Plex Music mangling classical music collections - won't leave metadata alone?

Plex Media Server Metadata & Adding Files
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Server Version#: 1.19.5.3112
Player Version#: N/A

I have a large collection of classical music, most of which is in large box-sets. These box-sets typically have fairly diverse and hard to align metadata across the various libraries/databases out there, so I have taken to managing it exclusively locally (inside the files) to protect the content. and structure This means that what is in my local file metadata may not align with whatever “public” metadata is used by the scanners, as it is very common for that data to be flat out wrong or formatted sloppily/incorrectly.

To further facilitate this, I have separated the classical music section into its own library from my “modern artists”, I have set that library to use only embedded tags and local metadata. I have disabled every capability I can that suggests possibly “looking” at outside data (showing related artists, concerts, etc.). SO, this library SHOULD not be looking at anything except my local files.

I have tried both old and new versions of the Plex Music scanner. I have tried cleansing the tags, renaming the files, manipulating every possible setting I can find. I have even gone so far as to strip the box-set tags to the absolute most basic metadata only… no metadata database IDs, no barcodes, ASINs, publishers, or anything that might cause the tags to trigger a “match” with an external source.

After all of this, no matter what else I do, every single time I add these files back to the library, the music scanner CONSTANTLY refreshes the metadata and groups the various discs in entirely nonsensical orders, not aligned with ANY of the data in place. So I end up with 80-100 disc box-sets that have the discs just randomly shoved together under album names that are just wrong.

I have removed the files from the library, scanned, deleted, optimized and cleaned bundles, and still… EVERY TIME I PUT THE FILES BACK (even with different naming conventions), the scanner puts them back in the nonsensical order, disregarding the local metadata. HELP! What is wrong? Is it the scanner? Is it my files? I’m lost and starting to look for a different music streamer.

Additional info for the box-set I’m currently working with:
File types = .flac
File Names = |Year| - |AlbumArtist| - |Album| - CD|NNN|-TR|NN| (e.g. “2004 - Antonio Vivaldi - Violin Concertos, Op. 8 (8-12) The Masterworks - CD002-TR01.flac”)
Tags included = artist, title, album, tracknumber, date, genre, albumartist, discnumber, artistsort, albumartistsort, [embedded cover]

HHHHEEEELLLLLLPPPPP!
Signed, a severely frustrated user.
Thanks!

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First, make sure your library and metadata agents are configured to prefer local metadata.

Second, the newer scanner is more accurate than the old one, but, it’s also pickier about

  • a) correct embedded tags, and
  • b) album titles matching folder names (this one makes no sense to me, but that’s the way it is)

For a box set, these things need to be true:

  • The Album tag must be identical in all tracks
  • The Album Artist tag must be identical in all tracks
  • The disc number tag must be properly populated (see screenshot in the thread linked above)
  • Do not use something like “1 of 10” or “1/10” in the Track Number field.

Having the year in your filenames might be causing a problem. You’re better off removing it from the filename and making sure the embedded tag is correct. My filenames are strictly “|Track| - |Title|.ext” (e.g. “01 - Concerto In F major - I. Allegro.flac”)

If you have a 2 or 3-disc box set, try these tips with that set first, before tackling your big one(s).

You’re certainly not alone in frustration with Plex and classical music (and not just Plex, either). You might want to take a look at this feature request. It explains most of Plex’s shortcomings with regard to classical music:

1 Like
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Thank you for the information! I believe I have actually managed to solve my problem. What I have discovered is that, in the multiple collections that were getting mangled when scanned in, that they all include Musicbrainz extended tags (which I hadn’t previously noted). When I remove those tags, the collections appear to load as “designed.”

It’s still a little frustrated that there isn’t a “harder” line between managing with local/embedded metadata and using online metadata sources. That seems to be the real issue… even when I tell plex not to look online… it’ll still do it. Would be nice if I didn’t have to manage the tags THAT closely. Oh well, at least it’s not broken anymore.

Thanks again!

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