Compilation Artist Search
I know this has been asked many times in the past, but when I search for an artist it does not search compilation albums while sorted in itunes compilation or Album Artist. I find this incredibly frustrating as i have hundreds of compilation albums. I have switched on contributing artists, but the search function still doesnt search them. Can this be added at all in the future?
This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.
I'm in the same boat. About 6000 tracks out of 15000 in my library are on compilations. It is so frustrating that I cannot find these tracks by Artist. This is easily number one on my wish list and I can't believe that there haven't been more requests for this. It's a basic feature in my opinion and it really should be added as soon as possible.
Here is a mock up of what it should show when I search for "Magic Numbers" in my library. At the moment it only shows the album by this band. In this case it isn't so bad as the two tracks I have on the compilations are on the album shown. I do however have lots of tracks on multi-artist compilations that I don't have albums for. These tracks cannot be searched for at the moment (by artist name) which is incredibly frustrating. Please implement this for the next release. I have been so desperate for better handling of compilations ever since I bought my first zone back in 2006!!!. This is easily the feature I want implemented the most. I can't believe that this still hasn't been implemented 8 years on. I don't care if this isn't implemented on the CR 100 (or CR 200) but it should be implemented in the desktop controller, phone and tablet apps. When I speak to potential new purchasers of Sonos I always mention this as a major usability issue. Please work with the music service providers to ensure that compilations are also handled well through them (as well as the locally indexed library). It's embarrassing when we have visitors and they search for an artist and get no results, even though I have tracks by the searched artist on compilations. It immediately puts them off buying!!!! Multi-artist compilations are very popular here in the UK!!!
Sonos have previously tried to blame this issue on tagging but all my tracks are properly tagged in iTunes. The below screenshot from iTunes shows how the above album and the two tracks on the compilations are tagged. Sonos puts the "Magic Numbers" under both the "Artists" list and the "Contributing Artists" list. When going into the the artist through the "Artist" list it only shows the albums by the artist. When going into the artist through the "Contributing Artists" list it shows the album and the compilations that feature the artist. Unfortunately however the artist search feature only looks at the "Artist" (Album Artist list) and not the "Contributing Artists" list. It's ridiculous that the "Contributing Artist" list still cannot be searched!!!! Sonos have clearly thought about the difference between "Album Artist" and "Contributing Artist" by providing the two lists in the index. What they haven't done is provide a search facility for the "Contributing Artists" list.
This is how ios handles the same search (actually better than iTunes): "Various Artists" probably shouldn't appear under "Artists" but hey "that's an Apple issue". If I go into "Now That's What I Call 61" from here it just shows the single track by "The Magic Numbers" on that compilation.
John, I really appreciate your efforts investigating and telling about the compilation tag issues.
I followed your steps (I missed the 'Group Albums: using iTunes compilation', I was on 'Group Albums by: by Album Artist'). And... it worked. Partially. When I enter my library using Albums or Artists (Compilations), I now see the Artist underneath the track name. That's nice.
But... I always access my library using the Folders view. I have my music neatly arranged in subfolders (long before Sonos entered my home) that help my find the tracks or albums I'm looking for. To me, it's more practical than Artists or Albums. But the Folder view of an album, still doesn't show the artist underneath the track name.
Thanks again John. I'm still hoping Sonos will fix this issue properly. The info is there, just show it.
I followed your steps (I missed the 'Group Albums: using iTunes compilation', I was on 'Group Albums by: by Album Artist'). And... it worked. Partially. When I enter my library using Albums or Artists (Compilations), I now see the Artist underneath the track name. That's nice.
But... I always access my library using the Folders view. I have my music neatly arranged in subfolders (long before Sonos entered my home) that help my find the tracks or albums I'm looking for. To me, it's more practical than Artists or Albums. But the Folder view of an album, still doesn't show the artist underneath the track name.
Thanks again John. I'm still hoping Sonos will fix this issue properly. The info is there, just show it.
I've figured out that I am getting confused between the results from my local index and "Google Play". When going into Now 61 from the "Magic Numbers" contributing artists (local index) view it just shows the "Magic Numbers" track on the compilation. If I search "Magic Numbers" on Google Play and go into the "My Library" section I see the same 3 albums but with small icons. If I go into the compilations from here it shows all the tracks on the compilation (not just The Magic Numbers). It should only show the Magic Numbers tracks.
Compilations on Google Play are not showing the artists for each track and are not showing the track numbers. (Actually Google Play doesn't show the track numbers for any albums).
Compilations on Google Play are not showing the artists for each track and are not showing the track numbers. (Actually Google Play doesn't show the track numbers for any albums).
Here is a more detailed description of the problem:
The problem occurs when you have tracks tagged with the album artist set to say "Various Artists" and then use the "Artist" tag for each individual track on multi-artist compilations. With "Group Albums" turned on, Sonos creates two lists, one called Artists (which essentially shows Album Artists) and another called "Contributing Artists" which shows all artists and those that feature on compilations. Unfortunately Sonos does not search the contributing artists list so no compilation tracks are found when you perform an artist search.
You might say this is a tagging issue but if you don't populate the "Album Artist" for compilations all of the individual artists that appear on compilations appear under the artists list, rather than the contributing artists list. This makes scrolling through the artists list a nightmare when you have hundreds of compilations. The artists list should only contain the Album Artists or Artists where Album Artist is not populated (for those who don't bother with the album artist tag).
With so many compilations (232), I currently have 573 artists under artists and 3,761 artists under contributing artists. The artists list essentially shows the artists I have albums for and the contributing artists list shows all artists including those on compilations (just how it should be). Being able to only "type" search the short artists list is such a pain. Instead I have to scroll through the much longer list of contributing artists to find that lost track that I know I have but Sonos does not find (or search by title if I know it).
When they designed Sonos they thought about "Contributing Artists" but all these years later they still haven't made the search functionality search this list.
There is also another major issue. If you go into a compilation it doesn't show the artist of each individual track (at least grouping by Album Artist). This is rubbish, especially when you are a collector of compilations like myself.
In iTunes, you can use the "Album Artist" tag to group all tracks of an album together even if some of the artist tags are different from the album artist.
For example, Out Of Time by R.E.M. All of the tracks are tagged with the album artist as "R.E.M.". All but two of the tracks also have the Artist tag set to R.E.M. The other two are "R.E.M. Feat. Kate Pierson" and "R.E.M. Feat. KRS-One".
In Sonos (Grouped by Album Artist), Under "Artists" I just have "R.E.M." and this shows all the albums by "R.E.M." as you would expect. Under "Contributing Artists" I have "R.E.M.", "R.E.M. Feat. Kate Pierson" and "R.E.M. Feat. KRS-One". (As you would expect).
If I search for "R.E.M." it will find all the albums, but if I search for say "Kate Pierson" nothing will be found as she only appears under "Contributing Artists". (Not as a separate entry but as "R.E.M. Feat. Kate Pierson")
I hope I've explained the problem well. If I only had a few compilations I would tag them with the album artist blank and this wouldn't have too much of an impact on my "Artists" list. With so many compilations (232 to be precise) it's nice to have a short album artist list and a long contributing artists list. What's the point of Sonos providing "a contributing artists" list if it can't be searched. If they didn't maintain this list upon indexing, they could probably boost the maximum number of tracks that can be indexed. (65,000)
Sonos allows you to index by grouping by the iTunes compilations flag or by the "Album Artist" tag. I use "Album Artist" which works for the above R.E.M. scenario. It doesn't work well with the compilations however as artists aren't shown when viewing a compilation album. If I index by grouping by "iTunes Compilations" Sonos shows the artist when viewing a compilation (I believe) but breaks the "R.E.M." example above. It needs to work well with both scenarios in my opinion.
In summary, the Sonos indexing, searching and handling of compilations is rubbish if you have a large volume of them and wish to tag in a way where you have a short "Artist" list of "Album Artists" and a long "Contributing Artists" list.
The problem occurs when you have tracks tagged with the album artist set to say "Various Artists" and then use the "Artist" tag for each individual track on multi-artist compilations. With "Group Albums" turned on, Sonos creates two lists, one called Artists (which essentially shows Album Artists) and another called "Contributing Artists" which shows all artists and those that feature on compilations. Unfortunately Sonos does not search the contributing artists list so no compilation tracks are found when you perform an artist search.
You might say this is a tagging issue but if you don't populate the "Album Artist" for compilations all of the individual artists that appear on compilations appear under the artists list, rather than the contributing artists list. This makes scrolling through the artists list a nightmare when you have hundreds of compilations. The artists list should only contain the Album Artists or Artists where Album Artist is not populated (for those who don't bother with the album artist tag).
With so many compilations (232), I currently have 573 artists under artists and 3,761 artists under contributing artists. The artists list essentially shows the artists I have albums for and the contributing artists list shows all artists including those on compilations (just how it should be). Being able to only "type" search the short artists list is such a pain. Instead I have to scroll through the much longer list of contributing artists to find that lost track that I know I have but Sonos does not find (or search by title if I know it).
When they designed Sonos they thought about "Contributing Artists" but all these years later they still haven't made the search functionality search this list.
There is also another major issue. If you go into a compilation it doesn't show the artist of each individual track (at least grouping by Album Artist). This is rubbish, especially when you are a collector of compilations like myself.
In iTunes, you can use the "Album Artist" tag to group all tracks of an album together even if some of the artist tags are different from the album artist.
For example, Out Of Time by R.E.M. All of the tracks are tagged with the album artist as "R.E.M.". All but two of the tracks also have the Artist tag set to R.E.M. The other two are "R.E.M. Feat. Kate Pierson" and "R.E.M. Feat. KRS-One".
In Sonos (Grouped by Album Artist), Under "Artists" I just have "R.E.M." and this shows all the albums by "R.E.M." as you would expect. Under "Contributing Artists" I have "R.E.M.", "R.E.M. Feat. Kate Pierson" and "R.E.M. Feat. KRS-One". (As you would expect).
If I search for "R.E.M." it will find all the albums, but if I search for say "Kate Pierson" nothing will be found as she only appears under "Contributing Artists". (Not as a separate entry but as "R.E.M. Feat. Kate Pierson")
I hope I've explained the problem well. If I only had a few compilations I would tag them with the album artist blank and this wouldn't have too much of an impact on my "Artists" list. With so many compilations (232 to be precise) it's nice to have a short album artist list and a long contributing artists list. What's the point of Sonos providing "a contributing artists" list if it can't be searched. If they didn't maintain this list upon indexing, they could probably boost the maximum number of tracks that can be indexed. (65,000)
Sonos allows you to index by grouping by the iTunes compilations flag or by the "Album Artist" tag. I use "Album Artist" which works for the above R.E.M. scenario. It doesn't work well with the compilations however as artists aren't shown when viewing a compilation album. If I index by grouping by "iTunes Compilations" Sonos shows the artist when viewing a compilation (I believe) but breaks the "R.E.M." example above. It needs to work well with both scenarios in my opinion.
In summary, the Sonos indexing, searching and handling of compilations is rubbish if you have a large volume of them and wish to tag in a way where you have a short "Artist" list of "Album Artists" and a long "Contributing Artists" list.
The problem occurs when you have tracks tagged with the album artist set to say "Various Artists" and then use the "Artist" tag for each individual track on multi-artist compilations. With "Group Albums" turned on, Sonos creates two lists, one called Artists (which essentially shows Album Artists) and another called "Contributing Artists" which shows all artists and those that feature on compilations. Unfortunately Sonos does not search the contributing artists list so no compilation tracks are found when you perform an artist search.
You might say this is a tagging issue but if you don't populate the "Album Artist" for compilations all of the individual artists that appear on compilations appear under the artists list, rather than the contributing artists list. This makes scrolling through the artists list a nightmare when you have hundreds of compilations. The artists list should only contain the Album Artists or Artists where Album Artist is not populated (for those who don't bother with the album artist tag).
With so many compilations (232), I currently have 573 artists under artists and 3,761 artists under contributing artists. The artists list essentially shows the artists I have albums for and the contributing artists list shows all artists including those on compilations (just how it should be). Being able to only "type" search the short artists list is such a pain. Instead I have to scroll through the much longer list of contributing artists to find that lost track that I know I have but Sonos does not find (or search by title if I know it).
When they designed Sonos they thought about "Contributing Artists" but all these years later they still haven't made the search functionality search this list.
There is also another major issue. If you go into a compilation it doesn't show the artist of each individual track (at least grouping by Album Artist). This is rubbish, especially when you are a collector of compilations like myself.
In iTunes, you can use the "Album Artist" tag to group all tracks of an album together even if some of the artist tags are different from the album artist.
For example, Out Of Time by R.E.M. All of the tracks are tagged with the album artist as "R.E.M.". All but two of the tracks also have the Artist tag set to R.E.M. The other two are "R.E.M. Feat. Kate Pierson" and "R.E.M. Feat. KRS-One".
In Sonos (Grouped by Album Artist), Under "Artists" I just have "R.E.M." and this shows all the albums by "R.E.M." as you would expect. Under "Contributing Artists" I have "R.E.M.", "R.E.M. Feat. Kate Pierson" and "R.E.M. Feat. KRS-One". (As you would expect).
If I search for "R.E.M." it will find all the albums, but if I search for say "Kate Pierson" nothing will be found as she only appears under "Contributing Artists". (Not as a separate entry but as "R.E.M. Feat. Kate Pierson")
I hope I've explained the problem well. If I only had a few compilations I would tag them with the album artist blank and this wouldn't have too much of an impact on my "Artists" list. With so many compilations (232 to be precise) it's nice to have a short album artist list and a long contributing artists list. What's the point of Sonos providing "a contributing artists" list if it can't be searched. If they didn't maintain this list upon indexing, they could probably boost the maximum number of tracks that can be indexed. (65,000)
Sonos allows you to index by grouping by the iTunes compilations flag or by the "Album Artist" tag. I use "Album Artist" which works for the above R.E.M. scenario. It doesn't work well with the compilations however as artists aren't shown when viewing a compilation album. If I index by grouping by "iTunes Compilations" Sonos shows the artist when viewing a compilation (I believe) but breaks the "R.E.M." example above. It needs to work well with both scenarios in my opinion.
In summary, the Sonos indexing, searching and handling of compilations is rubbish if you have a large volume of them and wish to tag in a way where you have a short "Artist" list of "Album Artists" and a long "Contributing Artists" list.
Very good analysis, got the same conclusions.
+1This is one of the most frustrating issues I have with the Sonos software. The artist search does not work on the 'contributing artist' list. I've uploaded my music as well to Goolge Play Music, there it does work. But hey, I want to use my local library and be able to search through it as described perfectly by https://en.community.sonos.com/members/darrenlink-5708
Hey guys, I have the same problem. Many compilation albums andthe search does not include artists from these compilations.
Did Sonos fix anything on this issue?
Did Sonos fix anything on this issue?
Enter your E-mail address. We'll send you an e-mail with instructions to reset your password.