Nope, those didn't work. Am I getting you right that it's working as supposed for you? Which version of QCD & EL? QCD 4.51a and EL build133 here.
Does any of EL's developers have anything to say? Even whether it's a matter of EL, QCD or plug-in?
i would like to sort this out ... but there can be more things causing this. are you sure you have "artist" checkbox in QCD's "Preferences>Display>Format of playlist entry" unchecked? if no, try to uncheck it and let me know if it worked. if no, we'll try to find other way to fix it