Unknown Artist: Xbox Music on Windows Phone problems

[coip]

I use Windows Media Player on my PC for music management. I recently got a Windows Phone and tried to import some of my library (syncing in WMP) to my phone. First, I had all sorts of problems with Xbox Music on my phone re-labeling everything (such as overriding my "Blink 182" as "blink-182"). I solved this by turning off "Connect with Xbox Music" in the settings (really, though, there should be an option to still connect with Xbox Music but not have it override your labels, as now I can't use smart DJ). However, I'm still having other problems, mainly that for a good portion of my library it is placing it under the artist "Unknown Artist" even though the artist information (both contributing artist and album artist) is complete in WMP (as well as the raw file in the Music folder of my PC). Why is it doing this? Is there some obscure setting that it is defaulting to? Is there some way I can instruct Xbox Music on my Windows Phone to copy over what WMP has it as? Any other tips for a first-time Xbox music user (I've been using WMP for years and years and thought they would complement each other nicely, but seemingly not).

 

[CJ Thunder]

Welcome to Xbox Music. It has been doing this on W8 and WP8 since launch.

 

[Microsoftjunkie]

I had a the same problem but mine was due to extra symbols, letters, and reversed names. (multiple artist ft. And was typed out of order)

 

[coip]

I had a the same problem but mine was due to extra symbols, letters, and reversed names. (multiple artist ft. And was typed out of order)

I'm pretty meticulous when it comes to that stuff and I've double checked the problematic cases. Even though they have the artist listed one the file on my computer, Xbox music on my windows phone doesn't seem to read it and just assigns it "unknown artist" instead.

 

[gsquared]

The only solution I know is to remove all of the music from your phone and reload it. You may be able to install another music player to get rid of the unknown artist.

I smell an oppertunity for a 3rd party app devs....

 

[coip]

I've removed the music and put it back on. It still classifies some songs as "unknown artist". Very odd. You'd think Xbox music on WP would be able to read the inputted data from Windows Media Player. It amazes me how much discord there is between Microsoft's products still. Though I know they've said they're making it a point to integrate it all, they sure have a ways to go.

 

[halcyonboy]

I've seen this happen in a few instances, and if you check your tags, be sure to check the "album artist" tag and the "contributing artist" tags, often windows media player and similar desktop apps will just display the contributing artist info, but not actually add in tags for the album artist. So when you then add them to your phone, it then sees an empty album artist field and displays unknown artist.

Best option to see this is to view the files in windows explorer and make sure you have the file details pane open (in windows 8 pressing alt + shift + P toggles the display for this). You should then be able to see the tags present on music files. Fix up the album artist bit, make sure you don't have that album on your phone yet, then sync it to the phone through windows media player, and it should be correct.

Hope that helps, its at least what I've seen to be the cause of these unknown artist issues...

 

[coip]

I've seen this happen in a few instances, and if you check your tags, be sure to check the "album artist" tag and the "contributing artist" tags, often windows media player and similar desktop apps will just display the contributing artist info, but not actually add in tags for the album artist. So when you then add them to your phone, it then sees an empty album artist field and displays unknown artist.

Best option to see this is to view the files in windows explorer and make sure you have the file details pane open (in windows 8 pressing alt + shift + P toggles the display for this). You should then be able to see the tags present on music files. Fix up the album artist bit, make sure you don't have that album on your phone yet, then sync it to the phone through windows media player, and it should be correct.

Hope that helps, its at least what I've seen to be the cause of these unknown artist issues...

Yeah, I've double checked that both the "contributing artist" and "album artist" were filled in, but the problem persists. Interestingly, if I use Nokia Music instead of Xbox Music, there is no problem. Pretty weird that Nokia Music can "read" the file from Windows better than Xbox Music can.

 

[gsquared]

I wrote a post a while back on how to fix this. I don't feel like writing it again. search my old posts. I wrote it not long after Win8 was released.

 

[jeffaz76]

Check the mp3 tags like artist, album, etc. Just go into the properties of the file on the PC. That is where the phone pulls the info from, not the file name. At least that was the issue for me for a few songs.

 

[coip]

I wrote a post a while back on how to fix this. I don't feel like writing it again. search my old posts. I wrote it not long after Win8 was released.

Well, I just sifted through every Xbox music post you made in the last year and couldn't quite find it, but I sure did learn a lot more about Xbox music doing it.

Check the mp3 tags like artist, album, etc. Just go into the properties of the file on the PC. That is where the phone pulls the info from, not the file name. At least that was the issue for me for a few songs.

I've already done this. I've made sure the artist information in the file (right click, properties, etc.) was filled in but it still doesn't seem to work right for some songs. Very odd. Nokia Music can handle it just fine, though, with no mistakes.

 

[halcyonboy]

I noticed that in the GDR2 info that one of the updates relates to xbox music handling tags and music information better, so hopefully that will also help!

 

[buddler]

Sadly and simply: no solution with gdr2 and after several reboots and one reset.

 

[Ed Boland]

Editing MP3 tags is a pain in the ***... but it works!

 

[muhdalam]

I prefer editing tags on my desktop (right click, properties...) and then copy-pasting the mp3 files onto the phone. I don't use WMP or any other software to 'synchronize' my music. Just open the 'Windows Phone' folder in 'My Computer', navigate to the Music folder and paste all your music there. I have yet to have any problems with the tags while using this method. I tried WMP synchronization when I bought my phone but it was quite a pain.

 

[Drusstw]

i'm experiencing the same problems... i use mp3tag and it works with all my other players except the recently updated wp8.1 music player. some displays correctly, some don't