Отображение таблицы для цикла

Не самое красивое решение, но, надеюсь, оно вам пригодится:

require_once ("db/dbconn.php");
$sql = "SELECT *  FROM artistcd NATURAL JOIN artist ORDER BY artistID, cdID";

$i = 0;
$previousArtistID = "";

while($row = $result->fetch_assoc()){ // loop through your database
if($row['artistID'] != $previousArtistID){ // if the current artist is not the previous
if($i > 0){
echo "</table>"; // if the artist is not the first, close the previous table
echo "<hr>"; // for demo
}
echo "<table>"; // start a table, with headers
echo "<tr>";
echo "<th>Genre</th>";
echo "<th>CD Identification</th>";
echo "<th>Title</th>";
echo "<th>Price</th>";
echo "</tr>";
echo "<tr>";
echo "<th colspan=\"4\">".$row['artistName']." (".$row['artistID'].")</th>"; // display the artistName/artistID
echo "</tr>";
$i++; // increment counter
$previousArtistID = $row['artistID']; // set the previousArtistID to the current artistID
}
// list all songs
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td>".$row['cdGenre']."</td>";
echo "<td>".$row['cdID']."</td>";
echo "<td>".$row['cdTitle']."</td>";
echo "<td>".$row['cdPrice']."</td>";
echo "</tr>";
}
echo "</table>"; // close the table