"Scrape additional artist metadata" issues

Support
1

App version

Beta

Issue description

In the media provider settings, what does “Scrape additional artist metadata” exactly scrape? The summary only mentions “images and biographies”. Does it also include altering tags and covers?

If it does include them, it messed up some of my files because supposedly the app found differences between external databases and my tags. I now have inconsistencies with some albums with duplicated genres (both “alt. rock” and “Alternative Rock” for the same file), missing covers, titled changes (one soundtrack has had “OST” appended to its album title), and altered capitalization (articles which should be lowercase). I deleted my media provider and restarted syncing from scratch without using “Scrape additional artist metadata” and now I no longer have artist portraits and bios, but the altered files are still altered. I removed some of them from my cloud, synced Symfonium, they were gone as expected. But when I put them back and synced again, they were still messed up.

If it was caused by “Scrape additional artist metadata”, how do I reset these files? And also if it was indeed caused by it, could it be possible to have a sub-option where you can check what you want to scrape exactly? I’d like to have artist images but I need to keep being able to manage my tags manually on my computer to avoid inconsistencies, so it would be great to be able to select only images and bio scraping and not tags. If it can’t be done it’s fine, I just won’t use it. But I’d like to be able to at least return the affected files back to normal.

Device type

Phone

Media provider

Google Drive

Steps to reproduce

Sync the database

I searched existing issues first

on

I understand that logs are mandatory

on

Log upload name / description

Klow

2

A search would have answered.

It only take artist images and biographies.

3

Thanks Tolriq. Now that it’s out of the way, do you have any idea how external data was put in some of my tags?

4

Fix your tags ? 100% of the data is from them there’s nothing taken outside or external used.

5

I’m confused because I checked the affected files locally with several tag editing programs (Tag&Rename and mp3tag) and none of these problems are present…

6

Provide a full sync log and the exact issue and I’ll tell you where it is if you can’t find. But the app only use the tags from the files.

7

If your files are MP3 make sure you don’t have any ID3v1 or APE tags present. The easiest and most thorough way to check is by using MusicBee’s Tag Inspector (Right click on a track > Edit > Tag Inspector).

8

Alright, I just completed a new full sync and sent the logs.

9

I need to know what to search for …

10

Of course. Do you need specific examples of affected tracks?

11

Well yes what exactly you think should not be here so I can show from where it’s from.

12

Alright, here are some examples. Before giving these to you I checked again the tags locally, and there are no issues. I also remade a fresh sync about 15 minutes ago.

Albums with no covers:

- Antibalas - Talkatif

- Stevie Wonder:

  • Conversation Peace

  • Where I’m Coming From

  • among others

Altered titles:

- Stevie Wonder - Jungle Fever (OST) - “(OST)” having been added. Also no cover.

- Stevie Wonder - The Secret Life Of Plants (Disc 2) - instead of Journey Through “The Secret Life of Plants”. Also no cover.

Duplicate genres:

- Song: Primitive Radio Gods - “Standing Outside a Broken Phonebooth with Money in My Hand” (“Alt. Rock” added to the initial “Alternative Rock”).

  • Album: Antibalas - Talkatif (“AfroBeat” added to the initial “Afrobeat”)

There are some more but I haven’t check everything. It seems so random.

Thanks!

13

just one in the middle :slight_smile:

2026-06-05 19:49:38.715 Verbose TagParserWorker [549] Tags: CachedAudioMetadata(file='/Main/Antibalas/2002 - Talkatif/04. World Without Fear.flac', displayName='04. World Without Fear.flac', dateAdded=1780643401000, tags={TRA=[4, 4], TY=[2002], RDT=[2002, 2002], AL=[Talkatif, Talkatif], DIS=[1], GEN=[AfroBeat, Afrobeat], AR=[Antibalas, Antibalas], TIT=[World without Fear, World Without Fear]}, properties=CachedAudioProperties(duration=174093, bitrate=-5, sampleRate=44100, bitsPerSample=16, channelCount=2, hasImage=true, format=FLAC), parent=googledrive://1LJRsEM482sRPuNNY5chea29rcdeGhicm/1Q6PdFqHJH7DN9Ik1D6cue-fZ_YgSDcbq/1sss4WdGnIufSp2jkmm6NGgyLiE-qfQI5, cueFile=null, lyrics=null, library=null, externalCover=null)

The genre is duplicated in the track. I don’t know what you check, and if you are sure the files are properly updated on Google DRive.

14

So, for you the tag issue was already in the file? You’re 100% sure it’s not Symfonium? I could understand there’s an issue in just one album (Antibalas), but not the Stevie Wonder ones that come from different sources…

15

I told you since the start of course I’m 100% certain … The app does not fetch anything and only use your tags …

2026-06-05 19:39:08.972 Verbose TagParserWorker  [386] Tags: CachedAudioMetadata(file='/Main/Stevie Wonder/02. Soundtracks/1979 - Journey Through ''The Secret Life of Plants''/CD2/03. Black Orchid.flac', displayName='03. Black Orchid.flac', dateAdded=1723021947000, tags={TRA=[3, 3], TY=[1979], COM=[Track 3, Track 3], RDT=[1979, 1979], AL=[The Secret Life Of Plants (Disc 2), Journey Through "The Secret Life of Plants"], GEN=[Soul, Soul], AR=[Stevie Wonder, Stevie Wonder], TIT=[Black Orchid, Black Orchid]}, properties=CachedAudioProperties(duration=227493, bitrate=-2, sampleRate=44100, bitsPerSample=16, channelCount=2, hasImage=true, format=FLAC), parent=googledrive://1LJRsEM482sRPuNNY5chea29rcdeGhicm/1_N_4BPOCZr6oBjxczCWoedHTK9F4H6Al/1k7fjeejE4uExfyIdTWTFjwbl4WWjtZHu/1kbwu2m7W44a7ebGhrSZTc4cOcvvfz31h/1l5sGCNX3arCiYqAYvR-v43cF5NCpBn8j, cueFile=null, lyrics=null, library=null, externalCover=null)

That file have duplicated album value, probably multiple different tags versions or bad tags and your tool only show one.

I do not have the file I can’t guess, all I know is that the data is in the file.

16

Thank you for helping me narrow it down. The fix I found to work is just clearing all the tags and covers with Mp3tag and putting them back manually. Sometimes the update doesn’t show up right away so clearing the cache does the trick. But some of the files are stubborn and clearing their tags don’t work. They still show to foreign tag in the app…

Also, having to resync everything for just a couple of files takes a long time. Could it be possible in the future to be able to sync/refresh just a specific folder?

17

After several attempts, I was able to force the remaining stubborn files to update. I made it in several steps to be sure. I started by only adding back the artist tag and the current year, then synced, and all the wrong tag info was gone. Then I made a new sync with only the cover, then a last sync with all the correct tag info readded, and voilà.