# Finding Albums with multiple albumartist values
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/finding-albums-with-multiple-albumartist-values/18971
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [May 10, 2017, 4:26am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/finding-albums-with-multiple-albumartist-values/18971 "2017-05-10T04:26:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@roeslewf](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/roeslewf)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2017, 4:26am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/finding-albums-with-multiple-albumartist-values/18971/1 "2017-05-10T04:26:13Z")
I am preparing my music collection for the use of Minimserver.
Unfortunately I have a few Albums which have more than one value for the field albumartist (i.e. different tracks within one album have different album artists), which is not accepted by Minimserver. Is there a filter expression that is able to identify those albums? All files are FLAC and every album sits in a directory of its own.
Thanks for your help.
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2017, 4:53am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/finding-albums-with-multiple-albumartist-values/18971/2 "2017-05-10T04:53:26Z")
Try filter
NOT $meta(albumartist,1) IS ""
---
### Author:  [@roeslewf](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/roeslewf)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2017, 11:10am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/finding-albums-with-multiple-albumartist-values/18971/3 "2017-05-10T11:10:48Z")
> [@ohrenkino](#):
>
> Try filter
> NOT $meta(albumartist,1) IS ""
Thanks for your kind reply. However I think your filter might not work as your suggestion will sort out album tracks that contain more than one value for albumartist within a given track (=file). Maybe my initial question has not been very clear.
My problem is, that I need to identify albums where the tracks of that specific album contain different values for albumartist from track to track (i.e. not all tracks within ONE album have the same value for albumartist).
As an example an album A with 9 tracks (files) might contain the value X for albumartist of tracks 1-4 and the value Z for tracks 5-9. I need to sort out those albums to be able to correct albumartist to the same value for all tracks of that given album because Minimserver requires all tracks within one album to have the same value for albumartist.
Thanks again.
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2017, 11:22am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/finding-albums-with-multiple-albumartist-values/18971/4 "2017-05-10T11:22:46Z")
> [@roeslewf](#):
>
> ...
> My problem is, that I need to identify albums where the tracks of that specific album contain different values for albumartist from track to track (i.e. not all tracks within ONE album have the same value for albumartist).
> ...
That, indeed, I did not understand.
And now the answer is quite easy: this is not possible.
MP3tag does not compare data in different files, only data in the properties of the current file.
(There are many requests in this forum that ask for a detection of duplicats. This is also not possible.)
So you have to construct something where the current file can compare properties that are available for this file, e.g. you could rename the folder so that the artist from the first file is part of the folder name. You then compare the folder name (or parts of it) with the artist of the current file and find those where it does not match.
I do not see many more options.
---
### Author:  [@ryerman](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ryerman)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2017, 12:15pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/finding-albums-with-multiple-albumartist-values/18971/5 "2017-05-10T12:15:42Z")
> [@roeslewf](#):
>
> Is there a filter expression that is able to identify those albums?
In general, Mp3tag does not compare tags between files.
However, when **exporting** , it is possible to eliminate duplicate records.
See: [https://docs.mp3tag.de/export/#export-scripting-functions](https://docs.mp3tag.de/export/#export-scripting-functions)
This can be used to help identify an album containing songs with different album artists.
Try this:
```
$filename($getEnv(USERPROFILE)\Desktop\Album List.txt,utf-16)
$loop(%album%)
$loop(%albumartist%,1)%album% - %albumartist%
$loopend()$loopend()
```
The result will show multiple lines for any album with multiple album artists.
---
### Author:  [@roeslewf](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/roeslewf)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2017, 2:06pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/finding-albums-with-multiple-albumartist-values/18971/6 "2017-05-10T14:06:02Z")
QUOTE (ryerman @ May 10 2017, 16:15) \<{POST\_SNAPBACK}\>
In general, Mp3tag does not compare tags between files.
However, when **exporting** , it is possible to eliminate duplicate records.
See: [https://docs.mp3tag.de/export/#export-scripting-functions](https://docs.mp3tag.de/export/#export-scripting-functions)
This can be used to help identify an album containing songs with different album artists.
Try this:
```
$filename($getEnv(USERPROFILE)\Desktop\Album List.txt,utf-16)
$loop(%album%)
$loop(%albumartist%,1)%album% - %albumartist%
$loopend()$loopend()
```
The result will show multiple lines for any album with multiple album artists.
That did the trick for me. Thank you so much! Great forum support!
---
### Author:  [@Apesbrain](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Apesbrain)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2026, 2:17pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/finding-albums-with-multiple-albumartist-values/18971/7 "2026-01-25T14:17:54Z")
I’ve used this method to find classical music folders in my library whose albums feature works by more than one composer.
Is there any way to load the resulting file into Mp3tag such that I only have in view those files contained within the file? Thanks.
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2026, 3:10pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/finding-albums-with-multiple-albumartist-values/18971/8 "2026-01-25T15:10:07Z")
Try instead:
```auto
$filename($getEnv(USERPROFILE)\Desktop\Album List.m3u8,utf-8)
$loop(%album%)
$loop(%albumartist%,1)%_path%
$loopend()$loopend()
```
and load the resulting playlist into MP3tag.
---
### Author:  [@Apesbrain](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Apesbrain)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2026, 4:05pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/finding-albums-with-multiple-albumartist-values/18971/9 "2026-01-25T16:05:31Z")
> [@ohrenkino](#):
>
> ```auto
> $filename($getEnv(USERPROFILE)\Desktop\Album List.m3u8,utf-8)
> $loop(%album%)
> $loop(%albumartist%,1)%_path%
> $loopend()$loopend()
>
> ```
Thanks for your reply! The resulting playlist does not contain ALL files associated with that folder, only the first where the looped value changes. Is it possible to output the entire contents of the folder? I would want to change the tag value for everything in the folder.
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2026, 4:08pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/finding-albums-with-multiple-albumartist-values/18971/10 "2026-01-25T16:08:49Z")
Instead of
> [@ohrenkino](#):
>
> `$loop(%albumartist%,1)%_path%`
try
```auto
$loop(%albumartist%)%_path%
```
---
### Author:  [@Apesbrain](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Apesbrain)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2026, 5:11pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/finding-albums-with-multiple-albumartist-values/18971/11 "2026-01-25T17:11:46Z")
Ok, that exports _all_ files to playlist when I’m trying to export only those albums/folders in which there are tracks by more than one composer.
IOW, if all tracks in that album/folder are by Beethoven, I don’t want to select it. I only want to export the contents of the album/folder if some tracks are Beethoven and others are Mozart.
Can that be done? Thanks again.
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2026, 6:39pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/finding-albums-with-multiple-albumartist-values/18971/12 "2026-01-25T18:39:37Z")
The following script outputs the path if there are more than 1 ALBUMARTIST in an ALBUM
```auto
$filename(MultiAlbum.txt,utf-8)
$loop(%album%)$loop(%albumartist%,1)$ifgreater(%_counter%,1,%_folderpath%,)
$loopend()$loopend()
```
---
### Author:  [@Apesbrain](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Apesbrain)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2026, 7:16pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/finding-albums-with-multiple-albumartist-values/18971/13 "2026-01-25T19:16:20Z")
Thanks for all the help!
---
### Author:  [@Apesbrain](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Apesbrain)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2026, 9:50pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/finding-albums-with-multiple-albumartist-values/18971/14 "2026-01-25T21:50:15Z")
One more question: how would I edit that export to find albums with exactly 2 composers? Thanks.
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2026, 9:55pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/finding-albums-with-multiple-albumartist-values/18971/15 "2026-01-25T21:55:24Z")
> [@Apesbrain](#):
>
> 2 composers?
Modify
> [@ohrenkino](#):
>
> `$ifgreater(%_counter%,1,%_folderpath%,)`
to
`$if($eql(%_counter%,2),%_folderpath%,)`
---
### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2026, 9:55pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/finding-albums-with-multiple-albumartist-values/18971/16 "2026-02-24T21:55:24Z")
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