Most of my albums are "Various Artists" but should not be

[irskep]

Most of my albums are "Various Artists" but should not be

[irskep]

I'm proficient with browser dev tools, so if this is a client side issue I'd be happy to dig into it if you tell me where to start. I can also hold my nose and throw some console.log statements in the server code too if you need that.

[diogocp]

Probably a metadata issue. Check if the files have a compilation tag set (e.g. using ffprobe).

The list of compilation tags recognized by Groove Basin is here:

groovebasin/lib/player.js

Line 2864 in c7e66b9

object.compilation = !!(parseInt(file.getMetadata("TCP"), 10) ||

[irskep]

Here's an example. The value of the compilation tag is apparently 0.

ffprobe version 3.2.2 Copyright (c) 2007-2016 the FFmpeg developers
  built with Apple LLVM version 8.0.0 (clang-800.0.42.1)
  configuration: --prefix=/usr/local/Cellar/ffmpeg/3.2.2 --enable-shared --enable-pthreads --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-hardcoded-tables --enable-avresample --cc=clang --host-cflags= --host-ldflags= --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid --enable-opencl --disable-lzma --enable-vda
  libavutil      55. 34.100 / 55. 34.100
  libavcodec     57. 64.101 / 57. 64.101
  libavformat    57. 56.100 / 57. 56.100
  libavdevice    57.  1.100 / 57.  1.100
  libavfilter     6. 65.100 /  6. 65.100
  libavresample   3.  1.  0 /  3.  1.  0
  libswscale      4.  2.100 /  4.  2.100
  libswresample   2.  3.100 /  2.  3.100
  libpostproc    54.  1.100 / 54.  1.100
Input #0, mp3, from '/Volumes/SteveJStorage/Music/Paul Simon/Paul Simon/01 Mother and Child Reunion.mp3':
  Metadata:
    title           : Mother and Child Reunion
    artist          : Paul Simon
    track           : 1/11
    album           : Paul Simon
    disc            : 1/1
    date            : 1972-03
    genre           : Folk
    comment         : Encoded by FLAC v1.1.2a with FLAC Frontend v1.7.1
    TBPM            : 0
    compilation     : 0
    composer        : 1972
    TDOR            : 1972-03
    TMED            : 12" Vinyl
    album_artist    : Paul Simon
    publisher       : Columbia
    artist-sort     : Simon, Paul
    ALBUMARTISTSORT : Simon, Paul
    Acoustid Fingerprint: AQADtFIoSRmVJDATxkJp7jj6iHBToZauIyeSLzmaJ3KC3rgcPEqOs2jyBMnuIz-eoyQPf7nxCzZqMYzwcNBpNHkiB71MHE-CvDn0UEgfnD8e7shFQ8uzGNN__MgS5igVHdPh6MnxbIS3HX0o9CzsZEcYTcyhNyqaE2GPs8cT9IdTD24RzhfUjUdo5fCUB30wXY7ga0emiCEHPdmQajl6KsOOJ0Nz8qhzfJqR50h45fiVJvjx9bjCBedgP0h8Ig-
    Acoustid Id     : 40d8ddfb-e8e3-45ea-9e02-a85c557fa3ee
    Album Artist Credit: Paul Simon
    Artist Credit   : Paul Simon
    CATALOGNUMBER   : KC 30750
    MusicBrainz Album Artist Id: 05517043-ff78-4988-9c22-88c68588ebb9
    MusicBrainz Album Id: 98525987-1acb-4a44-898e-fb44fa17a2ba
    MusicBrainz Album Release Country: US
    MusicBrainz Album Status: Official
    MusicBrainz Album Type: album
    MusicBrainz Artist Id: 05517043-ff78-4988-9c22-88c68588ebb9
    MusicBrainz Release Group Id: 602d0c54-2901-3469-a683-a5a50f3e5260
    Script          : Latn
    lyrics-XXX      :
  Duration: 00:03:10.22, start: 0.025057, bitrate: 229 kb/s
    Stream #0:0: Audio: mp3, 44100 Hz, stereo, s16p, 229 kb/s
    Metadata:
      encoder         : LAME3.97

[irskep]

Most of my albums passed through the beets importer, so it's likely that it is metadata-related, but I would call it a metadata interpretation bug on the Groovebasin side rather than a metadata creation bug on the beets side, since no other music player I've used has this problem.

Honestly I just want the top level to be album artist and have no further metadata interpretation done.

[irskep]

It looks like the actual tag value is the string '0'. This diff fixes my issue if I rebuild my database:

diff --git a/lib/player.js b/lib/player.js
index 10f913f..97deb33 100644
--- a/lib/player.js
+++ b/lib/player.js
@@ -2847,6 +2847,12 @@ function parseFloatOrNull(n) {
   return n;
 }

+function parseBool(s) {
+  if (!s) return false;
+  if (s === "0") return false;
+  return true;
+}
+
 function grooveFileToDbFile(file, filenameHintWithoutPath, object) {
   object = object || {key: uuid()};
   var parsedTrack = parseTrackString(file.getMetadata("track"));
@@ -2863,10 +2869,10 @@ function grooveFileToDbFile(file, filenameHintWithoutPath, object) {
   object.albumName = (file.getMetadata("album") || "").trim();
   object.compilation = !!(parseInt(file.getMetadata("TCP"),  10) ||
                           parseInt(file.getMetadata("TCMP"), 10) ||
-                          file.getMetadata("COMPILATION") ||
-                          file.getMetadata("Compilation") ||
-                          file.getMetadata("cpil") ||
-                          file.getMetadata("WM/IsCompilation"));
+                          parseBool(file.getMetadata("COMPILATION")) ||
+                          parseBool(file.getMetadata("Compilation")) ||
+                          parseBool(file.getMetadata("cpil")) ||
+                          parseBool(file.getMetadata("WM/IsCompilation")));
   object.track = parsedTrack.value;
   object.trackCount = parsedTrack.total;
   object.disc = parsedDisc.value;

If I submit a PR with this, is it likely to be merged? Or you can just git apply the patch yourself (for some broad value of "you").

[diogocp]

That tag is non-standard, so it's hard to say who's right and who's wrong. My understading is that it should only be present if the album is a VA album, and then it should have the value 1. Otherwise, it should be removed. This is how Picard handles it, for example.

Anyway, I think it makes sense for Groove Basin to handle "0" in compilation. Go ahead and submit a PR. You don't need parseBool, though. Just use parseInt like in the lines above.

I also like the idea of using the album artist whenever it is available. Placing albums with compilation under Various Artists should only be a fallback.