Artist picture retriever

[Steven]

This plugin retrieves artist pictures from last.fm and wikipedia
https://getmusicbee.com/download/plugins/mb_ArtistPicturePlugin.zip

You will need the the latest patch version or MusicBee RC3+ when it is available
https://getmusicbee.com/patches/MusicBee36_Patched.zip
unzip and replace the existing musicbee application files

Happy to hand this plugin over to someone to improve it or maintain it if the websites change their layout

[sveakul]

Thanks Steven!  Does it appear as a selectable panel element for right sidebar, like the current "artist picture"?  Or as a full plugin on its own?  Some installation and setup instructions would be appreciated.

[Steven]

Just install the plugin and the pictures from the plugin work in preference to the bind search. There is no UI.

[sveakul]

Working great, placing high quality pictures of the artist in the "artist picture" frame element! Using MusicBee 3.6.9198 P, Windows 11 x64.

Question:  can you tell if the picture is from last.fm or wikipedia within the MB interface?

Comment:  the plugin is downloading the original picture as found in its original size--which is the desired action.  In cases where the frame provided cannot display the original size, the picture is cropped to its center and resized to fit the frame, aspect ratio maintained.  Double-clicking within the "artist picture" frame brings it out of the MB GUI in its full size.  Sometimes the original can be quite large, like 1920 X 1080.  Would it be better to resize first to fit the frame, using original aspect ratio, so that the entire image is being displayed there?  The current crop to center action can be kept as an option.

Plugin as default with original image auto-cropped to center to fit display frame:


Double-click opens full downloaded image size (1920 X 1080, reduced here for Forum post)


These pictures are stored as *.dat files in the  ...\AppData\InternalCache\ArtistBackdrops folder.  The cache is not cleared automatically.

Thanks again for this vast improvement on the original Artist Picture element!

[richard127gm]

Wow! Thanks Steven. I couldn't have believed there would be a solution to this so quickly. Been running it for a while and I can't fault it so far. Brilliant.

[a2a]

Thank you - been using this, too - and it's great 

[richard127gm]

This seems to have stopped working for me. Not getting artist pictures again. Is this due to main app being updated?

[sveakul]

Working fine here, MB 3.6.9319 P

[richard127gm]

Working fine here, MB 3.6.9319 P

Where is that build? Latest I can find is 3.6.9202. Also; do I have to re-integrate the plugin every time I update MB?

I've just re-installed 9202 and re-installed the plugin. Still not working for me. For instance, for Progressive Rock musician Steve Unruh, I'm getting pictures of Steve Jobs and Minecraft pictures??

What would really help is when you paste in your own picture, MB stopped looking up online pictures all together. That way, you wouldn't have to "ban" endless incorrect images.

[sveakul]

The latest patch, now still 3.6.9319, is always at https://getmusicbee.com/patches/MusicBee36_Patched.zip .  Unzip it into your MusicBee folder allowing it to overwrite what it wants.

No, you don't have to re-install the mb_ArtistPicturePlugin.dll plugin.  Be sure you have the version at https://getmusicbee.com/download/plugins/mb_ArtistPicturePlugin.zip .

[richard127gm]

Thanks for that. The newly patched version seems to be working better now. I'll see how things go. In fairness, I do follow some obscure bands and artists that won't always be easy to look up.