Cloud music library update stuck - new imported music won't sync all of a sudden

I was having the same issue since mid july 2021. I've tried everything: log out/log in, uncheck/check sync, force app quit, restart, update cloud music library, and nothing works... I made some movements today and now it's working for me!! (I don't know if Apple fix it or just me) I share what I did: 1. I quit Apple Music and create a temporary music library holding down the Option key while reopen Music and select "Create a new library" (I named "Temp Music Match Test"). 2. Login in new temporary library with my Apple ID and wait until Cloud music load. 3. I Ripped a new CD and manually File/Library/Update Cloud Library and wait for that process. 4. When finish that process (spinnig wheel stucked stopped magically!) and quit Apple Music (The temporary library). 5. Hold down the Option key while reopen Music in my original Music folder, and wait all process of loading Library...after that, again Update Cloud Library Manually and voila! Hope it works for you.

I finally managed to get my Music Library sorted and Cloud synced. Good job I keep backups of everything. I eventually decided to delete my Music folder and all of the Cloud Music library content; I kept finding items that were flagged as not downloaded although they were present in my Music folder. Then I found I was seeing duplicate files in the Music album folders, as if the files in the Cloud Music library I referred to earlier had downloaded (I know I didn't download them!). I assume this was something to do with the recent server problems and the locking-up of the sync process. It took three attempts to fully delete these files.

Once that was done I re-imported the whole library from backup, with Cloud sync OFF. Once I was happy that the offline library was fully re-instated I turned sync back on. I had a couple of lock-ups during the sync process ** cleared them by turning sync off and then on again. So now I have a clean and stable library, and sync to my iPad and iPhone are also working perfectly. 988 albums with 12,877 songs, no duplication, no stray files and no split albums.

I am waiting for Apple support to help me out with an Artist Image problem. On my iPad and iPhone the library displays Artist images for just about every Artist (over 600 listed), and where there's no image there's a copy of one of the artist Album Covers; maybe 5% still show the grey microphone icon. But on my Mac I never see a single Artist image in the Artist view, even when sync'd. I only have microphone icons. I've tried all the obvious stuff - test user, safe mode etc.. Anyone else had this issue? Wish they'd just have an option to load our own artist images.

There actually is a way to force a rescan. On your mobile device, delete the track there. That removes it from your Cloud Music Library, but the actual file remains on your Mac. Its status then changes from Matched/Uploaded to Removed. Then you can add it back to your Cloud Music Library, and Apple will rescan.

I've done this many times. This preserves your file's metadata [date added to iTunes/Music Library, play counts, etc.]. I've gotten my previously Uploaded tracks to change to Matched. [I do this every time Apple adds the tracks in question to Apple Music.]

I would also like to chime in to say that I am also experiencing iTunes Match getting stuck. :(

This issue first affected me 3 days ago. I was having "split-album" issues and decided to take the opportunity to clean out and reload all my music in the Cloud library. I deleted Cloud and on-Mac files and re-imported all my files from my backup drive. I have about 980 albums with 12,500 songs (all MP3, some downloaded from Apple, some from other online sources and some ripped from CD. I thought it'd take a while to re-sync so I left it overnight - next morning I found it had frozen after syncing about 10% of the files; no obvious logic as to why the ones that had synced were different from those that were sitting "waiting". I tried all the obvious stuff (switch sync on and off, quit and restart music, re-start the Mac, check the library path, try "safe" mode, set up a test user account, but no joy. I had two online Apple technician chats and then an engineer phone call (each of which basically asked me to repeat what I'd already done (plus was I connected to the internet and/or WiFi and did I have enough free storage on my Mac. On the phone callback I pointed out that given what I'd done it seemed like it must be a problem at Apple's end, not mine.They arranged to call back again an hour later to see if I'd made any progress, but in fact when they called back it was to tell me that apparently "quite a few" users were experiencing the same issue and it was now with their technical team to identify the problem and come up with a fix. So for now I'm cleaning up my library on the Mac and leaving Sync switched off until it's sorted. Fortunately I have a Sony NW-ZX300 with my full library synced so won't be music-less :-)

Just on a couple of users comments on what can be uploaded on iTunes match subscriptions (which I've had for many years) - You can load music files from any source into your library - bought from Apple, from other online providers, ripped from CD etc. If they're matched with an iTunes version then what you get on your mobile devices is the Apple AAC version of your file; otherwise it'll be your own uploaded version. All my files are loaded as MP3s. There is a limit to how many unmatched files you can have in the library, but I think it's a big number (think it's 100k, but that may have changed).

And there's this: From Apple Insider 3 days ago

https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/08/05/itunes-match-is-not-working-for-a-growing-number-of-users

without violating fair use, I can quote this much:

...Other users say the upload process begins, but then stalls with a message saying, "matching your music with songs in the iTunes store."

Apple support personnel are apparently unaware of a widespread problem, according to multiple users who contacted the company for assistance. MacRumors, which reported on the iTunes Match troubles earlier today, claims some users were told that the problem was a hardware issue. 

...

While reports of similar complications date back months, the last week has seen a significant uptick in complaints posted to forums and social media platforms. The increase has been attributed by some to a recent update to the Apple Music app, though the software's role in the ongoing issue has not been confirmed.

Based on what I've read here and in another thread, I'd say you can rule out the Apple Music app, since this is also happening to users on PC's using iTunes for Windows.

Thanks Dok,

So this isn’t specific to file type, iTunes (others must be running ‘Music’) or Mac OS (happens from High Sierra to Big Sur); also Windows 10.

That all points to server side (I know WE all know that already, but Apple Support won’t want to hear that).

I’m currently running fresh syncs every 15 minutes to test a hypothesis that a maintenance script each day or some other maintenance practice returns a degree of functionality for us. So far, no good for me, but it’s not yet the same time that I saw some functionality return yesterday.

Other things to ponder: is this specifically the subscription service ‘iTunes Match’ or is it also impacting Apple Music subscribers with their default iTunes Match-like sync service?

With the recent change to ALAC streaming for Apple Music, has Apple reallocated some hardware from traditional iTunes Match? Presumably the number of iTunes Match subscribers must be falling month on month, so they would feel they have over-redundancy dedicated to the old service - while demands on the architecture for Apple Music must have grown massively with ALAC streaming.

My hunch is Apple Engineers have reallocated some redundant hardware but haven’t reset their load-balancers correctly. So we’re getting partial performance at a daily ‘reset’ point, and then the system is just completely overwhelmed and bugs out until the next reset. Which is why it is so important everyone reports this!

I started having this exact problem yesterday (2021-08-01). I've ensured that I have the latest iOS (14.7.1 on iPhone 11) and MacOS (11.5.1 Big Sur on MacBook Pro 13-inch) updates. I've tried logging-in and out of my iTunes account multiple times to force a "Cloud Music Library - Matching your music with songs in the iTunes Store" search, but it never finishes. I've also tried unchecking and re-checking iCloud sync. After letting it run overnight, 7 of 13 tracks on my latest CD rip are playable on iOS; the rest are greyed-out, stating, "This song is not synced across your devices. On your Mac or PC, go to Apple Music or iTunes for Windows and in Preferences, select Sync Library."

Also of note, I noticed that if I changed a song title in Music for MacOS, the change syncs within seconds to my iOS device, but the song remains greyed-out and unplayable.

Are any of you that are having this problem NOT using macOS Music 1.1.6.32? Looking back, I had no problems importing a CD on 7/16, but when importing my most recent a few days ago (after updating to Music 1.1.6.32), that's when I discovered the problem.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AppleMusic/comments/ostz9g/itunes_match_no_longer_responding_to_requests/

If the issue is with the version of Music, I suspect we'll be eating a while for a fix.

The first part of my comment didn’t make it. Since Thursday last, I have spoken to several “Senior Apple Advisors” trying to make them understand that this is not an issue confined to me alone. They are now telling that to the “Apple Engineers.” The Apple Engineers, however, have been reluctant to recognize this as a problem becasue it doesn’t affect everybody. It is not a universal problem. But we know it affects hundreds, if not millions of people. I have found the Advisors helpful, but I don;t think there is anything they can do until the engineers fix the bug in the “matching songs to iTunes Store” part of the process.

Hi Gilber, I think you’ll find that if Match can’t find one of your songs in their catalogue, then your local client is asked to upload an AAC (256k) version of the file you have; if you have ALAC (Apple Lossless) on your local drive and sync it, what gets copied to Apple’s servers will be a lossy version of the original.

You can test this (though it might be wiser to wait until Apple resolve the current issues):

Take a local file that is at a higher rate than 256k, right click it your library and select show in finder; make a copy of the file to your desktop (so you can replace what gets downloaded with the original quality), and then right click on the song in your library, select ‘Remove Download’ then click on the cloud with a downward arrow against the song name, which will download what Apple has in the cloud. You’ll notice that after a few seconds the song in your library changes to 256k AAC.

(to be honest, at this stage I don’t know what you get if you’re using an Apple Music subscription instead of stand alone iTunes Match, but what gets downloaded with be a DRM version; if you then cancel your subscription I believe the newly downloaded file won’t play; it sounds unfortunate, but I don’t think Apple Music distinguishes between a song you own, upload and then redownload, and a file that you don’t own but have downloaded via your subscription to enable offline playback. Add the further complication that you can be an Apple Music subscriber AND an iTunes Match subscriber; I haven’t a clue what happens then!

This is something I've never seen before.

Incomplete progress circles I've seen plenty of, but never in red. That's new.

Also, I waited the "couple hours" (more like 6) to see if logging out of Apple Music and back in would do anything (it didn't) and clicked the link in the email "Maria" sent about my case. This time I talked to "Kevin" who got me to try removing the tracks that aren't matching and re-importing them. Which worked about as well as everything else I've tried, which is to say not at all.

However, "Kevin" did tell me that there is an open problem for this and that it will be addeessed in an upcoming release. I'k not sure how an OS update is supposed to help, since it's happening in both macOS and Windows, but maybe he meant a server side fix. I'm going to assume that's the case and just continue to grind along to the degree possible. Because really, what alternative is there?

So, let’s see if we can help Apple narrow this down…

I don’t think this is the case universally, but I’m also trying to add ALAC files to iTunes Match. Chris (above) says likewise.

Can we just be sure this issue doesn’t relate only to specific (ALAC) files? Anyone here having this issue with files OTHER THAN ALAC?