Script to add list of artists (in a text file) to lidarr, this method bypasses the difficulties that are currently present in lidarr with relation to searching and adding new artists

add_artist_list.sh

#!/bin/bash

# Path to the text file with artist names (one per line)
artist_list_file="./artist_list.txt"

# Where Lidarr should create new artist folders
# This must match a configured Root Folder in Lidarr
lidarr_root="/music/"

# Lidarr API details
lidarr_url="http://localhost:8686"
api_key="YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"

# Delay between adding each artist
delay_between_adds=120

# Profile IDs (see below for how to fetch)
quality_profile_id=1
metadata_profile_id=1

# --- HOW TO FETCH PROFILE IDs ---
# curl -s "$lidarr_url/api/v1/qualityprofile" -H "X-Api-Key: $api_key" | jq
# curl -s "$lidarr_url/api/v1/metadataprofile" -H "X-Api-Key: $api_key" | jq

# --- FETCH EXISTING ARTISTS ---
echo "📥 Fetching list of existing artists from Lidarr..."
existing_ids=$(curl -s "$lidarr_url/api/v1/artist" \
  -H "X-Api-Key: $api_key" | jq -r '.[].foreignArtistId')

# --- PROCESS ARTISTS FROM LIST ---
while IFS= read -r artist_name || [[ -n "$artist_name" ]]; do
  # Skip empty lines
  [[ -z "$artist_name" ]] && continue

  echo "🔍 Searching for: $artist_name"

  search_result=$(curl -s -G "$lidarr_url/api/v1/artist/lookup" \
    --data-urlencode "term=$artist_name" \
    -H "X-Api-Key: $api_key")

  artist_json=$(echo "$search_result" | jq '.[0]')
  if [ "$artist_json" == "null" ] || [ -z "$artist_json" ]; then
    echo "❌ Not found in lookup: $artist_name"
    continue
  fi

  foreign_id=$(echo "$artist_json" | jq -r '.foreignArtistId')
  if echo "$existing_ids" | grep -q "$foreign_id"; then
    echo "⏩ Already exists in Lidarr: $artist_name"
    continue
  fi

  target_path="$lidarr_root"

  payload=$(jq -n \
    --argjson artist "$artist_json" \
    --arg path "$target_path" \
    --argjson qualityProfileId "$quality_profile_id" \
    --argjson metadataProfileId "$metadata_profile_id" \
    '{
      artistMetadataId: $artist.artistMetadataId,
      qualityProfileId: $qualityProfileId,
      metadataProfileId: $metadataProfileId,
      rootFolderPath: $path,
      monitored: true,
      foreignArtistId: $artist.foreignArtistId,
      artistName: $artist.artistName,
      addOptions: {
        monitor: "all",
        searchForMissingAlbums: true
      }
    }')

  echo "➕ Adding to Lidarr: $artist_name → $target_path"
  curl -s -X POST "$lidarr_url/api/v1/artist" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -H "X-Api-Key: $api_key" \
    -d "$payload"

  echo "✅ Done: $artist_name"
  echo "⏳ Waiting $delay_between_adds seconds before next artist..."
  sleep $delay_between_adds

done < "$artist_list_file"