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Topic: With? Feat./featuring? And? (Read 1505 times) previous topic - next topic
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With? Feat./featuring? And?

I often see "X with Y" in track artist fields, and I'm wondering (can't help overthinking) why we use this. Why not use "X and Y?" Perhaps there is a standard in place I've not learned of as yet.

And how is "feat." or "featuring" different—if it is at all?

I'm a big fan of the ampersand, and will replace "and" or "with" with "&." Is there a compelling reason not to do so?

And I always strip those "feat." artists from track file names and titles. I just can't stand role call after a track title.
 

Re: With? Feat./featuring? And?

Reply #1 –
I use multiple artist entries and insert separators on display using $meta_sep(). All main artists are separated by a comma, except the last, who is separated by an ampersand. Featured guest artists go into a separate field. This allows to organize the collection by any artist no matter in what order they appear, change the separator in the future for easier readability and make the display language-neutral.

I interpret a "featuring" artist as contributing less than than the primary, such as as if one person joins a band with a solo performance, and trust that the role is accurately assigned without attempting to judge every release by myself. In pop rap, hip-hop and contemporary R&B music there are often an overwhelming amount of featured artists, which would make the track listing cluttered if they were all entered into the artist field. And they are not always consistently credited across all compilations.

A duo of two singers I would consider equal artists and enter in the main field.

Re: With? Feat./featuring? And?

Reply #2 –
"Feat." seems to be the standard in the online databases.   Personally, I hate it and I change it to "with" or "and".  

I'm not opposed to "&" but I generally use "and" except where "&" is part of the official band name.

Quote
And I always strip those "feat." artists from track file names and titles. I just can't stand role call after a track title.
I keep the metadata title field is clean and simple but with Various Artist albums I'll include the artist in the file name.   "(Don't Fear) The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult.mp3".  (I've got 8 copies of that song on different various artist collections!  :D ) 

Re: With? Feat./featuring? And?

Reply #3 –
"X with Y"
I use X as the [album artist] tag and X;Y for  the [artist] tag
TheWellTemperedComputer.com

Re: With? Feat./featuring? And?

Reply #4 –
I also drop the feat. whoever in song titles, unless the track listing includes the song with and without the guest artist.

Re: With? Feat./featuring? And?

Reply #5 –
Quote from: DVDdoug on
I'm not opposed to "&" but I generally use "and" except where "&" is part of the official band name.

I totally get where you are coming from. Makes good sense.

I'm not getting the impression that "with" has some special meaning in the industry we need to recognize and repeat. And "feat." is generally just a pain in the ass you include in metadata if inclined, but strip out of file names for the sake of brevity and clarity.

Re: With? Feat./featuring? And?

Reply #6 –
I do always remove featured artists from both titles and file names to make them shorter and less likely to overflow available width in lists. If the %guest artist% is separate, the display also becomes shorter because the main artist is not repeated when the whole list of artists happens to be different from the %album artist%. It would take some complex scripting to filter out identical entries in %artist% and %album artist%. In the example of David Guetta, I'd have his name on every track...

It is essential to avoid creation of multiple entries in the library, with only only 1 or 2 discs under each.
Snap! feat. Niki Haris
Snap! feat. Summer
Snap! feat. Rukmani

Or artists with very short names that may collide with other artists, or clutter up the library even if they don't have any full releases under them (like Dev).

A simple player will generally only display Artist and Title, and without the guest artists, its playlist will be neatly aligned and tidy.

If a prominent vocalist not credited to as "featuring", I would usually add it to Performer, and not display at all, but still include for searching and connecting music together.

I wish they'd cut down on the featuring artists in contemporary pop music, a tagging it becomes increasingly complicated.

Re: With? Feat./featuring? And?

Reply #7 –
I personally don't like "&", "and" and "feat.". I use "with" or "featuring".