I suspect that it's this way because if there are 3 artists and only 1 or 2 have ANVs it would be impossible to know which ones the ANV field applies to. What do you think should happen in such a case? N/A or something could be written for the other artists'?
Hi zoomorph,
yeah - that's indeed a problem.
For myself I have now solved this by using multiple multi-value artist fields (%ARTIST%, %ARTIST2%, %ARTISTn%).
$meta(ARTIST,0) = Primary name
$meta(ARTIST,1) = Artist name variation
$meta(ARTIST2,0) = Join (e.g.: Feat., &, vs., pres.)
$meta(ARTIST2,1) = Primary name of second artist
$meta(ARTIST2,2) = Artist name variation of second artist
Visual example:
In case anyone likes this concept, here's the pattern of my custom artist playlist column (up to 4 artists):
$if(%ARTIST2%,$if2($meta(ARTIST,1)>>*<<,$meta(ARTIST,0))[ >>$meta(ARTIST2,0)<< $if2($meta(ARTIST2,2)>>*<<,$meta(ARTIST2,1))][ >>$meta(ARTIST3,0)<< $if2($meta(ARTIST3,2)>>*<<,$meta(ARTIST3,1))],[$if2($meta(ARTIST,1)>>*<<,%TRACK ARTIST%)])