Isn't a release Artist meant to be the person or group that performed the work?

So, I’m using Picard to tag my music collection (as you do), and I’m starting on musicals, and got what I found to be some wrong results:



(and many, many more).

Why is the Composer listed as the Artist on these recordings? The cast are the artists that performed it. They are the artists credited on the cover.

I can’t see any exception to this in the Style Guide for Musical Theatre, but I thought it better to ask the question before starting an edit war with people who think that Andrew Lloyd Weber counts as a performer.

Actually, the Theater style guide says “In most cases, the release group and release artist credit should be to the writers, rather than performers, which should be indicated using relationships.”

The recording artists are the performers, and the track artists depend on how they are presented on the release.

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Ah, I see. I was reading " The recording artist credit should be to the performer."

Ok, well, I fundamentally disagree with that choice, but I won’t fight it.

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It makes sense when you think about grouping releases. A release group will have the same release and the same artist. If you use performers as artists, that may make grouping difficult.

I’m not understanding.
AIUI:
If the performers are not the same then the Releases should be in different RGs.
And putting all Beethoven, 5th Symphony in one RG would be somewhat contrary to community practice.

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Classical style seems to differ from Theater style, though. Putting all of performers and composers in the artist field is not something I do when tagging my own files, but that is another story.