Consistently Tagged/Stored Files Albums By Artist are still sorted inconsistently

Plex Media Server
1

Server Version#: 1.25.3.5409-6000
Player Version#: Version 1.39.1.2763-300bb607

Hello,

I have a well organized Synology NAS containing a directory containing albums by artist.

  1. They are sorted as recommended, in neat alphabetized folders containing albums with files named track# - title.
  2. ID3 tags for Artist, and Album Artist are immaculate. I use Media Monkey.
  3. MediaMonkey does not support ArtistSort and AlbumSort, so I used PerfectTunes to confirm that these are not present.
  4. My library is set with all of the recommended settings for local metadata only.
  5. I changed the library’s root folder and did the Plex Dance.

When I view my Plex Library by Albums Sorted by Artist, I get a weird mix of sorting.

For example:

Alice Cooper
Fiona Apple
Jeff Beck
Billy Cobham
Chrysta Bell

It’s consistent on all my Plex clients, so I have filed this under the Plex Server category.

2

Additionally, I have perfect Date tags on every file. With the library set to “Album Sorting: Oldest First”, albums are not at all sorted oldest first but alphabetically by album title. What have I done wrong?

3

If you edit the “Billy Cobham” artist in Plex, is the “Sort Artist” field populated? If so, what’s there?

4

That field is not populated for the Billy Cobham files.
Similarly, it is neither shown nor populated for the Jeff Beck files.

Where does this default sorting coming from if not the file names and there are no sort tags?

5

How are the artist folders named? Is it “Billy Cobham” or “Cobham, Billy”?

I think Plex used to have trouble with “Last, First” folders. I don’t think that’s still true, but it might be worth a try.

Beyond this, it might help to see screenshots of the folder/file structure, and of your tagging app showing these tags: Filename, Album Title, Track Title, Album Artist, Track Artist, Disc Number, Track Number..

6

Thanks Beckfied. Here goes:

The directory structure is consistent across the inconsistently filed entries.

│ Albums by Artist
│├ Lastname, First
││├ (Year) Album Title [bitrate]
│││├ Track# - Track Title.fileExtension

The tags are simple and straightforward. Here’s a screen capture. The first appears under B for Billy (first name) while the second appears under B for Beck (last name).

PS: Funny that I’m talking about Beck’s fields with beckfield :wink:

7

Perhaps I’ll try a few folders set up as “firstname last name” and create a totally new library.

8

lastname, firstname vs. firstname, lastname makes no difference after “the Plex dance”.

Jeff Beck, Fiona Apple, et al insist on being alphabetized under lastname while most others appear under alphabetized under firstname.

What could be causing this?

9

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