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[WIP] Add support for a multi-valued genres field
Add multi-valued genres field
Feb 23, 2026
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Description
Replaces singular
genrefield with multi-valuedgenresfield to eliminate synchronization issues between singular/plural fields that caused repeated retagging operations.Key changes:
Database migration infrastructure: New
migrationstable tracks completed migrations.genre→genresmigration runs once on first invocation, splitting on common separators (,,;,/) with precedence order - only the first matching separator is used per genre string.Metadata source updates: MusicBrainz, Beatport, Discogs, and LastGenre plugins now populate
genreslist field instead of singulargenrestring.Template function enhancement:
%firsttemplate function now splits on\x00(multi-value delimiter) by default for seamless genre list handling.Deprecation handling: Metadata sources passing deprecated
genreparameter automatically split on known separators with deprecation warning.Backward compatibility: Old
genredatabase column remains intact but ignored, allowing rollback to older beets versions without data loss.Migration behavior:
genreis non-empty andgenresis emptySeparator precedence:
When splitting existing
genrestrings, the first matching separator determines the split:"Rock; Pop, Jazz"→["Rock", " Pop, Jazz"](splits on;only)"Rock - Alt, Indie"→["Rock", "Alt, Indie"](splits on-only)This ensures deterministic migration but means mixed-separator genres may need manual cleanup post-migration.
To Do
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