections on tag values but haven't been able to configure something which works. Basically a configuration saying: in Artist tag values, treat "and" as "&", or vice versa.

I don't believe that functionality exists.

Building the required tagUpdate script without foobar2000 can be done, but it'll be a more complicated process.

Here's a script containing your two examples if you wanted to try it:

Code:

@ARTIST=Sam And Dave
=ARTIST=Sam & Dave
@ARTIST=Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds
=ARTIST=Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

@ALBUMARTIST=Sam And Dave
=ALBUMARTIST=Sam & Dave
@ALBUMARTIST=Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds
=ALBUMARTIST=Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

This isn't directly related to your question, and does require re-tagging, but MinimServer's .displayFormat={} functionality allows you to present a single, canonical name for each artist in indexes and search, whilst displaying the credited name in album and track listings. I use this approach and MusicBrainz Picard makes it easy.

My tagging setup:

Code:

ALBUM              = From Her to Eternity
ALBUMARTIST        = Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
ALBUMARTISTDISPLAY = Nick Cave featuring the Bad Seeds

ALBUM              = The Firstborn Is Dead
ALBUMARTIST        = Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
ALBUMARTISTDISPLAY = Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

ALBUM              = Kicking Against the Pricks
ALBUMARTIST        = Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
ALBUMARTISTDISPLAY = Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds

The ALBUMARTIST tag contains the standardized name and ALBUMARTISTDISPLAY the credited.

MinimServer configuration:

Code:

tagFormat: Albumartist.displayformat={$albumartistdisplay}