Apple - Can the finder edit mp3 sound file tags like artist?

Finder doesn't have the smarts to change this - but finder does have a services menu that will allow you to craft a custom automator service that would help automate the process.

You can pop up a dialog to get the artist name, store it, import the songs to iTunes and set the Artist (and/or many of the other tags)

This is a nice way to learn automator if you care, but Finder won't be doing the writing of the mp3 tags. iTunes will launch and do the writing once finder hands off the file(s) and the variable name storing the artist string to iTunes.

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For those seeking a free terminal-based solution

  • Per the rest of the answerers in here, Finder (as of El Capitan) does not do this.
  • I arrived at id3v2 referenced in a Linux forum.

Installation

Via HomeBrew - Update HomeBrew and install commands

brew update && brew install id3v2

Example Usage

Change Artist to Prince

id3v2 -a "Prince" 01\ Wow.mp3

Change Title to Wow

id3v2 -t "Wow" 01\ Wow.mp3

I am 99% sure that Finder cannot change tags. Check here for free ID3 editors.