diff --git a/cmd/root.go b/cmd/root.go
index 6363825cc..38c617bfd 100644
--- a/cmd/root.go
+++ b/cmd/root.go
@@ -179,10 +179,6 @@ func pidHashChanged(ds model.DataStore) (bool, error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return false, err
 	}
-	// Empty stored value is treated as matching — fresh upgrade should not force a rescan.
-	if pidArtist == "" {
-		pidArtist = conf.Server.PID.Artist
-	}
 	return !strings.EqualFold(pidAlbum, conf.Server.PID.Album) ||
 		!strings.EqualFold(pidTrack, conf.Server.PID.Track) ||
 		!strings.EqualFold(pidArtist, conf.Server.PID.Artist), nil
diff --git a/db/migrations/20260525000912_set_default_pid_artist.sql b/db/migrations/20260525000912_set_default_pid_artist.sql
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cb12244fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrations/20260525000912_set_default_pid_artist.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+-- +goose Up
+-- Backfill PIDArtist property to reflect the historical artist-ID computation.
+-- Existing artist IDs were produced by the legacy hardcoded artistID() function,
+-- which is byte-identical to computeArtistPID(p, "name", ...). Recording "name"
+-- here ensures that on the next scan, prevArtistPIDConf is never empty — closing
+-- the upgrade-time window where a user who pre-configured a non-default PID.Artist
+-- would have artist IDs silently regenerated without annotation migration.
+insert into property (id, value) values ('PIDArtist', 'name') on conflict do nothing;
+
+-- +goose Down
+delete from property where id = 'PIDArtist';