# Use of ALBUMARTIST tag
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/use-of-albumartist-tag/51730
**Category:** General Discussion
**Created:** [January 25, 2021, 7:51pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/use-of-albumartist-tag/51730 "2021-01-25T19:51:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Rigido](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Rigido)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2021, 7:51pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/use-of-albumartist-tag/51730/1 "2021-01-25T19:51:18Z")
HI Taggers,
can someone explain me when I should use this tag?
I can think of an album of covers (like Blind Guardian's "Forgotten Tales"), using (original) `ARTIST` for each song and putting Blind Guardian as `ALBUMARTIST`. Is this the right use of it?
Will you populate the tag even for single artist album with no covers (i.e. Iron Maiden "Killers")?
Thanks.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2021, 7:55pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/use-of-albumartist-tag/51730/2 "2021-01-25T19:55:22Z")
Yes. Always fill it.
Because otherwise a player might sort all albums without ALBUMARTIST under the same name (e.g. greatest hits) or put samplers as a separate albums, one for each ARTIST.
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### Author:  [@vilsen](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/vilsen)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2021, 4:52pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/use-of-albumartist-tag/51730/3 "2021-01-26T16:52:01Z")
> [@Rigido](#):
>
> I can think of an album of covers (like Blind Guardian's "Forgotten Tales"), using (original) `ARTIST` for each song and putting Blind Guardian as `ALBUMARTIST`. Is this the right use of it?
No, to me it seems that Blind Guardian is the only artist on all tracks on that album. So Blind Guardian is ALBUMARTIST **and** ARTIST.
(I think there is also ORIGINAL ARTIST but I'm not entirely sure of its use, and I think it's uncommon.)
ARTIST is meant to be the one who is _performing_ the track - whether it's a cover doesn't matter.
ALBUMARTIST is usually the one printed on the front cover, but for compilations it's something like "Various Artists" or "Compilation".
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### Author:  [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2021, 5:05pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/use-of-albumartist-tag/51730/4 "2021-01-26T17:05:09Z")
If you have an album from an artist featuring several other artists like this:
I would set the ALBUMARTIST to "Lil Wayne".
The ARTIST tag on each track is set to "Lil Wayne feat. Big Sean & Lil Baby" for track #4
"Lil Wayne feat. Adam Levice" for track #10
"Lil Wayne feat. 2 Chainz" for track #11
For tracks like #1 - #3 the ALBUMARTIST and ARTISTS contains the same "Lil Wayne".
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### Author:  [@MotleyG](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/MotleyG)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2021, 11:50pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/use-of-albumartist-tag/51730/5 "2021-01-26T23:50:37Z")
This is exactly how I would do this album. And for compilations that are assembled by a main artist (tribute albums, etc) I use the main artist, otherwise for all other compilations I assign them as "Various Artists" for AlbumArtist.
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### Author:  [@Rigido](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Rigido)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2021, 3:49pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/use-of-albumartist-tag/51730/6 "2021-01-29T15:49:57Z")
I really like this method and it saves from putting "features" on `TITLE` field.
Now I think that even the suggestion to always fill `ALBUMARTIST` is a good advice.
This makes me think to another question:
Is it right to put "feat / feat. / featuring" on the artist tag? Should I use commas or any other type of separator (/ maybe) ?
Thank you guys!
PS: Yes, there is an `ORIGINALARTIST` tag and I have some actions to deal with it as I was searching a way to show original artist name while listening to a file.
My actions add something like `(Black Sabbath Cover)` to title if `ORIGINALARTIST` field is not null, or putting `Black Sabbath` into `ORIGINALARTIST` if title contains "cover" string.
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### Author:  [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2021, 4:01pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/use-of-albumartist-tag/51730/7 "2021-01-29T16:01:32Z")
> [@Rigido](#):
>
> Is it right to put "feat / feat. / featuring" on the artist tag? Should I use commas or any other type of separator (/ maybe) ?
IMHO there is no "right" or "wrong". You should fill the tags as you need it in your most used devices.
Example:
If your playing devices don't use or don't show the ORIGINALARTIST tag, why should you fill it?
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### Author:  [@Rigido](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Rigido)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2021, 5:54pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/use-of-albumartist-tag/51730/8 "2021-01-29T17:54:06Z")
I asked because, at this point, I would like featuring artists to show on a search by artist. I wonder if there is an ID3 "standard" for multi values on tag and which tags do support multi values.
I mean, if I put `Leaves' Eyes feat Clementine Delauney` on the `ARTIST` tag and `Leaves' Eyes` on the `ALBUMARTIST` one, which artists would appear on a query for artist? I fear that somwhow a `Leaves' Eyes feat Clementine Delauney` artist could jump out ๐
> If your playing devices don't use or don't show the ORIGINALARTIST tag, why should you fill it?
I'm trying to "standardise" my whole library, one day I could use a new player that would handle and show that tags ๐
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2021, 5:55pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/use-of-albumartist-tag/51730/9 "2021-02-28T17:55:04Z")
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