# Cannot lock artist
**URL:** https://forums.plex.tv/t/cannot-lock-artist/936193
**Category:** Metadata & Adding Files
**Tags:** server-linux
**Created:** [February 9, 2026, 2:27am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/cannot-lock-artist/936193 "2026-02-09T02:27:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Aquillar](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Aquillar)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 2:27am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/cannot-lock-artist/936193/1 "2026-02-09T02:27:47Z")
This has been an ongoing problem for years.
Letters From Chutney, 1995 by Rainbow Butt Monkeys, no matter what I do it always goes under Finger Eleven. There is not a single tag or folder in the path that says “Finger Eleven”. Editing the album in Plex immediately flips back to “Finger Eleven” with no option to lock it.
Prefer local metadata has always been on. Seems ignored.
I’m holding the album in my hand, it says “Rainbow Butt Monkeys” not “Finger Eleven”. Why won’t Plex respect this?
> **[Letters from Chutney](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_from_Chutney)**
>
> Letters from Chutney is the debut album by the Canadian rock band Rainbow Butt Monkeys, later known as Finger Eleven. It features a different sound than Finger Eleven's subsequent albums, with rock, pop, funk, and metal influences. The album produced three singles, all of which had videos released. The name of the album comes from a dog with a missing eye that the band found on the side of the road. They gave it the name Chutney. The album peaked at No. 45 on the RPM Canadian Albums Chart.
> The O...
[https://www.discogs.com/master/242049-Rainbow-Butt-Monkeys-Letters-From-Chutney](https://www.discogs.com/master/242049-Rainbow-Butt-Monkeys-Letters-From-Chutney)
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### Author:  [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 4:43am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/cannot-lock-artist/936193/2 "2026-02-09T04:43:16Z")
> [@Aquillar](#):
>
> the Canadian rock band Rainbow Butt Monkeys, later known as **Finger Eleven**.
Because it’s the same band.
Have you filled in not only the Artist meta tags, but also the Album Artist tags?
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### Author:  [@Aquillar](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Aquillar)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 10:06am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/cannot-lock-artist/936193/3 "2026-02-09T10:06:50Z")
Released as Rainbow Butt Monkeys. Respect the release!!
Yes, Artist and Albumartist are both “Rainbow Butt Monkeys” for every track.
No locking option.
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### Author:  [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 10:10am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/cannot-lock-artist/936193/4 "2026-02-09T10:10:00Z")
The “master list” for Plex is [MusicBrainz.org](http://MusicBrainz.org) and they are listing the two names as belonging to the same band. That’s why they lead to the same database record in Plex.
> **[Finger Eleven - MusicBrainz](https://musicbrainz.org/artist/0b76f632-25fa-4681-9862-86499c28afd3)**
>
> Type: Group, Founded: 1996 in Burlington, Area: Canada
The best you can do is to set the Album Artist to “Finger Eleven”, but keeping the Artist at “Rainbow Butt Monkeys”.
That way they appear under the same Artist still, but you will see their original name when looking at and playing the first album.
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### Author:  [@Aquillar](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Aquillar)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 11:19am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/cannot-lock-artist/936193/5 "2026-02-09T11:19:01Z")
Then this is a bug in Plex. it can’t lock the album and Prefer Local Metadata makes no difference. Even when the album is unmatched, I can’t change a thing, something is broken under the hood.
Re-tagging the properly tagged files is a step backwards.
Even MusicBrainz calls it Rainbow Butt Monkeys
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### Author:  [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 12:22pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/cannot-lock-artist/936193/6 "2026-02-09T12:22:20Z")
It’s the same band. There is only one dataset in the Plex database for one band. That includes the band name. This is how the database in Plex works.
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### Author:  [@Aquillar](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Aquillar)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 2:00pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/cannot-lock-artist/936193/7 "2026-02-09T14:00:34Z")
This album does not say “Finger Eleven” on it, it says “Rainbow Butt Monkeys”. Respect the release!!!
What’s the point of “Prefer local metadata” and the Unmatch option, or even why allow editing of the Album (without a lock) when it just gets reverted right back? This is a bug.
My library, my rules.
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### Author:  [@Aquillar](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Aquillar)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2026, 12:02pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/cannot-lock-artist/936193/8 "2026-02-17T12:02:33Z")
What’s the point of “Prefer local metadata” and the Unmatch option, or even why allow editing of the Album (without a lock) when it just gets reverted right back? This is a bug.
Plex?
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### Author:  [@Aquillar](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Aquillar)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2026, 10:57am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/cannot-lock-artist/936193/9 "2026-04-02T10:57:57Z")
Hello Plex?
“Prefer Local Metadata” is ignored, library is matching an artist wrong, and there’s no lock possible.
> Plex Media Server magically scans and organizes your files, sorting your media intuitively and beautifully.
Intuitively is when the artist name on the front cover matches the artist name in the library.
> and watch as it automatically sorts your media into your very own Plex library
Is it really my own library? Right now it seems more under Plex’s control.
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### Author:  [@Aquillar](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Aquillar)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2026, 1:08pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/cannot-lock-artist/936193/10 "2026-05-26T13:08:00Z")
Problem still exists on 1.43.2.10687-563d026ea
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### Author:  [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2026, 1:08pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/cannot-lock-artist/936193/11 "2026-08-24T13:08:40Z")
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