When Roon identifies the albums in your collection, it retrieves comprehensive genre information along with cover art, lyrics, artist photos, and credits. Roon's genre information goes far beyond simple file tags: albums and artists are classified under multiple genres at once, reflecting the mix of styles many artists performed across their careers.

You no longer have to choose between keeping all your Jazz albums together and reflecting the variety of styles Jazz encompasses. In Roon, one album can be Jazz, Bop, and Vocal Jazz at the same time.

Exploring Genres

Genres in Roon are arranged in a hierarchy, so even with hundreds of genres, you never browse them all at once. At the top level, you find broad categories like Jazz and Pop/Rock. As you drill down, you reach deeper genres like Modal Music or British Invasion.

By default, you can browse every genre in Roon's hierarchy, whether or not you own content in it. To see only the genres you actually have, see "How do I hide genres I don't want to see?" below.

Genre Details

Once you select a genre, you can play from it, browse your library within it, and discover new music in it.

Quick Play

To start listening right away, choose Shuffle to play tracks from your library, or Roon Radio to play a selection from the genre.

Your Artists and Albums

To see everything in your library for a genre, choose Albums or Artists to jump straight into browsing.

Recommendations

Powered by Valence, Roon recommends New Releases, Artists, Albums, and Live Radio stations for the genre, helping you find music beyond your own library.

These recommendations are powered by Valence, which works through a linked streaming service. To see them, connect TIDAL, Qobuz, or KKBox to your Roon account.

Subgenres

To dig into a specific corner of a genre, open its subgenres and keep drilling down.

Customizing Your Genres

Genres are personal, and Roon lets you shape them to match how you think about your music. You can correct genre assignments, bring in the genres from your own file tags, rename or hide genres, and rearrange the hierarchy. To understand how Roon layers your file tags with its own metadata behind all of this, please see Editing and Grooming Your Collection.

How do I change the genre on an album or artist?

Select the album or artist, open the three-dots menu, and click Edit. On the editing screen, you can add or remove genre assignments. To change several albums at once, right-click or long-press each one to select it, then click Edit.

Editing a genre assignment stops Roon from automatically updating that item's genres in the future, so your change is preserved.

SCREENSHOT_NEEDED: Editing an albums genre assignments in Roon

Can I use my own genres from my file tags?

Yes. Roon imports the genre tags from your files automatically, but does not display them by default. To show them, go to Settings, Library, Import Settings, and open Genre Settings. Enable "Use genres extracted from file tags." You can show your genres alongside Roon's, or opt out of Roon's genre assignments and use only your own. Your tagged genres, such as your own Jazz A and Jazz B, then appear in the genre browser.

Changing import settings is non-destructive, but Roon re-evaluates your library afterward, which can take a few minutes on a large collection.

Can I rename or merge my file-tag genres?

Yes, using Genre Mappings. Real-world genre tags are inconsistent, so Roon lets you rewrite them as they come in. Go to Settings, Library, Genre Mappings. There you can rename a genre, for example, mapping "Prog Rock" to "Progressive Rock" so near-duplicates combine into one, and you can hide genres you never want to see. Genre Mappings are available only when "Use genres extracted from file tags" is set to Yes.

How do I hide genres I don't want to see?

You have two options. To hide individual file-tag genres, map them out in Genre Mappings as above. To stop seeing Roon's full built-in list and show only the genres you own from your files, open Settings, Library, Import Settings, Genre Settings, and opt out of Roon's genre assignments while keeping "Use genres extracted from file tags" enabled.

Can I create my own genres or rearrange the hierarchy?

Yes. Roon lets you edit the genre hierarchy itself, so you can promote a genre to the top level. If Tango or Zydeco is a main category for you, you can make it a top-level genre rather than a subgenre. Open the genre, click the Pencil to edit it, and adjust where it sits in the hierarchy.

SCREENSHOT_NEEDED: Editing the genre hierarchy in Roon

Please join the conversation on the Roon Labs Community if you would like to compare notes on organizing your own genres.