[sciurius]

Composers are usually people, with first/last names. And even then... What is the last name of Johann Sebastian Bach? Ralph Vaughan Williams? സ്വാതി തിരുനാള്‍ രാമവർമ്മ?

Artists can be anything so there is no general rule for sorting. For my record collection programs I 'invented' a special syntax to create sortname and displayname from a single item: "Floyd, Eddy *" (displayname gets sort key filled in on the *) and "Pink Floyd" (as is). This can even cope with complex names like "Williams, Roek * and the Fighting Cats" and "Veulpoepers, RK * BV".