It’s entirely possible that Plex is using the root folder name (1 level above the MP3 file itself) as the album name and trying its best to guess from there.
I am not sure if Plex is going to let you do EXACTLY what you want to do, in EXACTLY the way you want to do it, and it might take some experimentation with a test library and differing folder structures to see how Plex reacts.
Ultimately, Plex really is expecting Albums and that is just the way it works, and unfortunately you might just have to accept that you are currently trying to do something that the product just doesn’t like.
So I would suggest trying the following to see how it behaves…
- Create a new Test-Music library, and point it to a brand new location on your computer, with no content in it.
- In Plex settings > Agents, make sure that “Local Media Assets” is at the top of the list as follows…
Artists:
Albums:
- Check your test library settings…
This one you might have to play around with…
Now compile new folder somewhere with some MP3’s in it, and make them resemble an album, such as …
C:\MyPlexData\New-Test-Music-Library\Bob Marley And The Wailers - Legend The Best Of Bob Marley And The Wailers\
So basically the folder structure is this…
C:\MyPlexData
C:\MyPlexData\New-Test-Music-Library
C:\MyPlexData\New-Test-Music-Library\Artist Name - Album Name\
Then under there, you would have your MP3’s such as…
Bob Marley And The Wailers - 01 - Is This Love.mp3
Bob Marley And The Wailers - 02 - No Woman No Cry.mp3
Bob Marley And The Wailers - 03 - Could You Be Loved.mp3
Bob Marley And The Wailers - 04 - Three Little Birds.mp3
Bob Marley And The Wailers - 05 - Buffalo Soldier.mp3
All of this is based on this album…
or…
So long as the embedded ID3 tags are OK in those files, if this works, and Plex shows you a valid Album and Artist, then you will start to see how it behaves.
The only other idea I have is essentially to make your current folder structure mimic a “Various Artists” random album.
I did that with a folder full of random tracks that I had accumulated over the years.
I created a folder name called…
P:\Plex\Music\Various Tracks\
And edited the ID3 tag information for all the MP3’s in bulk, setting the album name to “Various Tracks”…
And in Plex, they show up like this…
–
Artist view:
–
The Artist is Various Artists
–
And the Various Tracks album:
