Music on mac Issue *please help*

[mjcm]

I am adding Album Art to Audio songs that are already in the Library in the MUSIC app on macOS.

But the album art, I have added with Mp3tag, doesn't show, but other changes I made with Mp3tag do, for example Lyrics, Genre, Artist, you name it, they show in Music.

Oke, then I exported the Album Art from the song within Mp3tag, removed the Album Art with Mp3tag and added the Album Art from within the Music App.

I did a refresh in Mp3tag and yep the Album Art shows, but to my surprise NOT as front cover but as other. Oke I thought I have a solution, to add the Album Art to another song and set the type as other.

But unfortunately that doesn't work as mac also doesn't see that album art.

This works perfectly in Windows with iTunes but not with the new dreadful Music.

Anyone an idea? Apple Support is not much help.

Ps: This is NOT an MP3tag issue, it clear is a Music (app on macOS) issue

[ohrenkino]

if a player acts up, then it is sometimes a good idea to delete a file completely from that player's list (not from the file system) and let the player import that file again.
Another test may be to rename the modified file and import it into the player and see if the player catches all the data.
Also, a different workflow may help: import a file only after the tagging has been finalized and no further modifications can be expected.

[mjcm]

Thx. Yes perfect solutions and suggestions, but sometimes I am to busy to do it for all the songs. This method worked perfectly under windows with itunes, but the new music app doesn't play nice at all.

When re-importing the song, yes the cover gets read perfectly, but what I don't understand is that the other changes (let's call them TEXT Tags) are updated as soon as I get the info in the music app, but NOT the album art.

I am hoping Florian, with his infinite knowledge of mac knows of some terminal commands, or maybe where to get some more info about the inner workings read terminal commands on how to manage music

Thanks @ohrenkino really appreciated

[ohrenkino]

This is what a quick internet search reveals:

How do I force Apple Music to update?

In the Apple Music app on Mac: Choose File > Library > Update Cloud Library. In the Apple Music app for Windows: At the top of the sidebar, click Sidebar Actions. , then click Library > Update Cloud Library. 31.03.2025

[mjcm]

Thx, but I am not using the subscription service, none of my Music is in the cloud all local

It's very confusing how Apple has done it

Afaik

Apple Music = Apple Cloud Service for Subscription Music
just Music = Local Managed Library and that is what I am using

They just should have stayed with iTunes

[AreDigg]

Apple Music caches this in its database. The usual go to are these AppleScripts, you can try and see if some works for you. Doug's AppleScripts » Managing Artwork

[mjcm]

Thx for the link, really appreciated.

Will try some and report back

edit: I think I already have the one I need

https://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=mxapplyembeddedartwork

Edit: Nope, this one does work. Will try others. Thx for the link

Edit: Found one that works, it's called re-embed artwork, it exports it and then imports it. (in Mp3tag it changes from Front Cover -> Other)

Edit: Last edit, unless I find a better script hahahaha. This one does the job, but only one song at a time unfortunately. Selecting two songs won't work.

@AreDigg thanks a lot for the link, really appreciated

[Florian]

@mjcm

This one does the job, but only one song at a time unfortunately.

Can you try this one?

Music App and Covers

Yes, UpdateTagInfo mentioned by @MotleyG seems to be for Windows only. On the Mac, I'm using a very simple script which you can use with the Script Editor.app on macOS: tell application "Music" set sel to selection if sel is {} then return repeat with aTrack in sel if class of aTrack is file track then refresh aTrack end repeat end tell You can run it while having the tracks to be reloaded selected in Music.app. I think it was inspired by Doug's AppleScripts, but I can't find the corre…

[mjcm]

Thx @Florian

Will try and report back!

Edit: Nope unfortunately it doesn't read the album art. It updates the tags though, but again NOT the album art.

I have found out that Music stores it's album art in

/Users/<userid>/Library/Containers/com.apple.AMPArtworkAgent/Data/Documents/artwork/<unique identifier.ext>

And that needs to be generated somehow. A reread of tags, which was sufficient for iTunes isn't anymore for Music.

[Florian]

I've added something for the artwork cache too:

Music App and Covers

Yes, it's definitely getting worse with Music.app from release to release. I had success with deleting the artwork database and letting it rebuild itself, but I don't know if I just got lucky. ! Use at your own risk and only if you have a backup ! — it's only tested on my Mac so far, not official advice, and highly experimental. OK, if you've read the disclaimer above you could try on Terminal.app with Music.app closed rm ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.AMPArtworkAgent/Data/Documents/artwor…

[mjcm]

wow @Florian

That is drastic. I think that should be used as last resort.

I agree with what you say in that topic that Music.app is getting worse.

I just found out that column browser, if you search for a song it doesn't update the number of albums etc etc but remains at the total number.

[MotleyG]

I am not on a Mac so I can’t test it. But there is another one from Doug’s AppleScripts called Apply Embedded Artwork that seems to be exactly what you are looking for. It shows a demo video and several tracks can be highlighted and applied with the script.

[mjcm]

Thx @MotleyG

If you read a couple of messages up, then you can see that script I have tried and doesn't work unfortunately.

There is a script I have found, and that exports the Image and then re-imports it and that works. Script was found on the same site

Thx for the suggestion thought, appreciated

[MotleyG]

@mjcm

If you read a couple of messages up, then you can see that script I have tried and doesn't work unfortunately.

I would revisit that one. It clearly indicates that it is meant to update the Music app tracks that are missing artwork from the images stored in the tags. And that it can be applied to multiple tracks at one time. Both things you said it didn’t do for you. Doug’s scripts have proven reliable in the past so it might be worth giving it another go. The demo video shows it doing exactly this. Have you tried reaching out for support there if it still doesn’t work for you?

@mjcm

There is a script I have found, and that exports the Image and then re-imports it and that works.

This other script should do the opposite of what you are seeking. It is designed to take existing cover images from within the Music app that aren’t currently showing up in other players, and re-embed those into the metadata. Great that it may end up working in some way, but not by design. And the description for this one does indicate that it has a limitation on how many files can be done at once.

As I said before, I am not a Mac user so I cannot test or provide any further insight to help.

[mjcm]

Thanks @MotleyG

I have tried that one extensively, and it clearly does nothing in my case. It even leaves the Front Cover type to front.

The one that reimports the cover changes it to other.

This works for me, and I will take @ohrenkino advice to add cover art before importing from now on.