I found the answer. It's in the documentation under 'Add your content' here:
https://docs.funkwhale.audio/user/channels/artist/upload.html
The documentation does not make things altogether clear. It's important to know that:
• Channel is the _container_ which receives **Artist** info., and
• Library is the _container_ which receives **Album** info.
Thus, to all intents and purposes:
Artist = Channel
Album = Library
In FunkWhale, you CANNOT assign tracks to an album after you have uploaded them. You have to make the album (= Library) first, and then upload the tracks into that.
The Short Version
To make filled Albums, this is the order of play in FunkWhale:
- Ensure the tracks you are about to upload contain all appropriate metadata. (You can use MusicBrainz Picard or Audacity etc. separately, to do this.) Then, in FunkWhale...
- Set up the Artist (as a Channel), then
- Set up the Album (as a Library)
- Upload your tracks for an Artist, and in doing so...
- specify which Album those tracks are going to.
Of course, there is a difference between what you can do, and how to do it, particularly when menus are multiple and buried. So...
The Long Version
Step-by-step, here's how to upload tracks to an album in FunkWhale (works for me 7/2023):
Put the metadata into your tracks if necessary. (You can use MusicBrainz Picard or Audacity etc. separately, to do this.)
If not already, set up a Channel for your Artist. This is called an 'Artist Channel'.
Make a Library for your Artist's Album. This should be called an 'Album Library'.
THEN upload the tracks, as follows:
(i) Click the Upload icon in the top of the sidebar
(ii) Select the Channel (Artist) you want to add audio tracks to.
(iii) Select 'Upload' - The 'Publish Audio' screen appears.
(iv) Select the Channel (Artist) you want to publish your audio in.
(v) Select the Album you want to publish the music in.
(vi) Choose the creative commons license to apply
(vii) Click 'Next step'.
(viii) The 'Files to upload' screen will appear. Click 'Browse' to select the files to upload. NB If your audio contains metadata for track position, then FunkWhale will respect that after upload.
(ix) After the files have uploaded, you can click to remove any you don't want if you change your mind, by clicking the 'Remove' button. See * below!
(x) Click 'Publish' to publish the contents.
You should then see all the tracks appearing nicely in the right album.
FunkWhale also offers means to add further data to each track (e.g. track image and tags). You can do this by editing the tracks individually, by clicking the pencil icon next to each track before clicking 'Publish'. If you forgot to do this, don't worry, you can still edit the data afterwards, as follows:
On the Album page which you see after reaching step 3 (x) above, hover over track 1 and click the kebab icon (3 x vertical dots) that appears on the right of that track. From there, select 'Track Details'.
You will see a page showing details of that track. At the top right of the screen, you'll see another kebab icon (3 x vertical dots) - from there select 'Edit'.
On the page that appears, click the 'Show all edits' button to ensure that all editable parameters are visible. Work your way down this page, editing/inserting the data for that track as you wish. When you are done, click the 'Submit and apply edit' button at the bottom right of the screen.
You'll be taken to a page confirming that your edits have been submitted.
Click the 'Back' button in your browser twice, to return to the particular Album page.
Repeat steps 5. to 9. above for tracks 2, 3, etc. until you get to the end of the track list. Yes, I know it's annoying that this can't be done all in one go. Hmm.
Job done.
