Kodi Community Forum

I like the possibility to hide compilation artist but in earlier Version there was a nice exception that doesn't seem to work anymore.


My Music is completely perfect tagged and I often use multiple artist tags but I hide comp-artist. But when a artist that was represented on many different various artist - Samplers has
its own Album or even an empty Folder with an selfwritten artist.nfo his sampler-Tracks also appeard under his name in his Albums-view.

That was helpfull because I could generate an Artist-entry in my Database with only his Sampler Tracks, which was nice in cases like Prince or madonna perhaps,
from which I didnt have one original Solo-Album. In that way I generatet a Kind of "Best of" without having one.

Another loved sideeffekt was, that I could see the whole Life-Work of an Artist under his name, when he appeared as soloartist and as a bandmember
like Phil Collins or Eric Clapton, which was on tour and albums with the yardbirds, Derek and the Dominos, Delany An Bonny and so on.

So when I Start "Eric Clapton and sort by Year I see his whole musical life and progression.

Since I use Kodi Krypton, that doesn't work anymore, which makes me sad, becaus my whole Musik (about 500 GB of Music) is based and tagged on that particular possibility.
In Krypton there are whether all various and second artists hidden, or all of them shown.


So my Request is, to revert it like bevore, or better develope a funktion that doesnt say "hidecompilationartist" but says "hide all Compilation-Artists with less than X different tracks in the whole Database".
So you could decide wheater you want to see an Compilation-Artist with about 5 or 10 songs and discover underrated musicians.

Imagine: I have many Blues, Jazz and Soulsamplers from wich I could instantly generate an Artist-Entry.

I hope my english wasn't to bad and I thank you for many years of joy with XBMC and Kodi. I love it since I moddet my first XBox in 2001.


Yours Sincerely,

Prospero (Germany)

I'm struggling to understand what you like from previous behaviour.

If possible could you give one specific example and go into detail, then include screenshots of what you saw before that you liked and screenshots of what you don't like about Krypton.

I'm going to move this thread to the music area where our main music dev is more likely to see this.

I use the Search Function to get all Tracks (Album view) like from Eric Clapton.

I like the explicit split of Sampler and Album. I think its not a Kodi specific problem.
You would need each artist named in your tags. If so, the search should show everything properly

For Album view, its working - but not like what you would expect to see. Maybe my writing is more confusing, than helpful.

Sorry @Propero, but I am struggling to be sure that I understand too.

I think what you liked before was that, while seeing only album artists in the artists node (not all the featured artists on duets etc. or those on compilations etc.), when you navigated down from one of these album artists you would see their albums and also any albums by other people or "various" where they featured on a song. Navigation to the album then showed just those songs.

The change in v17 was that the albumartist only flag is now applied to both the artists node, and then to the albums node for that artist. When only the album artists are shown on the artists node, then only their albums (and not those where they are on a song or two) are show when you navigate down. Some people asked for this, but I know not everyone is happy.

Your suggested feature to hide those artists with less than X songs is an interesting one. I will think about that. I have in mind other changes that will make it possible to get the old behaviour back, so do not dispair.

That is of course assuming I have understood correctly.

Nice idea. If I pick it correctly, you want kodi to sum up all songs of an artist (albums & comp). Artists without albums were solved with creating an empty folder for that artist.
So with how it is now (albumartists only or all), you would need to be able to create an albumartist virtually (by supplying a nfo or empty folder or...). The need would be to match that virtual albumartist with roles then.

In the end that what a search does, but statically present in artists node

(2017-03-31, 17:55)Uatschitchun Wrote: [ -> ]If I pick it correctly,

You may not have done, or at least you have confused me.

(2017-03-31, 17:55)Uatschitchun Wrote: [ -> ]Artists without albums were solved with creating an empty folder for that artist.

You can create empty artist folders until the cows come home, Kodi does not take any notice (cdart addon might, but not Kodi). What does that solve?

(2017-03-31, 17:55)Uatschitchun Wrote: [ -> ]So with how it is now (albumartists only or all), you would need to be able to create an albumartist virtually (by supplying a nfo or empty folder or...). The need would be to match that virtual albumartist with roles then.

Nope, that will not work, not now or before.

Quote:In the end that what a search does, but statically present in artists node

He wants to see albums I think, not songs.

Hello Guys,

wow and thanks for answering that fast.
I try to explain it again , a bit less confusing. I can't provide a screenshot atm because I have deletet the old versions.
Its been a long time since I dealt the last time with my codecs and the Kodi-Database.

In the past I used an advancedsettings.xml with "hidecompilationartists=true" That effectet all artists that dont have theire own albumartist-folder or entry. Sometimes I generatet an artist.nfo in a folder without audiofiles in it to show an artist, that wasnt representet on an own Album, but in several samplern.

Now that doesnt work anymore.

Example:

Eric Clapton showed his own albums and all sampler or albums wich he was a co- or Guest-Artist.

Now there are only his own albums under his name.

(In his career he joined with John Mayalls Bluesbreakers, SunnyBoy Williams, The Yardbirds, as Derek and the Dominos, and as Guestmusician onmany many Albums. All this music sortet by year unter his artistentry is a rich and interesting thing for me as a music-nerd and musician by my self. I know not everyone needs this nerdy things, but that way I can follow his career from the 60s to the present. )



Nevertheless: To fix this and find a new and comfortable way tho enrich the Database it would be nice to have a feature like I suggestet above:


"hide all artist who only appear on compilations, when they have less than "x" tracks in the whole Database"

That X should be userdefined, so you can either ignore all by setting 1 ore give some hidden champion a chance and set to 5 ore 10 ore whatever. So you can collect many Sampler or huge chart-collections and and find Artists which you dont ever thought to have one Album of them. That way everyone can decide what he wants to see. An artist which you normaly dont give much Attention could rise to an artist-entry in my database, because he is representet in again and again in so many samplers an charts over years.


Hope you can understand what my Goal is. What do you think? Is that Feature possible? It would be needed that Kodi can count all Tracks that have the same Artist, Albumartist or Co-Artist (in tags: Albumartist, Artist) and then decide on the base what amount of songs a user defines it Shows as an full-artist-entry.


I Think it's time for me to give a new donation.



Thanks,

Sebastian

OK Sebastian, you need to listen to my reply, and don't get distracted by any chat.
I am known for full and precise explanations, but you will need to translate them.

[I have edited your quotes to help me read them, I mean no offence, I appreciate all people's language skills, I only managed to master one.]

(2017-03-31, 18:52)Prospero1980 Wrote: [ -> ]In the Past I use an advancedsettings.xml with "hidecompilationartists=true". That effected all Artists that don't have their own Albumartist-Folder or entry. Sometimes I generated an Artist.nfo in a folder without audiofiles in it to show an Artist, although it wasnt representet on an own album, but in several samples.

Well that may be what you thought it was doing, but trust me it was not. It didn't have anything to do with folders, and those NFO files in folders without any music files would have had no effect whatsoever.

The "hidecompilationartists" setting has been renamed. It available via the UI as "Show song and album artists", and in advancedsettings.xml (if you still want to set it that way) as "showcompilationartists". But to be honest the use of "compilation" is misleading, this setting is not really about compilations at all, just about artists having albums, or just songs (because they are on compilations so the album artist is "various" or because they feature on songs by other artists e.g. duets.

Quote:Now that doesn't work anymore.

Using the right setting name may help your issue.
But what you describe happening with empty folders really never worked.

Quote:Example:
Eric Clapton showed his own albums and all sampler albums which he was a co or guest artist.

Now there are only his own albums under his name. (In his career he joined with John Mayalls Bluesbreakers, SunnyBoy Williams, The Yardbirds, as Derek and the Dominos, and as guest musician on many many albums)

This is as I explained in my previous post.
At least this means that I understand your issue, even if you did not understand or read my reply.

Quote:All this music sorted by year under his artist entry is a rich and interesting thing for me as a music nerd and musician myself. I know not everyone needs this nerdy things. )

Not a nerdy thing, I understand it is an option some people like.

Just as many, or more, users found seeing all their "Now That's Music XX" etc. compilation albums, and the albums where an artist was a guest on one song, appearing irritating when they just wanted to see the albums by that artist.

As I said in my post my aim to to allow both options in future.

Quote:Nevertheless: To fix this and find a new and comfortable way to enrich the database it would be nice to have a feature like I wrote above:...

Equally useful would be a smart playlist rule that let you find artists with more than X songs. There are many ways to do this, but I will think about using the idea in some way.

Just an idea, remove current setting "Show song and album artists" replace with 2 new settings:

Show album artists only
Hide compilation artists (this is a child setting dependant on "Show album artists only" being disabled)

1. With:

Show album artists only - disabled
Hide compilation artists - disabled

All artists are shown.

2. With:

Show album artists only - disabled
Hide compilation artists - enabled

All artists are shown except those that appear on a compilation, where a compilation is defined as having the compilation id3 tag set.

3. With:

Show album artists only - Enabled
Hide compilation artists (not selectable)

Only album artists shown.

Hello April-Foolers

@jjd-uk

I tried to do so, but I don't know exactly how. I deletet the settings in the gui.xml under userdate and added your suggestet settings in the advanced.xml but with no wished effect.
Could you tell me exactly in wich file and what syntax I should delete, replace or add something.


@Dave Blake

I've installed Isenard again and scanned my music. In Isengard all is like I liked it before. While hiding all compilation artist, compilation Tracks of album-Artist are still shown under their name - and in compilationview there are only real compilations, that means albums that are tagged with Various Artist = Albumartist. In Krypton there are all Albums that are tagged with ReleaseType = Compilation and Sampler, so all "Best Off"-Albums of my Album Artists are shown under Compilations, what makes searching in Compilations useless ore just gives Compilations another meaning. When I just want to see Various Artists - Compilations I now go under the Artist(Albumartist) View in Kodi and search in Various Artist.

By the way - you where right about that empty Artistfolder with only one .nfo, It only worked in Isengard, when I copied at least one track of a Chartscompilation in it. So I just needed to create a folder and that short Info with only the name and it was shown as Albumartist.

Sorry I perhaps wasn't clear, it's not something you can currently do. It was meant as a suggestion towards Dave on a direction could maybe be taken that might cover your sort of use case.

Yes @jjd_uk, I'll take another look at having a separate "artistalbumsonly" setting/option rather than use albumartistsonly for both.

But I would like to keep the word "compilation" out of it. It is not only compliation albums people want to see or not, but the albums with a song that the artist featuered on as a guest too. And a compilation can be an anthology, all the song artists the same.

atm I'm figuring out how, at best, I could use the release type Tag. Would you be interestet in what I will have figured out? I do this, a little bit in mind, that I sometimes copy some music to itunes for my apple mobiledevice and dont having so much trouble with tagging new.

Therefore I would like to have a deeper use of these tags.

for example atm it is not neccessary to tag an album wich is a collection of songs by different artist as Various artiststs (AlbumArtist-Tag) or compilation or sampler (release type tag) because it will be recognized as Compilation in Kodi with these tags emptied too.

So you could take more advantage of the release type tags to differe more Albums.

You can use the album type (scanned from the release type tag, or from album.NFO as <album type>) for whatever you want. Kodi does nothing with these values. It does not use them to determine compilation albums.

Long story in forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=290477

Hello Dave,

You're right in Case of release type "Album" but release type Sampler and Compilation does have an effect. As you can see in my picture.


Kodi tagging
Klick for downloading my Image



That means it would be nice if Kodi would recognice these tags different. Here's my suggestion:

Some Release type Tags schould be shown as Menu Entries in Music:


available release type tags and theire suggestet Use:


Shown in the Albumartist-view but maybe with the ability to click them on or off in the sidebar.

Album
EP
Demo
Bootleg
Live
Single / Maxi / Ep
Soundtrack
Compilation - where this scraped Albumartist is als representet
Sampler
Anthology
Audio Book - > Could be a AudioBiography of Bruce Springsteen perhaps



Shown in the Music Menu like Genre etc.

Live-------------------------------------- Would be nice to have one click to see and enqueue only livemusic
Single / Maxi / Ep -----------------Would be Nice to see as a Music Menu and as an on / off option in "Compilations"

Soundtrack -------------------------- Would be nice as Music Menu. I would only use this tag for conductet Soundtracks like Star wars from John Williams
(John Williams would be tagged als Albumartist and in Genre unter Classic / modern classic) Soundtracks with PopSongs like "guardians of the galaxy Awesomemix would be tagged as Compilation.

Compilation --------------------------This Menu-Entry should only refere to the release type tag "compilation" (not Sampler) and to Albums wich have various Artists as Artist Tag and / or Various Artists as Albumartist tag,
because atm Kodi only needs one condition of them three alone to show it under Menu Compilation.
Its enough for Kod to dont have special tagged "Album Artist and Releae Typ - this tags can also be empty, only the different tags on every track of this album shows kodi to sort it as Compilation.

Sampler -------------------------------Would be nice as a Music Menu entry since I would only use it for best offs, greatest hits etc for AlbumArtists - not for Various Artist - Albums. Atm Kodi shows Sampler in "Compilations"-Menu
Anthology -----------------------------Would be nice to have as a Menuentry to only see these kind of collection of all my Mega Bands and Artists.
Audio Book --------------------------Would be nice as Music Menu-Entry




Available Releasetype taggs with no deeper use
Digital
DVD
Podcast
Projects
Soundeffects
Video



Finally its like that: I dont want to see Best offs of One Artist in "Compilations" but I like to tag them as Sampler. Even fucking itunes makes a difference between Sampler and Compilations. A Sampler with one Albumartist is shown as Artist in Itunes. A Sampler with no Albumartisttag is shown as Compilation. And Albums with Compilation as release type tag are always shown under compilations.

If Kodi would manage these release type tags as I suggest it would be much easier to copy some music to my iPhone and donth have so much mess with tagging itunes songs new. But I know, itunes problems shouldn't be yours. But in the end I think my thoughts about that are not bad. Only you can say how hard this would be to implement. Bit with generell settings in Settingsmenu and special settings in Albumartistview, that would be great an give all users freedom to tagg as deep as they want to.

By the way I use "Helium Music Manager 11.5 for tagging my Music. This is an complex but excellent Software for that. Not only because It has lots of very usefull functions but I can also let the programm copy my music in a folder structure that is based on the tags. And this structure I can design with a save template. So my Music file organisition is like this, now you may see what I want to have in Kodi. Its like my structure folder would be a filter that shows contet by clicking the "Expression" on.

Picture: https://1drv.ms/i/s!AjoLmP5I6m8zgZdKCHUprizRt00Egw

Bruce Springsteen
- Album
- Sampler
- Live
- EP
- Singles / Maxis / Ep
- Live
- Bootleg
etc.