Artist & Album Overview Revamp

[carlhye]

MA 2.10 — Synthesized from Marvin/Carl meeting notes, June 5 2026

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Problem statement

The current artist and album overview pages prioritize completeness over discovery. Tracks, albums, and related artists are presented as flat, scrolling lists — meaning that by the time a user reaches "Similar Artists" or the album description, they've already scrolled through hundreds of items. The album page in particular undersells the content: the art is small, the description is buried, and the overall experience doesn't match the richness of the metadata we already have. This works against MA's goal of promoting exploration.

Community signals

• Enhancement: Enriched description readability + in-library hyperlinking (inspired by Roon Valence) — User articulates the exploration loop problem directly: descriptions are unformatted raw data dumps, and artist/album names mentioned in text aren't navigable. Requests Roon Valence-style clickable in-library links to turn passive reading into active discovery.
• More items per row in the discovery page — User requesting denser content layout; current pages feel too spacious and require too much scrolling to reach discovery-relevant content.

Scope & Boundaries

In scope

• Artist page: replace full scrolling track/album list with a carousel-style view for albums (1–2 rows, most popular/latest), so Similar Artists are reachable without scrolling the page
• Artist page: limit tracks shown by default with a "load more" option
• Album page: larger album art in header, prominent description placement ("vinyl booklet" feel), small artist icon
• Album page: collapse header on scroll (art + description shrinks as user scrolls into the track list)
• Hover-to-reveal play button (consistent with Eriol's "blue = action" principle), replacing always-visible play controls
• Quick wins can ship before the full revamp — treat as two phases

Not in scope

• Filter/sort UI redesign on overview pages (separate opportunity or part of full revamp phase 2)
• Similar artists algorithm or metadata sourcing changes
• Mobile app implementation (follow UX guidelines once established)

Foreseen solution

Phase 1 — Quick wins:

1. Carousel for album art on artist page (max 2 rows, "view all" expansion)
2. Default track count limited, "load more" at bottom
3. Hover-to-reveal play button with blue active indicator

Phase 2 — Full revamp:

1. Album page: large header with art + description prominent in layout
2. Collapse-on-scroll: header compresses as user scrolls, returning to standard size
3. Artist icon on album page header
4. Work with Eriol on full design exploration of both pages with discovery/exploration as the guiding principle

Risks & open questions

• How does Phase 1 interact with Eriol's ongoing mobile work? Should we coordinate to avoid double-rework.
• Carousel display order for albums: popularity vs. recency vs. editorial — needs a decision.
• Collapse-on-scroll behaviour needs to be consistent across desktop and mobile web.
• Phase 1 hover behaviour: what happens on touch screens where hover doesn't exist?

Appetite

Medium (Phase 1 alone could be Small). Phase 1 can ship independently in one cycle; Phase 2 is a separate cycle.

Execution issues

No response

Decision log

Date	Decision	Outcome
2026-06-05	Two-phase approach agreed	Quick wins first, full revamp in a follow-up cycle
2026-06-05	Hover play button + blue active indicator	Deferred from 2.9, targeting 2.10
2026-06-23	Published to GitHub	#203