Plex adding a single album as multiple "albums"

[banjopotato]

Server Version#: 1.18.2.2058
Player Version#: 4.14.2
Plex Premium

Since the last few updates of PMS, I’m finding that albums that are freshly added to the folder that houses my music library are showing up as multiple “albums” with a few tracks each. This is happening with most (but not all) albums added now. All of them have good metadata in their tags. But they end up looking like this:

Now, on this album there are two discs (named “Stripes” and “Dots”) but this happens with albums that have no such contrivances. And it happens almost every time. Worse, sometimes adding multiple albums from different artists results in their metadata getting confused (so an artist for one album ends up being also attached to an album from a different artist).

Plex always worked well for me so I’m trying to determine if this is a bug in the new PMS versions or if it’s somehow a corruption in the database. Will be grateful for any help.

[ChuckPa]

Remember, all of the music matching code (Premium & Basic) was completely rewritten.

If it’s not structured as expected, it will see multiple albums

It looks to me as if your structure is:

Robyn Hitchcock/
  Robyn Sings (Stripes) - disc 1/
     ... tracks here ...
  Robyn Sings (Stripes) - disc 2/
     ... tracks here ...

  Robyn Sings  (Dots) - disc 1/
     ... tracks here ...
  Robyn Sings  (Dots) - disc 2/
     ... tracks here ...

If this is correct then what it’s doing is correct. It is classifying them as 4 albums.

Correct structure is required

Robyn Hitchcock/
  Robyn Sings (Stripes)/
    Disc 1/
      ... Tracks here
    Disc 2/
      ... Tracks here

etc

[banjopotato]

Thanks, Chuck. In fact the structure is:

Robyn Hitchcock - Robyn Sings/
  Disc 1 (Stripes)
     ... tracks here ...
  Disc 2 (Dots)
     ... tracks here ...

While it may be better to have an Artist/Album/Tracks folder structure, that isn’t possible for this directory without curating/editing all the albums individually. And this kind of structure did work with these libraries for months post-rewrite (they were upgraded to the new matching code right after the changeover).

[ChuckPa]

Thanks. That’s why it’s detecting.

Put them in [Stripes] and [Dots]

[] demarks invisible text.

The resultant structure then will be compliant and be:

Robyn Hitchcock/
  Robyn Sings/
    Disc 1/
     .
     . tracks 
    Disc 2/
     .
     .

[banjopotato]

While that might explain the problem for this particular album, it doesn’t explain why it happens with lots of other albums in which there isn’t this unusual disc naming going on. For example, I had the same thing happen (multiple “albums” showing up in the Plex interface, each with a few tracks and not all with the correct album title, when all should really be on one, single-disc album) when adding an album with this structure:

The Clean - Syd's Pink Wiring System/
      ... tracks here ...

I then had to manually merge the various “albums” and then refresh metadata on the new combined album to get everything looking the way it ought to.

[ChuckPa]

The album structure there should be:

The Clean/
  Syd's Pink Wiring Systems/
    ... tracks

Adding Music Media From Folders | Plex Support

Music/
  ArtistName/
    AlbumName/
      [ Disc N ]/   -  use only if multi disc
        TrackNumber - TrackName.ext

My Naming rules for Picard: (Creates the “Disc N” directory if needed)

$if2(%albumartist%,%artist%)/
$if2(%albumartist%,%artist%) - %album%/
$if($gt(%totaldiscs%,1),Disc %discnumber%/,)
$num(%tracknumber%,2) - %title%

[banjopotato]

Thanks for your input. I’m not convinced that that’s the problem given that it worked perfectly for months (even after the rewriting of the metadata systems in PMS) with the directory structures I have and which I cannot change.

And, actually, that link you provided says this:

In the absence of embedded metadata in your tracks, the file naming and organization are both very important. You should name and organize the tracks as follows:

• Music/ArtistName - AlbumName/TrackNumber - TrackName.ext

Notice what they recommend? “ArtistName - AlbumName” as the enclosing folder for the tracks. That’s what I have and it’s not working. Also, these files all have embedded metadata.

[ChuckPa]

I will review the support document.

I wonder if something did change and hasn’t been reflected.

[ChuckPa]

That didn’t take long. There is an issue.

As documented.

As I have it.

[banjopotato]

I’m not sure what those images show. Can you explain? Also, how did you get them? I don’t see a way to show a window labeled “Media Info” from the album page.

[leelynds]

Actually, neither of the examples that @ChuckPa shows is the correct way for the new Plex Music as documented.

Documentation for folder / file structure relating to the new system can be found at

Correcting Your Music Content Matches | Plex Support

and we are told there to organize this way:
Music/ArtistName/AlbumName/TrackNumber - TrackName.ext

Following the rules, it would be:
/share/music/The Alan Parsons Project/Ammonia Avenue/01 - Prime Time.mp3

Documentation for upgrading and creating music libraries with the new system is difficult to find, because it is under the “Features” section in the support articles. That isn’t where I personally would look for information on organizing my music.

The support articles under Music Files (Naming and Organizing) are for the old system. It’s no wonder that media isn’t always recognized properly by Plex when there are different rules depending on where you look for help.

I would think that a re-write of the documentation for “Music Files (Naming and Organizing)” is required, so that it has the same information as it does under the “Features” section.

[banjopotato]

Thanks, leelynds. Even the page you linked to only says that the recommended folder structure is “the best way,” not that it’s the only way:

At the very least, you should ensure that your music content is organized so that content from different albums are contained in different folders.

And it would be weird if suddenly, unannounced, it became the only way since previously having tracks in a containing folder with “ArtistName - AlbumTitle” as its name worked fine in the recent past. It also qualifies as meeting what they ask for “at the very least.”.

And, mind you, all of these files are tagged appropriately with content for each album in its own folder. It ought to work.

[leelynds]

I agree, there’s probably several ways it should work.

I was just pointing out that there are discrepancies in the support articles, as well as the fact that you can different advice, depending on which Ninja/Moderator/Employee is trying to help.