Unable to add music to playlists

Same problem - I'm betting a bug. Anywho, what you can do is issue a copy command on the song you want and then, counter intuitively, go to the playlist and issue a paste command from the Edit menu. Cloogy but works, get on with your day :)

Hey there zanmushi,

Thank you for seeking support through our Apple Support Communities! It sounds like you could use some help with adding music to a playlist, and I listen and organize my music all the time so I know how important this is to be able to do. Let me see how I can help.

I have a few questions to get started.

-Are you an Apple Music subscriber, iTunes Match subscriber, or are you just adding content that you purchased directly from the iTunes Store?

-Are you creating a new playlist, or trying to add music to an existing playlist?

-What type of playlist are you attempting to add music to? Is it a standard playlist, a smart playlist, etc.?

-What happens when you attempt to add music to your playlist? Do you see any alerts or errors?

The more information and details you can provide me with, the more helpful I can be in supporting you.

If you are using purchased iTunes content to create and manage playlists, please check out this iTunes User Guide as you may find it helpful to your current issue: Playlist overview - Apple Support

If you are using Apple Music to create and manage playlists, please check out this article on creating and sharing playlists: Create and share playlists - Apple Support

I look forward to hearing back from you with your responses to my questions, and also to see if the above articles helped in any way.

Cheers!

 zanmushi,

Thank you for taking the time to run through those steps and report the results to me. It's helpful to know that your Apple Music is working without issue on your iPhone, as that helps isolate the issue to just iTunes on your Mac. Let's focus on your Mac and figure out what's preventing you from managing playlists in Apple Music from iTunes.

You mentioned you have iCloud Music Library turned on. Let's update your library to see if this helps. Open iTunes on your Mac, navigate to File > Library > Update iCloud Music Library. Then, test playlists again. If you still cannot add music to playlists, continue below.

Next, try to safe launch iTunes by holding down the Option and Command keys on your keyboard while you click on iTunes to open it. iTunes will start in safe mode and likely show a message saying it is running in safe mode. Test playlists again, and let me know if it works.

If the same issue remains, I will have you test for the behavior in a different or new user account on your Mac. Here's how: How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac. This will help us identify if this is a user-specific issue, or system-wide issue.

If the issue continues in a new user account, we'll have you test in safe mode next: Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac.

I look forward to hearing back from you with more results!

Good to hear back from you, zanmushi.

Thanks for providing me with your responses to my questions. I too am an Apple Music subscriber and I just tested this out on my end without issue. Let's figure out why this is not working for you.

-Are you downloading or adding the song or album to your library first, before adding it to your playlist? Or, are you just streaming the song or album and trying to add it from there?

-Do you listen to your Apple Music on any other devices, besides iTunes on your computer? If so, is the same behavior happening from that other device as well?

If you go ahead and create a new playlist entirely, and just name it "Test" for example, can you add music successfully to that new playlist?

I'll await your reply for more details to help continue troubleshooting this with you.

Hey zanmushi,

I appreciate you getting back to me with the results of each step. You've done great troubleshooting with me, and I appreciate the time you set aside to do so. At this point, I'd like to get you in the hands of one of our support specialists to continue investigating this issue for further resolution. They will have access to different tools that can help resolve this issue most efficiently. Please reach out here: Apple - Support - Product Selection Select Music > Apple Music > Other Apple Music Topics > Using Apple Music in iTunes.

Thank you for using the Apple Support Communities.

Take care!

I am having the same exact issue. And I have done all those steps too. I still can't add a song to a playlist. I'm also on a Mac Book Pro (13 inch) and I just updated my OS to Mojave 10.14.6 today.

It would be helpful to know if this issue was ever resolved. And how.

I am currently having the same issue. Moreover, when I looked today, my playlists were nearly completely purged, with only a few songs remaining that are in my library.