Some Albumartistsort tags not working properly

laquaces · April 16, 2026, 10:28am

App version

Production

Issue description

I am putting English names in front of my Japanese and Chinese artists so that they can be sorted in Alphabetical order. 95% of my albumartistsort tags are working as intended, but there are quite a few artists despite having the albumartistsort in the tag, does not sort accordingly and ended up at the very bottom of the album artist page.
Attaching screenshots as an example. While both Sheena Ringo and Tokyo Jihen both has the similar tagging, Tokyo Jihen was sorted properly to the alphabetical order but Sheena Ringo did not.
Have already tried clearing cache/ all the tags and resync. Same issue prevails.

Device type

Phone

Media provider

Local device

Steps to reproduce

No reproduction required.

Screenshots

I searched existing issues first

on

I understand that logs are mandatory

on

Log upload name / description

laquaces

Tolriq · April 16, 2026, 10:42am

You only do that for half the tag artist sort for the same artist have a different one. You need to be consistent.

laquaces · April 16, 2026, 11:11am

I dont really use artist tab so I was only changing the albumartistsort but not the artistsort.

Tolriq · April 16, 2026, 11:23am

That does not matter Symfonium support them so they need to be consistent. Symfonium can’t guess the one you actually want for an artist.

laquaces · April 16, 2026, 11:26am

I believe symfonium is reading albumartistsort when you are using album artist, and artist sort when you are using artist.

It’s strange how it is reading my other 290+ album artists properly but 7 of them.

Tolriq · April 16, 2026, 11:30am

Belief have nothing to do here I know that matters more

Everything is merged an artist and an album artist or a composer is still an artist with one sort value. If they are not consistent you can’t know the one that will be used as it depend on scan order.

laquaces · April 16, 2026, 11:56am

Weird how it worked for all other 290+ artists but not the 7. I will try editing these 7 artistsort too I guess.

laquaces · April 16, 2026, 4:18pm

Ya it didn’t work out, just by keeping artistsort, albumartistsort and composersort consistent.

Tolriq · April 16, 2026, 4:48pm

Clear tag cache and you probably missed some

The app uses your tags that’s a given.

You can provide a logs containing a full sync after a clear tag cache so I find out what you missed, but then will you pay for the time done doing that

laquaces · April 16, 2026, 8:22pm

I have done cleaning the tag and cache plenty times already. It just wont work. Uploaded another log to the support.

Tolriq · April 16, 2026, 8:36pm

Sheena Ringo 椎名林檎/Tokyo Jihen/深夜枠/13. ただならぬ関係.m4a

{ALARS=[Tokyo Jihen 東京事変], ALAR=[東京事変], ARS=[東京事変], TRA=[13], TY=[2012-08-29], CPS=[浮雲], ALS=[深夜枠], TITS=[ただならぬ関係], RDT=[2012-08-29], CMP=[1], AL=[深夜枠], LAB=[Universal Music LLC], CP=[浮雲], DIS=[1], AR=[東京事変], GEN=[ロック], TIT=[ただならぬ関係]}

Ho oups you have the wrong Artist sort … (And on many other files)

Thanks for the time lost So as said fix your tags and check you work instead of continuously telling me that it’s the app fault ?

laquaces · April 16, 2026, 8:52pm

I did keep Tokyo Jihen’s folder in Sheena Ringo’s folder. It was intended and not a mistake.

And Tokyo jihen despite having different artistsort, composersort than albumartistsort, it is working properly.

Also I am not saying it’s the app’s fault. Just trying to figure things out being constructive, no need to be so aggressive…

Fyi if you did not know, sheena ringo and tokyo jihen are two different things, even though I kept them in the same folder, it is just because tokyo jihen’s vocal being sheena ringo. And that what you have quoted is tokyo jihen, which is working correctly.

Forgot to mention, I was “fixing” the tag of another artist since I only have one song on that artist, and it would not take as long to sync as to if I am changing the big chunk of files from sheena ringo.

^^^^^ That is the Artist I am experimenting with. It just won’t get sorted as “Abe Mao”, to the alphabetical order.

laquaces · April 16, 2026, 9:08pm

I really like your app Sir Tolriq, but if the issue persists I would have to change all the albumartistsort back to album artist which will not match with any of the database like musicbrainz X_X

Tolriq · April 16, 2026, 9:21pm

I repeat things over and over and you ignore what I say and now have made me loose time chasing the wrong artist … Folders don’t matter TAGS do …

My time is precious, the issue is your tags, that’s a given, they need to be consistent in every single file.

The artist data is merged between all tags, the artists who don’t work have wrong data somewhere, again the scan order and merging is not fixed.

laquaces · April 16, 2026, 10:03pm

I do understand that folders dont matter. Anyways, as shown in this screenshot

I did change all these “sort names”, cleared tag, and sync again. I am only using this single file to experiment so I don’t have to sync all the files to my DAP every time.

I apologize for wasting your precious time but I think we have some communication problems here…

Tried using foobar to remove all paddings, retagging using musicbee/ mp3tag. All no avail…

Guess I will just move all the sort name back to album artist and forget about matching the database then. Thx for the help anyways.

simbun · April 16, 2026, 10:15pm

If you’re comfortable with foobar I should be able to help you identify the anomalies tomorrow using foo_sqlite.

laquaces · April 16, 2026, 10:18pm

Ohhh that would be great!

simbun · April 17, 2026, 7:49am

I haven’t had time to perform a clean install test, so if something doesn’t work let me know.

The following assumes ALBUMARTISTS and ARTISTS so change as required.

Install foo_sqlite
File > Preferences > Media Library > SQLite utilities: MediaLibrary table
- Click “Add defaults” then Apply
- Then configure each of the following tags:
  - albumartists: Split multivalue tag
  - albumartistsort: Split multivalue tag AND Associated column = albumartists
  - artists: Split multivalue tag
  - artistsort: Split multivalue tag AND Associated column = artists
  - composer: Split multivalue tag
  - composersort: Split multivalue tag AND Associated column = composer
- Click OK
Library > SQLite console: paste and Execute the following code

with distinctArtists as (
select artists,
artistsort
from mediaLibrary
union
select albumartists,
albumartistsort
from mediaLibrary
union
select composer,
composersort
from mediaLibrary
)
select a.artists,
a.artistsort
from distinctArtists a
inner join
(
select artists
from distinctArtists
group by artists
having count(distinct artistsort) > 1
) b on (a.artists = b.artists);

To keep things manageable this ignores case (“David Bowie” vs “David bowie”) but should be enough to highlight the bigger sort problems (the ones causing them to appear out of order).

Let me know if you want to dive into case related differences.

Tolriq · April 17, 2026, 7:57am

Aimer/Albums/daydream/05. for ロンリー (with 阿部真央).m4a

{ALARS=[Aimer], ALAR=[Aimer], ARS=[Aimer], TRA=[5], TY=[2016-09-21], CPS=[阿部真央], ALS=[daydream], TITS=[for ロンリー (with 阿部真央)], RDT=[2016-09-21], AL=[daydream], LAB=[Sony Music Labels Inc.], CP=[阿部真央], DIS=[1], AR=[Aimer], GEN=[J-Pop], TIT=[for ロンリー (with 阿部真央)]}

Oups the artist have the wrong sort composer

Time is precious for everyone, one day you’ll understand that it’s the only thing you can’t purchase, and that listening to those who know instead of arguing is a better use of time.

laquaces · April 17, 2026, 1:13pm

I don’t mean to waste YOUR precious time. Time is precious for everyone and this is a “Support” thread which is supposed to be time consuming to solve problems.

As for the log you have gotten, it is a song from a different album that is working absolutely fine, and sorted properly under another artist, “Aimer” 's Album Artist.

Let’s forget about those files. Here is the file I am experimenting with:

MediaInfo report of “01. Keep Your Fire Burning.m4a” :

General
Complete name                            : 01. Keep Your Fire Burning.m4a
Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : Apple audio with iTunes info
Codec ID                                 : M4A  (M4A /mp42/isom)
File size                                : 71.0 MiB
Duration                                 : 3 min 22 s
Overall bit rate                         : 2 934 kb/s
Title                                    : Keep Your Fire Burning
Album                                    : Keep Your Fire Burning
Album/Sorted by                          : Keep Your Fire Burning
Album/Performer                          : 阿部真央
Album/Performer/Sort                     : Abe Mao 阿部真央
Part/Position                            : 1
Part/Total                               : 1
Track name/Position                      : 1
Track name/Total                         : 1
Performer                                : 阿部真央
Performer/Sorted by                      : Abe Mao 阿部真央
Composer                                 : 阿部真央
Composer/Sorted by                       : Abe Mao 阿部真央
Publisher                                : KAGAYAKI RECORDS
Label                                    : KAGAYAKI RECORDS
Genre                                    : J-Pop
Recorded date                            : 2024-01-09
Encoded date                             : 2024-05-16 02:26:02 UTC
Tagged date                              : 2024-05-16 02:26:02 UTC
ISRC                                     : JPPC02312672
Copyright                                : ℗ 2024 PONY CANYON/IRORI Records / KAGAYAKI RECORDS
Cover                                    : Yes
Cover type                               : Cover
Rating                                   : None
PlayListID                               : 1720743858
UPC                                      : 4524135161864
Title/Sort                               : Keep Your Fire Burning
replaygain_track_peak                    : 0.991176
replaygain_track_gain                    : -7.66 dB
replaygain_album_peak                    : 0.991176
replaygain_album_gain                    : -7.66 dB
RELEASETIME                              : 2024-01-09
DISPLAY ARTIST                           : 阿部真央

Audio
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : ALAC
Codec ID                                 : alac
Codec ID/Info                            : Apple Lossless Audio Codec
Duration                                 : 3 min 22 s
Nominal bit rate                         : 4 608 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Sampling rate                            : 96.0 kHz
Bit depth                                : 24 bits
Title                                    : Core Media Audio
Encoded date                             : 2024-05-16 02:26:02 UTC
Tagged date                              : 2024-07-15 20:07:19 UTC

Image
Type                                     : Cover
Format                                   : JPEG
Muxing mode                              : moov-meta-covr
Width                                    : 2 400 pixels
Height                                   : 2 400 pixels
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 795 KiB (1%) / 795 KiB (1%)

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.26100.8246]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

D:\Whitelist\Abe Mao 阿部真央\Keep Your Fire Burning - Single>chcp 65001
Active code page: 65001

D:\Whitelist\Abe Mao 阿部真央\Keep Your Fire Burning - Single>ffprobe -v quiet -show_format -show_streams -print_format flat “01. Keep Your Fire Burning.m4a”
streams.stream.0.index=0
streams.stream.0.codec_name=“alac”
streams.stream.0.codec_long_name=“ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec)”
streams.stream.0.profile=“unknown”
streams.stream.0.codec_type=“audio”
streams.stream.0.codec_tag_string=“alac”
streams.stream.0.codec_tag=“0x63616c61”
streams.stream.0.sample_fmt=“s32p”
streams.stream.0.sample_rate=“96000”
streams.stream.0.channels=2
streams.stream.0.channel_layout=“stereo”
streams.stream.0.bits_per_sample=0
streams.stream.0.initial_padding=0
streams.stream.0.id=“0x1”
streams.stream.0.r_frame_rate=“0/0”
streams.stream.0.avg_frame_rate=“0/0”
streams.stream.0.time_base=“1/96000”
streams.stream.0.start_pts=0
streams.stream.0.start_time=“0.000000”
streams.stream.0.duration_ts=19478256
streams.stream.0.duration=“202.898500”
streams.stream.0.bit_rate=“2900584”
streams.stream.0.max_bit_rate=“N/A”
streams.stream.0.bits_per_raw_sample=“24”
streams.stream.0.nb_frames=“4756”
streams.stream.0.nb_read_frames=“N/A”
streams.stream.0.nb_read_packets=“N/A”
streams.stream.0.extradata_size=36
streams.stream.0.disposition.default=1
streams.stream.0.disposition.dub=0
streams.stream.0.disposition.original=0
streams.stream.0.disposition.comment=0
streams.stream.0.disposition.lyrics=0
streams.stream.0.disposition.karaoke=0
streams.stream.0.disposition.forced=0
streams.stream.0.disposition.hearing_impaired=0
streams.stream.0.disposition.visual_impaired=0
streams.stream.0.disposition.clean_effects=0
streams.stream.0.disposition.attached_pic=0
streams.stream.0.disposition.timed_thumbnails=0
streams.stream.0.disposition.non_diegetic=0
streams.stream.0.disposition.captions=0
streams.stream.0.disposition.descriptions=0
streams.stream.0.disposition.metadata=0
streams.stream.0.disposition.dependent=0
streams.stream.0.disposition.still_image=0
streams.stream.0.disposition.multilayer=0
streams.stream.0.tags.creation_time=“2024-05-16T02:26:02.000000Z”
streams.stream.0.tags.language=“und”
streams.stream.0.tags.handler_name=“Core Media Audio”
streams.stream.0.tags.vendor_id=“[0][0][0][0]”
streams.stream.0.side_data_list.side_data.0.side_data_type=“Replay Gain”
streams.stream.1.index=1
streams.stream.1.codec_name=“mjpeg”
streams.stream.1.codec_long_name=“Motion JPEG”
streams.stream.1.profile=“Baseline”
streams.stream.1.codec_type=“video”
streams.stream.1.codec_tag_string=“[0][0][0][0]”
streams.stream.1.codec_tag=“0x0000”
streams.stream.1.width=2400
streams.stream.1.height=2400
streams.stream.1.coded_width=2400
streams.stream.1.coded_height=2400
streams.stream.1.has_b_frames=0
streams.stream.1.sample_aspect_ratio=“1:1”
streams.stream.1.display_aspect_ratio=“1:1”
streams.stream.1.pix_fmt=“yuvj420p”
streams.stream.1.level=-99
streams.stream.1.color_range=“pc”
streams.stream.1.color_space=“bt470bg”
streams.stream.1.color_transfer=“unknown”
streams.stream.1.color_primaries=“unknown”
streams.stream.1.chroma_location=“center”
streams.stream.1.field_order=“unknown”
streams.stream.1.refs=1
streams.stream.1.id=“0x0”
streams.stream.1.r_frame_rate=“90000/1”
streams.stream.1.avg_frame_rate=“0/0”
streams.stream.1.time_base=“1/90000”
streams.stream.1.start_pts=0
streams.stream.1.start_time=“0.000000”
streams.stream.1.duration_ts=18260865
streams.stream.1.duration=“202.898500”
streams.stream.1.bit_rate=“N/A”
streams.stream.1.max_bit_rate=“N/A”
streams.stream.1.bits_per_raw_sample=“8”
streams.stream.1.nb_frames=“N/A”
streams.stream.1.nb_read_frames=“N/A”
streams.stream.1.nb_read_packets=“N/A”
streams.stream.1.disposition.default=0
streams.stream.1.disposition.dub=0
streams.stream.1.disposition.original=0
streams.stream.1.disposition.comment=0
streams.stream.1.disposition.lyrics=0
streams.stream.1.disposition.karaoke=0
streams.stream.1.disposition.forced=0
streams.stream.1.disposition.hearing_impaired=0
streams.stream.1.disposition.visual_impaired=0
streams.stream.1.disposition.clean_effects=0
streams.stream.1.disposition.attached_pic=1
streams.stream.1.disposition.timed_thumbnails=0
streams.stream.1.disposition.non_diegetic=0
streams.stream.1.disposition.captions=0
streams.stream.1.disposition.descriptions=0
streams.stream.1.disposition.metadata=0
streams.stream.1.disposition.dependent=0
streams.stream.1.disposition.still_image=0
streams.stream.1.disposition.multilayer=0
format.filename=“01. Keep Your Fire Burning.m4a”
format.nb_streams=2
format.nb_programs=0
format.nb_stream_groups=0
format.format_name=“mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2”
format.format_long_name=“QuickTime / MOV”
format.start_time=“0.000000”
format.duration=“202.898500”
format.size=“74405117”
format.bit_rate=“2933688”
format.probe_score=100
format.tags.major_brand=“M4A "
format.tags.minor_version=“0”
format.tags.compatible_brands=“M4A mp42isom”
format.tags.creation_time=“2024-05-16T02:26:02.000000Z”
format.tags.track=“1/1”
format.tags.disc=“1/1”
format.tags.rating=“0”
format.tags.genre=“J-Pop”
format.tags.date=“2024-01-09”
format.tags.UPC=“4524135161864”
format.tags.sort_name=“Keep Your Fire Burning”
format.tags.title=“Keep Your Fire Burning”
format.tags.replaygain_track_peak=“0.991176”
format.tags.replaygain_track_gain=”-7.66 dB"
format.tags.replaygain_album_peak=“0.991176”
format.tags.replaygain_album_gain=“-7.66 dB”
format.tags.RELEASETIME=“2024-01-09”
format.tags.PERFORMER=“阿部真央”
format.tags.LABEL=“KAGAYAKI RECORDS”
format.tags.ISRC=“JPPC02312672”
format.tags.DISPLAY_ARTIST=“阿部真央”
format.tags.copyright=“℗ 2024 PONY CANYON/IRORI Records / KAGAYAKI RECORDS”
format.tags.sort_composer=“Abe Mao 阿部真央”
format.tags.composer=“阿部真央”
format.tags.sort_artist=“Abe Mao 阿部真央”
format.tags.artist=“阿部真央”
format.tags.sort_album=“Keep Your Fire Burning”
format.tags.sort_album_artist=“Abe Mao 阿部真央”
format.tags.album_artist=“阿部真央”
format.tags.album=“Keep Your Fire Burning”

D:\Whitelist\Abe Mao 阿部真央\Keep Your Fire Burning - Single>

I really did change the 3 sort values i.e. albumartistsrot, composersort, artistsort all to what I need, and it still does not sort properly.