Extending the "Composer" framework to Artist/Performers/Ensembles

[JWC (Jim)]

Following up on some of the discussion here in a new thread:

Artist merge very difficult / impossible with larger libraries

There are a number of things here. First, we hope to do better merging IDs of artists which have localized names. There are both metadata (getting the merges correct) and product (“I want this native Swedish band to have it’s name in Swedish, but you don’t”, etc.) issues to resolve. And we are limited by the quality of the metadata itself. Second, although it doesn’t help your current situation either, it’s possible that the new UI in development will make things easier in terms of selecting…

In general, it appears that the way Roon handles the various categories of roles for “entities” (artists, performers, ensembles, orchestras, etc) is rather complex under the hood. This has led to multiple ways in which information is displayed, and also the inability to merge entities from different categories (e.g. artists vs. performers). One possible UI route toward resolution could be to expand the framework currently used for Composers.

Currently, if an entity is flagged as a Composer, their information page contains two top-level categories/tabs:

1. Composer (does what is says)
2. Performer (encompasses every other role they may have played on any album)

Overall, this appears to default to Performer unless an entity is tagged as a Classical Composer (correct behavior, I think). Furthermore, the Performer results are subdivided at the album level for Main, Appearances, Production, etc (after much scrolling).

Might it make more sense if all “entities” in Roon could be fully merged regardless of the category of their role (a particular problem for Orchestras it seems, but other roles as well), and their main landing page would then have Tabs/Categories similar to those seen for Composer/Performers? In this case, the categories/tabs might be:

1. Artist (the person/ensemble listed on the album cover or spine; this is the default unless they are a Classical Composer)
2. Composer (does what is says, default if Classical Composer)
3. Performer (appears in any performing role, but are not the primary artist listed on the cover)
4. Production (producer, engineer, liner notes, librettist, caterer, etc)

If an “entity” has no roles in certain categories, there is no tab for those categories. As with the current Composer view, the photo/bio might remain the same regardless of the tab/category clicked.

I fully admit that there is a potential drawback here in that certain information is hidden behind clicks instead of merely scrolling. That said, the overall Roon UI scheme does not indicate an aversion to clicks. Perhaps the ability to merge entities regardless of their role in the current framework would be sufficient, but it’s interesting to contemplate other possibilities.

N.B. This request is similar in spirit to others, but somewhat different in implementation.

[tripleCrotchet (Tony)]

Yes. That works for me .

Until these discussions started I had no idea what exactly the distinction was between artist / performer and what the consequences were. Not being able to merge artist / performers is a real problem if in effect in many cases the only work around is a manual edit of local tags to match roon tags.

I like the OP proposal also for usability / consistency of the GUI as well. Although roon obviously prioritises simplicity and elegance of the UI it is also the case that inconsistencies of approach in the different corners of roon are creeping in. It would be a great shame to loose too much of that simplicity and elegance as the complexity of future releases continues.

[Jeff_White]

By the way CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE is awesome.
Listen to Splanky or Night Train.
If you want to see if your Bass is performing these test it beautifully.

Jeff