Shazam not automatically syncing to Apple Music

I have a large music collection in my iTunes library, ~90,000 tracks collected from many sources over the years, carefully categorized, often with custom album art, so there is no way I’m willing to risk iCloud syncing messing with that. 

I just signed up for three free months of Apple Music, which I’ve never used before. The main reason I did was to be able to play any of the full tracks I’ve Shazamed. I can play those full tracks now in Shazam, but I can’t get them to show up as a playlist in Apple Music in either the Music IOS app or the Music Mac app, despite having Apple Music active and signed in. I have “Sync Shazams to Apple Music’ turned on in Shazam, but I don’t see that playlist in the Music apps. I do see that Shazam has access to my Apple Music account, in the Music app account settings. 

Do I need to have “sync library” turned on in the Music App for Shazam playlists to show up in the Music apps? I don’t think I would want to do that.

Kirk, if you are reading this, I’ve owned previous versions of your iTunes FAQ books, but never paid attention to the Apple Music parts, since I wasn’t using it, and didn’t plan to. I just bought Take Control of Mac Media Apps, and am working my way through it. But doing a word search in the PDF for ‘Shazam” drew a blank. So I’m asking here. I know you you also have a very large iTunes library. Do you use iCloud sync for your iTunes library? 

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@kirkmc?

I don’t use Shazam, so I don’t know how it works. This is what Apple says:
 

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT210237

2 hours ago, kirkmc said:

I don’t use Shazam, so I don’t know how it works. This is what Apple says:
 

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT210237

 

 

That Apple Support page has my answer:

"If you can’t add songs to a playlist, make sure you sync your music library with Apple Music."

I don’t sync my music library with Apple Music so that’s why I don’t see and can’t create a playlist from Shazam.  

Shazam is great, and since I have Shazam as a complication on my Apple Watch, it’s always right there to identify songs I’m curious about, often in movies and TV soundtracks. 

@kirkmc do you sync your iTunes library with Apple Music? Do you use Apple Music at all? I’m guessing you subscribe, if only just to keep up to date on the service for your Take Control book and other writings...

Oh that’s a great idea I didn’t think of, setting up a second library with a sub-set of my main library, on another Mac. I’ll have to try that. Thanks @kirkmc!  

Maybe you suggest that in your book, Take Control of MacOS Media Apps, but I just bought it and I’ve only read part of it so far. 

So just to be sure what you are saying, you check the box for ’sync library’ in the Music app on the secondary Mac device but not on the one with your main iTunes library. You still are logged into your iCloud account on both devices so you have access to Apple Music on both Macs but the main iTunes library on the one without ‘sync library’ checked is safe and untouched? And both Macs have the same Apple ID? 

13 hours ago, kirkmc said:

 I will add this to the next edition of the book. Most people won't want to bother, but I do present lots of warnings about syncing music to the cloud, especially about metadata. But, also, most people don't have two Macs so they can't do this. 

Lots of people I know have both desktop and laptop Macs. I have a Mac Studio, a 2012 Mac Mini that served me well for a decade and still runs fine but stuck at Catalina and no longer gets security updates.  And I recently bought a used 2015 MacBook Air 11” ultraportable that can’t go past Monterey, and will probably stop getting security updates some time next year. 

Do you have an opinion on whether the Mini with Catalina would be good to host that secondary iTunes library syncing with iCloud, or would the MacBook with Monterey be a better choice, in terms of MacOS and Music App versions?

--The old desktop Mac is Catalina 10.15.7 with Music App 1.0.6.10

--The somewhat newer MacBook is Monterey 12.6.3 with Music App 1.2.5.7

If it would work OK, I’d rather be syncing to Apple Music from the Mini. 

Either would work fine. But it might work with just two iPhone/iPads syncing. I don't know why that needs to be turned on; maybe that's the only way that apps can add to an Apple Music library. 

This said, going forward, you may hit a point where the older Music app isn't fully compatible. 

21 hours ago, kirkmc said:

Either would work fine. But it might work with just two iPhone/iPads syncing. I don't know why that needs to be turned on; maybe that's the only way that apps can add to an Apple Music library. 

 

This said, going forward, you may hit a point where the older Music app isn't fully compatible. 

Kirk you’re right, I tried moving a copy of my iTunes library back from the M1 Ventura machine to the old Catalina Mac, just to sync with Apple Music from there. It wasn’t being recognized by the older version of the Music app, and I realized there was no point wasting a lot more time on it. 

But, turning on syncing did bring the “My Shazam Playlist" down from Apple Music in the devices that aren’t my primary iTunes library that I don’t want Apple Music to mess with. Easy peasy. I can export that playlist from my iPhone and Airdrop it to my main collection. That works fine. 

I think a paragraph of two on Shazam would be a good addition to your next edition of the TC book, Kirk. It’s great being able to sniff out and identify tunes you hear in movies, TV, in cafes or wherever, and then automatically have them added to an Apple Music playlist. And worth noting that it only works if iCloud music syncing is turned on. And that you don’t have to sync all your devices, so you can still protect your main library on another device. Just a thought...

I'm glad it worked. I'll add this to my notes for the next edition of my book.