Can't upload songs to library for iTunes matching

Update: I first joined this thread last Tuesday (9 days ago) when I couldn't get one popular album to Match, plus two other songs. It was 19

songs total; the first 8 or so songs matched immediately last week, the rest got stuck on "Waiting."

Based on what I read here, a few days ago I started to click "Update iCloud Music Library" over and over when I had time. (Sometimes I'd click "Update Genius" first.) Sometimes I would get one or two of the songs to upload; other times none would. But it did make a little slow progress.

Last night I ran it again, and when I woke up this morning the last 5 of 19 songs were matched - over a week since I started trying.

Obviously this is a broken system if it takes that much time and effort to make the matching process works. But it also suggests something has caused a massive slowdown in matching, yet not an entire collapse.

Very strange - and VERY frustrating. As someone else said, I switched to Apple nearly two decades ago because it's product "just works." This is the kind of tech nightmare that used to make Apple such a relief, but now it's Apple itself. So disappointing.

Hi,

I have had this problem. I have deleted the track then readded/ rematched. This usually works but on a few occasions the matched file is not available as lossless.

I have also identified faulty tracks when trying to download lossless versions. I get an error message and will not download. Deleted track and readded.

This was happening before the recent problems. I have not had a chance to see if this is working.

Jim

Yeah, still not working for me. Make sure to do the two things I mentioned in my previous post. Call in and get your case escalated to IT and then forwarded to the engineers, and send feedback through the url.

Its working a bit better now. I finally got the song uploaded that I've been working on for a while. There was a bit of a lag between when my phone first showed them as uploaded and I was able to play them, and then when iTunes itself displayed them as being in the cloud. But yes, it does appear to be working better but not as well as it did before Thursday. For now though I'm considering this a success and will not think about it for a few more days, haha. This ordeal wiped me out.

If you're trying to upload something, and you look at them on your phone, if there's a spinning icon where the downloaded icon usually is, then hold tight, it might be working. Since I got what I was trying to get uploaded up, I need to not devote my energy to this in a bit. For any Apple engineers who might be monitoring this thread (doubtful though it is), it's still not working as well as it was. Mostly there's a disconnect between when it is actually uploaded and when iTunes say it is.

Also, it appears that right clicking a song and adding it to icloud music library doesn't work for me, but updating the icloud music library as a whole does. Which is funny because before Thursday it was opposite for me. Anyways, glad it has some semblance of functionality now, however the state of iTunes Match does not give me hope that the feature is going to be around for too much longer.

Just to confirm you're not alone. My early 2013 MBP is stuck at Catalina but using the Music app vs. iTunes. From what I see here, this problem occurs on both Windows and macOS regardless of whether the hardware/OS is current or otherwise. Clearly, Apple are currently experiencing a general problem with their iTunes Match service. I have an open case with support about this but so far it hasn't gone anywhere. I'll use the form at the link others have posted just to add my voice to chorus of frustrated users.

Guys, have a quick check - having had no success overnight and earlier today, another File/Library/Update iCloud Music Library attempt is having some success. Ongoing, but of 511 songs marked ‘Waiting’ at least 40 have changed to ‘Matched’ and 1 to ‘Uploaded’ (indicating that not all mine in Waiting were waiting to Match). The process is ongoing for me, so this might be the end?!?

This is an Apple issue. I've tried my PC which has all my files stored offline and have used for at least a year, a new Mac fully updated, a Parallels instance of Windows 10 with iTunes x64 on it... all the same.

Out of 10 songs, 4 matched... that was over 2 days.

Doesn't seem like it's a coincidence since around the time of the 3.6 Apple Music update that this started failing.

According to other reports on Macrumors, yes, people who sync their library through Apple Music subscription are seeing the same issue. (Sorry I can’t add a link to evidence, but mods here delete my posts with offsite links).

Success! Last night, I ran the Update Cloud Library process not really expecting it to work. When I checked this morning, my 5 remaining unmatched tracks were finally showing as matched. I’m thinking this was just random success and have no idea how long it took to work.  I’ll try again after importing a different CD to see if this is repeatable and post the results here.

As others have suggested, the VPN discussion is likely a red herring. I didn’t do anything to shake things up in that regard.

I just had success with importing and matching a different CD. It took about 1½ hours which is not unusual. I've always thought the time it takes for me to get a match is longer in my case because my music is fairly obscure (in this case 21 tracks of Beethoven songs).

The strange thing is that they still showed as waiting after the process completed. Usually this changes to "matched" by running the cursor over the list to shake up the display but not this time. Anyway, I quit music and then reopened it. When "Loading Cloud Music Library..." finished, all 21 tracks were showing as matched.

Perhaps Apple are having some success in restoring the iTunes Match service. We'll just have to wait to be sure.

It hasn't. :)

I deleted the songs from the library that weren't being matched and readded them. It quickly picked up 2 of them (which is good), but the others are still sitting there waiting for a response.

Yeah, probably best not to erase your device when customer support says it's a solution. Again, they're still not understanding this is on their side.

This is a server side issue (i.e. Apple's issue). Anything you try on your device if it does work will just be a coincidence.... probably.

They're just guessing as to what the problem is (the CSR reps). They don't know..... at least I haven't heard many people on these threads say that they have.

One trick I use (even before all of this issue) is to manually update Genius before and after doing a manual Update Library. Sometimes it wakes it up and matches a few. But I wouldn't give up on Match too easily just yet. I've been using it since it came out and one good thing about Match is that it's a nice backup for your smart playlists. If you lose your ITL file, you just sign into cloud and all your playlists come back. And it's $24/yr.

I would bet this is just related to the 3.6 update and that this is like a construction zone where they will fix it. It's very frustrating that they don't admit it's not working and that their CSRs keep having us remediate the issue when the problem is on their side.

You have to remember that the majority of iTunes Match subscribers are unlikely to have tried adding to their library in the last 2-3 weeks, so are completely unaware of the issues.

No doubt the Apple System status is reflecting whether cloud-based audio is available to stream, which we should all recognise as being the case; our issues are with uploading of new content.

It is NOT completely impossible to upload new content, but something is very wrong in terms of performance. 24 hours into trying to upload 22 tracks, I am still getting nowhere with 2 songs.

please use Twitter to ask for help - these community boards seem totally ignored by Apple, except for their ‘community policy’ police enforcing the rules of what you can or can’t say.

There’s a lot of Twitter messages under #iTunesMatchBroken

I’m really happy to see a community of iTunes Match members here, making an effort to resolve this gnarly issue.

I’d implore anyone willing to take the time and speak with AppleCare, or visit the Genius Bar, to request that their rep not only create a standing “ticket / repair,” but to have it *escalated to engineering.*

Apple employees in any form of customer-facing IT service are able to access an internal site that’s dedicated to “emerging issues” concerning apple products and services, and this is about the extent of the visibility they will have into this particular area, as we’ve come to learn that it cannot be resolved with troubleshooting software on the user side.

The most direct form of assistance here will likely be with the engineering team, in which case the proper channels can begin to get involved, and follow through. This is only my experience with the company, but internal strategies change abruptly, and it’s entirely possible that my suggestions are no longer viable, so please do inform me if that is your experience.

No matter what, I’m so grateful to everyone here, having felt lost and alone on iTunes Match Island when this began. I’ll be keeping my eyes on this thread and looking forward to a solution!