Sort Artist field: how do you make it's data appear in the Artist list?

Question

Usually, if I have an album by a particular artist already (e.g. Paul McCartney) and then add another which I want listed under the same artist (e.g. Wings), then there's no problem. I would just enter Paul McCartney in the Sort Artist and Sort Album Artist fields for the Wings album and I'd only have Paul McCartney listed under the artists (in List View).
However, occasionally this doesn't work and I want to know how to sort it. I imported an album by The Jacksons, entered Michael Jackson in the Sort Artist and Sort Album Artist fields, which resulted in The Jacksons being listed amongst the artists alphabetically as if Michael Jackson, although still displayed as The Jacksons. I then imported a Michael Jackson album and entered the same data in the same fields, and although the albums were displayed together and alphabetically listed as if Michael Jackson, they were listed amongst the artists as The Jacksons. I want to see Michael Jackson listed. I have it that way in 2 other libraries. I think this has occured because I entered The Jacksons' album first in a library which contained no Michael Jackson and therefore The Jacksons have taken precedence. How can I sort this?

Answer 1

As I see it the *Album Artist* field should keep tracks of an album together when different Artists are credited on an album. It does work this way in iTunes but not on most iPods. The *Sort Album Artist* field is used to control where that Album Artist is listed among others. e.g. to control whether "The Beatles" get sorted under "B" or "T". While linking different Artist values with an overal Album Artist makes sense, I don't think that the logic of Sort Album Artist was ever intended to merge different values of Album Artist.
Apple don't appear to be working to resolve this issue since it has been evident for quite some time. The workarounds I suggest in the post linked above will give one cover in cover flow, one album in the albums menu and one artist in the artist menu if applied consistently.
With your Paul McCartney/Paul McCartney & Wings issue for example, my preference would be to use the original album artists as credited. Otherwise change the Artist & Album Artist to "Paul McCartney" and then, if you wish, add \[As Wings\] to the album title or individual tracks. If you used Sort Artist & Sort Album Artist to make "Micheal Jackson" sort as "Jackson, Michael", "Janet Jackson" sort as "Jackson, Janet" and "The Jacksons" as "Jacksons" then all the related artists would be listed in the same place, but remain distinct.
tt2