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Personal Playlists>Apple Music>Amazon Alexa Play

Can I take a Playlist I created on iTunes, and somehow move it into Apple Music so that it can be played through the Alexa Speakers. Apple Music is already the default choice of my Alexa system. I just want to have my Playlists available as an alternate choice vs. Apple Music Playlists.

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Jan 15, 2019 5:07 PM

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Posted on Jan 29, 2019 5:20 PM

I have Echo Plus 2nd Gen and Echo Dots 3rd Gen. I found that setting up the Playlist is critical. Namely if the Playlist name is like an individual song in Apple Music, Alexa will play only the individual song, not the playlist of the same name. So when there is an overlap, I will name the Playlist with the prefix "My". If my Playlist begins with a song upon which the remainder of the Playlist is based, I must use "My".

I have Playlists that begin with a favorite song upon which Genius will create the Playlist. For instance I used the song "Crazy" by Patsy Cline to create a genius Playlist. If I say "Play Crazy", only that song will play. Upon naming the Playlist "My Crazy" and tell Alexa to play "My Crazy", the entire Playlist will play.

Basically my Playlists will be "My Jazz", or "My Classical", etc.. My command is:

"Alexa, play My Jazz". Alexa will respond with "Playing My Jazz from Apple Music".

Alexa is very specific, so if I hesitate, stutter or mispronounce, I have to start over. I hope you find this helpful. Good luck!

14 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 29, 2019 5:20 PM in response to Bill Edwards

I have Echo Plus 2nd Gen and Echo Dots 3rd Gen. I found that setting up the Playlist is critical. Namely if the Playlist name is like an individual song in Apple Music, Alexa will play only the individual song, not the playlist of the same name. So when there is an overlap, I will name the Playlist with the prefix "My". If my Playlist begins with a song upon which the remainder of the Playlist is based, I must use "My".

I have Playlists that begin with a favorite song upon which Genius will create the Playlist. For instance I used the song "Crazy" by Patsy Cline to create a genius Playlist. If I say "Play Crazy", only that song will play. Upon naming the Playlist "My Crazy" and tell Alexa to play "My Crazy", the entire Playlist will play.

Basically my Playlists will be "My Jazz", or "My Classical", etc.. My command is:

"Alexa, play My Jazz". Alexa will respond with "Playing My Jazz from Apple Music".

Alexa is very specific, so if I hesitate, stutter or mispronounce, I have to start over. I hope you find this helpful. Good luck!

Jan 23, 2019 7:09 AM in response to elkriverken

Yes, according to this article, if you have the Echo device, then you can also use your account playlists. They have to be playlists in your iCloud Music Library.

Play Apple Music with Alexa on Amazon Echo - Apple Support

Ask Alexa to play your music

You can ask Alexa to play songs, artists, albums, or genres from Apple Music. You can also play Beats 1 radio, playlists from Apple Music's editors, or playlists in your iCloud Music Library.”

Feb 1, 2019 5:07 AM in response to Bill Edwards

I renamed one of my playlists "WSE Indian Music" and tried "Alexa, play WSE Indian Music". It did not play. I then renamed the playlist "My Indian Music" and tried "Alexa, play My Indian Music" and it worked.

I can't explain the difference.

Again, my system is as follows:

  1. Playlists generated through iTunes on iMac with OS Sierra. Added Apple Music.
  2. Amazon Echo Plus 2nd Gen attached to multiple Echo Dots 3rd Gen using my WiFi in home.
  3. Once set up, I can begin my Playlists from either the Echo Plus or any of the Dots.
  4. I put them in a Group called "Everywhere".
  5. When I want music everywhere I use the command "Alexa, Play Playlist My.......... in Everywhere group".


I hope this helps in some way. Good luck!

Jan 23, 2019 2:44 PM in response to Urquhart1244

I have had iTunes Match for years, and am in a 3 month free trial of Apple Music. So my question could be rephrased to ask if my playlists could be played from my iCloud Music Library (iTunes Match) without an Apple Music subscription? That might be more a problem with Amazon Alexa recognizing the iCloud Music Library without first connecting with Apple Music. Thanks for your thoughts on this.

Feb 7, 2019 3:49 PM in response to elkriverken

Prefixing the playlists with My worked perfectly—thanks!!! It seems to be playing tracks from my iCloud Music Library that are not on Apple Music. The playlists can be in a playlist folder in iTunes. So much easier to set playlists up in iTunes than in Amazon Music, believe me. One thing to note is these are not Smart Playlists, According to Amazon support, those don’t work with Alexa.

Feb 7, 2019 4:52 PM in response to Bill Edwards

Glad I was of some help in a small way. Now we can both enjoy Alexa's help on our terms. I have found that not only will Alexa not play a smart playlist, but she won't play a Genius playlist. To overcome that limitation I create a "plain" playlist and drag the music from the Genius or Smart playlists into it. Then I will delete the unused lists.

Personal Playlists>Apple Music>Amazon Alexa Play

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