I even tried to set set up an xbox music account. Still no luck. So stupid. Bring back my Zune music player I don't even get the artist photos or info in the background any more. Any third-party music apps that will give us a similar feature?
Unfortunately, I do not know of any. It seems to me that the music apps are limited by what the stock music player allows. The music player and the app store have been the two biggest disappointments for me with my L928. I love everything else - but the music player. So much so that I don't even use my phone anymore as a music player. I've resorted to my, dare I say it, iPod (*gasp*).
But like you, I have one artist that allows for Smart DJ Mix - Breaking Benjamin. Ironically, they're the only artist on my phone that has the background image showing. All of my other music does not have the background image or Smart DJ Mix enabled. I don't know if it has to do with metadata or what. Highly annoying though.