[User 421137]

I have some cases where album fanart is used as artist fanart automatically but IMHO it should better not be used.

I give an example, which might show it best:

Code:

$ll --group-directories-first "/data/media/Audio/Artist Music/Buddy Holly"/
total 28
drwxrwxr-x   3 nero nero  4096 Feb 11  2020  ./
drwxrwxr-x 607 nero nero 20480 May 13 13:32  ../
drwxrwxr-x   6 nero nero  4096 Apr 25 21:21 'Heartbeat_ The Best of Buddy Holly'/
$
$ll --group-directories-first "/data/media/Audio/Artist Music/Buddy Holly/Heartbeat_ The Best of Buddy Holly"/
total 92
drwxrwxr-x 6 nero nero  4096 Apr 25 21:21 ./
drwxrwxr-x 3 nero nero  4096 Feb 11  2020 ../
drwxr-xr-x 3 nero nero  4096 Apr 25 21:21 CD1/
drwxr-xr-x 3 nero nero  4096 Apr 25 21:21 CD2/
drwxr-xr-x 2 nero nero  4096 Feb 10  2020 .EAC/
drwxr-xr-x 2 nero nero  4096 Apr 25 21:21 .pics/
-rw-r--r-- 1 nero nero 66966 Feb 11  2020 folder.jpg
$
$ll --group-directories-first "/data/media/Audio/Artist Music/Buddy Holly/Heartbeat_ The Best of Buddy Holly/CD1"/
total 200652
drwxr-xr-x 3 nero nero     4096 Apr 25 21:21  ./
drwxrwxr-x 6 nero nero     4096 Apr 25 21:21  ../
drwxr-xr-x 2 nero nero     4096 Apr 25 21:21  .pics/
-rw-rw-r-- 1 nero nero 13711575 Feb 11  2020 '1-01. Peggy Sue.flac'
…
-rw-rw-r-- 1 nero nero 12179273 Feb 11  2020 '1-16. Reminiscing.flac'
-rw-r--r-- 1 nero nero    61987 Feb 11  2020  folder.jpg

I have /data/media/Audio/Artist Music defined as a Music Source.
I also have an Artist Info folder defined (but no artwork for Buddy Holly in it).
For Buddy Holly I just have this Best-Of compilation (2 discs).
As you can see, I have no artist fanart in level 1 (the directory for the artist).
At level 2 (the album) I have a local cover.
Since the release has 2 discs/jewel cases and each has its own cover, I have subfolders for each disc (level 3) with cover files for each.

With common human knowledge, I think, it should be clear: I have no local artist artwork but only album artwork (for the whole album and for each disc).

With this example the cover from directory …/Artist Music/Buddy Holly/Heartbeat_ The Best of Buddy Holly/ will be used as album fanart and also as artist fanart.
As I don't want to have the album cover as artist thumb I have to change it manually (using a remote cover for this case).
Strictly I would say, the actual behavior is somehow wrong, from my point of view.
However, I know/guess there is no rule to have artists always on level 1. It might be possible to have another grouping level here, e.g. by first letter.
As I built my lib new, from scratch, I have to change some artist artwork.

I know this issue only appears in such a special case. It would not appear with local artist artwork in the Artist Info folder and also not without subfolders (incl. covers) for the discs.

[burcs]

Kind of sounds like kodi is working exactly as intended and you're trying to reinvent the wheel.

To my knowledge, there's no such thing as album fanart. When you're browsing by album the artist's fanart is always shown, and the thumb is the album cover. And if you don't have artwork for an artist in the Artist Info folder, when you scrape it will fetch artwork. If you haven't scraped then there's no telling which artwork will show up.

[DaveBlake]

Sorry, I somehow missed this when posted.

I don't want to have the album cover as artist thumb

Hum.... could be an unavoidable  side effect of Kodi trying to be backwards compatible in the way it picks up artist art for users with older folder and art layuouts while also handling disc level art. I will check, I agree it isn't the idea behaviour, but I suspect that if I change that I will break a more common use.

[HeresJohnny]

Need a rule of thumb Sorry, couldn't help myself...