Well. Hm. I know this is old but since I'm looking to solve the issue myself I'll just share what I did to get the artist art back. I, too, use MP3TAG.
What I did was uninstall the update for Google Play Music after clearing out cache and data and then it reverted back to the factory version that came with my device which is build v5.5.151101148372. Then I went to play store and disabled auto update for the app itself. And, so, now it displays all of my art. It still has the glitch where if the screen rotates at any time, you can't skip forward on a song. If you try to flip forward in a song it just starts the song over again. And, of course, the art that actually is available is zoomed in the the point that it is unbearable
Now...I don't view the issue as a problem in a technological way. I view this absense of art as a continuence of what we have seen happen through the years as digital music downloads have essentially destroyed the culture of music enjoyment.
There was a time when we were kids and cut grass all week just to go to the record store for that new album that we were saving for. We hopped on our bike and went to buy the thing and as soon as we got home, we listened to it while going through all of the album art and reading the lyrics and just enjoying all of that stuff that was part of it. As the age of digital downloads has evolved, the enjoyment that we had of flipping through album art has been all but destroyed. The entire culture has been ruined in my view. Today, music has devolved into nothing more than a download with no meaning and is generally aimed at creating consumers of the next one hit download.
And that is unfortunate. The era of digital downloads essentially ensures that there will never be another classic band or a classic song. Todays music is popular for about a day and is gone as fast as the next download.
And, so, I think that what we are seeng is a simple devolution of music culture. Album art was a thing that we enjoyed in a different generation. The market isn't too concerned with that, I don't think.
The idea that an "update" actually
removes some of the things that we enjoy most is certainly indicative of the phenomenon.
I think that these companies who have jumped on the bandwagon of selling digital downloads have essentially destroyed all that once was. and this is ultimately the answer to your question of why there is no art. And likely why we never get responses to those particular questions. I think that it isn't so much an issue for the new generation. They never experienced what some of us did. And the market takes advantage of that and further contributes, actually promtes, its demise. Gone are the good old days. Welcome to the cloud where all your culture are belong to us.
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