# How to tag music with multiple artists "properly"?
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-tag-music-with-multiple-artists-properly/19338
**Category:** General Discussion
**Created:** [September 10, 2017, 7:43am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-tag-music-with-multiple-artists-properly/19338 "2017-09-10T07:43:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@DJ\_Ben\_Lord](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DJ_Ben_Lord)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2017, 7:43am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-tag-music-with-multiple-artists-properly/19338/1 "2017-09-10T07:43:38Z")
Hello Everyone!
I have a problem with tagging music that has more than one artists. Like let's say for example, Calvin Harris has a number called This Is What You Came For, featuring Rihanna. If I tag it like this:
ARTIST=Calvin Harris
TITLE=This Is What You Came For [feat. Rihanna]
,then I can't find the track on Rihanna's artist profile, like on Spotify. But if I tag it with the default "multiple artists" method:
ARTIST=Calvin Harris
ARTIST=Rihanna
TITLE=This Is What You Came For
,then my problem is that my phone only shows the first artist, and not the second one at all. So, my question is: How can I tag my music so my phone and music player shows both artists on the track, but separates them on the artists page?
---
### Author:  [@DetlevD](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DetlevD)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2017, 8:20am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-tag-music-with-multiple-artists-properly/19338/2 "2017-09-10T08:20:57Z")
> [@DJ\_Ben\_Lord](#):
>
> ... I have a problem with tagging music that has more than one artists. ...
Could you be happy with this?
ARTIST=Calvin Harris feat. Rihanna
DD.20170910.1220.CEST
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2017, 9:50am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-tag-music-with-multiple-artists-properly/19338/3 "2017-09-10T09:50:51Z")
You have to find out what your player understands.
E.g. WMP treats entries with "; " as separated and shows the same title for each member:
Calvin Harris; Rihanna
iTunes does not use this mechanism.
So, feel free to experiment a little to find what your phone likes.
---
### Author:  [@DJ\_Ben\_Lord](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DJ_Ben_Lord)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2017, 9:54am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-tag-music-with-multiple-artists-properly/19338/4 "2017-09-10T09:54:38Z")
> [@DetlevD](#):
>
> Could you be happy with this?
> ARTIST=Calvin Harris feat. Rihanna
>
> DD.20170910.1220.CEST
Well, it shows these artists then, so it's not good.
---
### Author:  [@DJ\_Ben\_Lord](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DJ_Ben_Lord)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2017, 1:58pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-tag-music-with-multiple-artists-properly/19338/5 "2017-09-11T13:58:06Z")
> [@ohrenkino](#):
>
> You have to find out what your player understands.
> E.g. WMP treats entries with "; " as separated and shows the same title for each member:
> Calvin Harris; Rihanna
>
> iTunes does not use this mechanism.
> So, feel free to experiment a little to find what your phone likes.
I've tried these, none of them worked:
Calvin Harris/Rihanna
Calvin Harris;Rihanna
Calvin Harris\\Rihanna
Calvin Harris:Rihanna
Calvin Harris\Rihanna
So, what now?
Also, does anyone know what Spotify uses?
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2017, 3:04pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-tag-music-with-multiple-artists-properly/19338/6 "2017-09-11T15:04:10Z")
> [@DJ\_Ben\_Lord](#):
>
> ...
> Calvin Harris;Rihanna
> ...
I know that
Calvin Harris; Rihanna
(with an extra blank behind the separator as I said in post #3 [How to tag music with multiple artists "properly"?](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/19338/3)
works for WMP.
---
### Author:  [@DJ\_Ben\_Lord](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DJ_Ben_Lord)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2017, 12:04pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-tag-music-with-multiple-artists-properly/19338/7 "2017-09-12T12:04:55Z")
> [@ohrenkino](#):
>
> I know that
>
> Calvin Harris; Rihanna
>
> (with an extra blank behind the separator as I said in post #3 [How to tag music with multiple artists "properly"?](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/19338/3)
>
> works for WMP.
Note that the one I'm using is Groove Music. Also, If I tag it like that, then it only shows the first artist - once again. And also, it doesn't show up in the Rihanna artist field.
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2017, 2:56pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-tag-music-with-multiple-artists-properly/19338/8 "2017-09-12T14:56:20Z")
> [@DJ\_Ben\_Lord](#):
>
> Note that the one I'm using is Groove Music. ...
This may be as it is.
See e.g. this link
[https://forums.windowscentral.com/groove-mu...-maddening.html](https://forums.windowscentral.com/groove-music/430260-grooves-faliure-recognize-mutiple-featured-artists-maddening.html)
where other people report the same problem. So I think it is now time to approach the Groove Music team to get it right.
It depends on the features of the player whether you can have multiple artists or not. If that function mandatory for you - then don't use Groove Music in its current version.
---
### Author:  [@DJ\_Ben\_Lord](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DJ_Ben_Lord)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2017, 4:30pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-tag-music-with-multiple-artists-properly/19338/9 "2017-09-12T16:30:48Z")
> [@ohrenkino](#):
>
> This may be as it is.
> See e.g. this link
> [https://forums.windowscentral.com/groove-mu...-maddening.html](https://forums.windowscentral.com/groove-music/430260-grooves-faliure-recognize-mutiple-featured-artists-maddening.html)
> where other people report the same problem. So I think it is now time to approach the Groove Music team to get it right.
> It depends on the features of the player whether you can have multiple artists or not. If that function mandatory for you - then don't use Groove Music in its current version.
Actually, it's not just Groove Music. The music would be for my phone (Samsung Galaxy S7), but it also has this problem. I'm sad ☹
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2017, 4:37pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-tag-music-with-multiple-artists-properly/19338/10 "2017-09-12T16:37:07Z")
> [@DJ\_Ben\_Lord](#):
>
> ... I'm sad ☹
I mean: there is always the option to make a physical copy of the track and update the tag data so that you get one file for Clavin Harris and the other file for Rihanna...
---
### Author:  [@burtek](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/burtek)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2017, 8:59pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-tag-music-with-multiple-artists-properly/19338/11 "2017-09-12T20:59:36Z")
The correct delimiter should be ' / '. This is recognised by WMP and Windows Explorer (and some other players like foobar2000). Unfortunatelly not all players recognise artist delimiter.
Windows Explorer and WMP show ';' as delimiter, although they read and write ' / ' as the delimiter.
By the way, it's ' / ', not '/', so not to split bands like AC/DC into two artists 😉
My way of saving artist is:
```
ARTIST=Artist1 / Artist2 / Artist3
TITLE=Title feat. FeatArtist1 & FeatArtist2
```
And for covers:
```
ARTIST=CoverArtist1 / CoverArtist2
TITLE=Title feat. CoverFeatArtist (OriginalArtist1 & OriginalArtist2 cover)
```
---
### Author:  [@DJ\_Ben\_Lord](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DJ_Ben_Lord)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2017, 1:12pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-tag-music-with-multiple-artists-properly/19338/12 "2017-09-13T13:12:13Z")
> [@ohrenkino](#):
>
> I mean: there is always the option to make a physical copy of the track and update the tag data so that you get one file for Clavin Harris and the other file for Rihanna...
I don't really want to double the numbers that have two or more artists, it's already 500 songs and 4 GBs, so I really don't want to do that. I'll just stick to the One-Artist method then...
---
### Author:  [@DJ\_Ben\_Lord](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DJ_Ben_Lord)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2017, 1:31pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-tag-music-with-multiple-artists-properly/19338/13 "2017-09-13T13:31:14Z")
QUOTE (Bartosz D @ Sep 13 2017, 00:59) \<{POST\_SNAPBACK}\>
The correct delimiter should be ' / '. This is recognised by WMP and Windows Explorer (and some other players like foobar2000). Unfortunatelly not all players recognise artist delimiter.
Windows Explorer and WMP show ';' as delimiter, although they read and write ' / ' as the delimiter.
By the way, it's ' / ', not '/', so not to split bands like AC/DC into two artists 😉
My way of saving artist is:
```
ARTIST=Artist1 / Artist2 / Artist3
TITLE=Title feat. FeatArtist1 & FeatArtist2
```
And for covers:
```
ARTIST=CoverArtist1 / CoverArtist2
TITLE=Title feat. CoverFeatArtist (OriginalArtist1 & OriginalArtist2 cover)
```
Tried it, didn't work.
---
### Author:  [@Malalford](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Malalford)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2018, 3:02pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-tag-music-with-multiple-artists-properly/19338/14 "2018-05-18T15:02:37Z")
I always put/keep the featured artist in the TITLE because theyre usually just guest collaborators.
---
### Author:  [@Alfie\_Solomon84](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Alfie_Solomon84)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2020, 8:52pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-tag-music-with-multiple-artists-properly/19338/15 "2020-11-28T20:52:04Z")
Hello. Just to add here, Groove Music displays "Album Artist" as the artist.
MusicBee displays "Contributing Artist" as the artist. So does ITunes
I have the same problem, where I use a separator "; " and it will translate in the player in both PC and android as "/" so [Eminem; JuiceWRLD] will be [Eminem/JuiceWRLD] but after changing download source it just stopped behaving this way...
I tried changing the ID3 tag from 2.3 to 2.4 but the problem still persist. Im hoping someone has an answer...
---
### Author:  [@MotleyG](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/MotleyG)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2020, 9:06pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-tag-music-with-multiple-artists-properly/19338/16 "2020-11-28T21:06:14Z")
This still boils down to the player and how it handles (or doesn’t) multiple artists. The official spec is ‘ / ‘ but almost no players truly use this. You can see the split tags in better tagging software, like mp3tag of course. But since the problem exists in your case with the player, you may want to ask those developers how they currently handle this, or if they plan to add support in the future. By default Android and iOS devices, including iTunes, don’t look at multiple artist tags as of yet.
---
### Author:  [@Alfie\_Solomon84](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Alfie_Solomon84)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2020, 5:25pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-tag-music-with-multiple-artists-properly/19338/17 "2020-12-12T17:25:19Z")
TITLE: This Is What You Came For
ARTIST: Calvin Harris, Rihanna
ARTISTS: Calvin Harris
ARTISTS: Rihanna
DISPLAY ARTIST: Calvin Harris, Rihanna
This combination should work on iTunes, MusicBee, and most android music player
---
### Author:  [@slinkybuky](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/slinkybuky)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2025, 3:43am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-tag-music-with-multiple-artists-properly/19338/18 "2025-03-29T03:43:37Z")
I use windows and also face this problem whether I use ; or /, it only shows the first artist. I use the standard media player.
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2025, 7:49am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-tag-music-with-multiple-artists-properly/19338/19 "2025-03-29T07:49:03Z")
I think that this thread shows all the options with MP3tag.
And if your player still does not behave the way you want it - use a different player.
---
### Author:  [@MotleyG](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/MotleyG)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2025, 11:44am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-tag-music-with-multiple-artists-properly/19338/20 "2025-03-29T11:44:30Z")
Players included with the OS are notoriously underwhelming when it comes to their ability to support some of the deeper features some users demand. Multi value fields, sort fields, esoteric audio formats get neglected for them to achieve form and function for the masses.
Theirs thread has some suggestions for alternative players that are better suited for those looking for more flexibility.
> [@Artist data suitable for Windows 11 Media Player](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/artist-data-suitable-for-windows-11-media-player/61309):
>
> Hi, Anyone know how to address "unknown artist" issue in win11 MP? Have downloaded and installed MP3tag There's artist info in 95% of the tracks Album Artist data is missing Is this the field that WMP11 uses? Is there a way to fill that field from Artist? Any tips gratefully received Cheers, N\*