# How to merge two folders one with '&' and one with 'and' for same artist

**URL:** <https://discourse.beets.io/t/how-to-merge-two-folders-one-with-and-one-with-and-for-same-artist/571>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [December 22, 2018, 4:55pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/how-to-merge-two-folders-one-with-and-one-with-and-for-same-artist/571 "2018-12-22T16:55:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![janpeeters](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.beets.io/janpeeters/32/182_2.png) [@janpeeters](https://discourse.beets.io/u/janpeeters)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2018, 4:55pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/how-to-merge-two-folders-one-with-and-one-with-and-for-same-artist/571/1 "2018-12-22T16:55:59Z")

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Some albums by artists/collaborations with an ‘and’ or ‘&’ in there name are submitted with different spelling into MusicBrainz and therefore get filed into two folders instead of one during import. E.g.

Ólafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm  
Ólafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm

What would be a best practise to merge these two folder under the name

Ólafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm

Thanks, Jan

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**Author:** ![adrian](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.beets.io/adrian/32/4_2.png) [@adrian](https://discourse.beets.io/u/adrian)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2018, 8:28pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/how-to-merge-two-folders-one-with-and-one-with-and-for-same-artist/571/2 "2018-12-22T20:28:41Z")

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You’ll want to import them together as one album. Here’s a relevant old thread from the mailing list:  
[https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/beets-users/EhJXmqWNr6o](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/beets-users/EhJXmqWNr6o)

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**Author:** ![janpeeters](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.beets.io/janpeeters/32/182_2.png) [@janpeeters](https://discourse.beets.io/u/janpeeters)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2018, 8:54pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/how-to-merge-two-folders-one-with-and-one-with-and-for-same-artist/571/3 "2018-12-22T20:54:26Z")

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Hi @adrian,

Thanks for pointing me to the Google Groups thread. But I guess that solution is for albums that span multiple discs. In my situation there are totally different albums by the same artists in each folder. Not the same album split over multiple folders. So adding them as one folder wouldn’t make much sense I guess.  
Is there a trick to get both different albums filed under one folder.

Thanks, Jan

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**Author:** ![adrian](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.beets.io/adrian/32/4_2.png) [@adrian](https://discourse.beets.io/u/adrian)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2018, 9:14pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/how-to-merge-two-folders-one-with-and-one-with-and-for-same-artist/571/4 "2018-12-22T21:14:03Z")

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Oops; sorry—I misread your question. You can just use the `modify` command to change the artist. Type something like `beet modify -a albumartist=something` to change it.

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**Author:** ![janpeeters](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.beets.io/janpeeters/32/182_2.png) [@janpeeters](https://discourse.beets.io/u/janpeeters)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2018, 9:19pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/how-to-merge-two-folders-one-with-and-one-with-and-for-same-artist/571/5 "2018-12-22T21:19:33Z")

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Terrific that worked like a charm! Thanks.

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**Author:** ![chet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@chet](https://discourse.beets.io/u/chet)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 5:09pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/how-to-merge-two-folders-one-with-and-one-with-and-for-same-artist/571/6 "2022-04-08T17:09:18Z")

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Hi! I’m sorry to jump in years after on this thread, but I’m having troubles with this. I have the same question than @janpeeters had but with Sleater-Kinney (I’m having duplicated artists folders, one with – and one with -).

If you run `beet modify -a albumartist=something` as @adrian suggested, my prompt starts displaying

```auto
...
Burial - Chemz / Dolphinz
  albumartist: Burial -> Sleater-Kinney
Burial - Kindred
  albumartist: Burial -> Sleater-Kinney
Burial - Rival Dealer
  albumartist: Burial -> Sleater-Kinney
...

```

until I control-C it in panic. The same happens when I run `beet modify -a albumartist="Sleater–Kinney" albumartist="Sleater-Kinney"`

I’m obviously doing something wrong. I appreciate guidance here!

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**Author:** ![janpeeters](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.beets.io/janpeeters/32/182_2.png) [@janpeeters](https://discourse.beets.io/u/janpeeters)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 5:24pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/how-to-merge-two-folders-one-with-and-one-with-and-for-same-artist/571/7 "2022-04-08T17:24:58Z")

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As far as I can tell you’re missing one part.  
After the `albumartist=“name”` you have to type a query like:  
`Beet modify -a albumartist=“name” Sleater-Kinney `  
Otherwise it will change all albumartists in your beets database.