Can't upload songs to library for iTunes matching

The Apple support Senior Advisor who called and spoke to me a few days ago, after escalation from my online chat with first-level support, told me in no uncertain terms that his department is “compartmentalized” from the engineers who work on the Apple server-side. He stated that per policy there is “no path” for anyone in his department to escalate any issue whatsoever to a server-side engineer. I specifically asked if there was an internal site to raise issues that a server-side engineer might see and he said there wasn't. He said the engineers his department can escalate issues to work only on the customer-side, such as macOS, iOS, iPadOS and their associated applications and apps. He said a server-side engineer “might” see issues posted at https://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html

I began using iTunes in 2005 and then subscribed to iTunes Match in 2010. I relied on iTM to manage my music. Since mid-July 2021, I wasted DAYS trying to upload new and previously uploaded music files.

My thinking is Apple engineers re-designed iTM to not upload a music file that was not purchased at iTunes. Period.

I currently have 260 music tracks 'waiting' and 'matched' in iTunes Store. iTunes Match goes through the full library each time I request to update the library. But nothing is ever matched and finally uploaded. I have removed 120 'ineligible' music files - originally purchased from iTunes and never modified.

To test the iTunes Match service, I repurchased 12 music files from iTunes, 12 from Beatport, and 12 from Traxsource. Not (1) ONE single track has been matched and uploaded over a 7-day period. Before the iTM disaster, all my purchased tracks uploaded in seconds. No file ID labels are modified, no alternative formatting is used; the test files were submitted to iTM exactly as received.

Like said, I relied on iTunes Match to manage my extensive music library but now that library is in complete disarray. Even my playlists have been changed by iTunes Match during the 'waiting to upload' period of time. This is 100% BullShitakke and a clear example of Apple's arrogance to The Customer.

Suggested work-arounds are described in this Community blog to modify our music libraries into an accepted state of iTunes Match. The engineers at iTunes are surely laughing their collective ***** off reading these iTM requests for support.

So... does The Customer: A) wait until Apple's engineers decide to fix iTunes Match; or B) realize iTunes Match is a failed product and dump it. Either way, I want my money back.

I have tried on windows and mac and it does not work on any of them. it is iTunes server problem

Yeah its broken again. Worked for a day earlier this week. Please follow the directions I posted earlier on how to get this issue elevated so the engineers will work on it.

If you speak to support you must make them write down the URL to this thread in your case notes and ask them to escalate.

Same issue since last week Windows update. Takes hours or days to download an album through iTunes whereas it took minutes previously. Oddly, tracks and album art appear on synced devices with random tracks available to play. Bulk of uploads seem stuck in processing. Albums purchased through iTune Store seem to load immediately, bypassing the queue. Very frustrating.

Since Saturday I've had very slow adds to iTunes Match (iM). Since Saturday night, iM hasn't Matched anything, but (I think) the correct files have been successfully uploaded. I tried again (Monday) with new content; some uploaded today, but nothing Matched. Checking the library on iOS devices, those that haven't matched are greyed out; those that uploaded are available to play.

My hunch is that iM can correctly determine what is and what isn't matched; those that aren't, are getting uploaded correctly; those that don't need to be uploaded aren't getting their Matched 'flag' set correctly. I've been in touch with support today; there is chatter on their internal forums that appears to support that this isn't just my issue, but no suggested workaround. I'm on hold while being escalated; anything useful, I'll report back.

Update -

Support are reaching out to Apple engineers on my behalf to see if they know of any reasons why I might be having issues. (Having got me to sync in SafeMode - without effect).

I’ve been cautioned that my issues with High Sierra on a late 2011 MBP (!) might be down to server-side changes being made in preparation for the general release of Monterey. My issues on a obsolete 10 year old device, using software (iTunes) that is obsolete running on an OS that is obsolete (High Sierra) is unlikely to generate much of a response. (We had a similar issue where certain layouts were ‘broken’ in High Sierra’s App Store - but have subsequently been resolved without fanfare). My continuing to be able to use (and pay for) iTunes Match has been a bonus, which may well have sadly run out now.

Who knows, iTunes Match might be reaching the end of the line, now that they’ve made such radical changes to how music is handled (ALAC streaming etc.)?

Is everyone with this issue running similarly out of date hardware and OSS?

ITunes Match stopped working on a 2014 Mac Mini and then I switched it to a Windows 10 PC that has up to date software. I also have Music app running on an up to date MacBook Pro. People with up to date operating systems are unable to have Match work properly also.

Same problem here, it does work eventually, but it can take days to upload a single album. I bet it has something to do with their new support for lossless audio formats. Not that I'd need that, I just want my songs available everywhere fast... MP3 is good enough.

There are many tweets about this from users all over the world. Apple Support insist that there is nothing wrong with anything on their side but it is now impossible to match/upload music to individual libraries. I'm hoping that someone who is able to do something will see these posts........

Hi Everyone -

I'm experiencing the SAME exact issue. I've logged a ticket with Apple Support and gone through two tiers of support at this point. On the second tier I had the employee reference this thread as she escalates it. They plan on calling me back tomorrow with an update.

Hopefully the sheer amount of issues displayed in this thread will get them to take a look at what is happening server-side, as this is clearly an issue with iTunes Match and not anyone's PC or Mac.

Hope this ends up helping!

Shawn

No problem. Clearly this is an Apple issue so at least I know it has nothing to do with our devices/OS/platforms, etc. Guess I'll be using my old iPods to listen to my music for a while! They don't need to use these glitchy servers :) I can sync my files with a USB cord!

Like I said before, I'm having the same problem. It involves a classical CD with 12 tracks. I found the tracks in the iTunes Store so, in theory, all my tracks should have been matched. After a considerable delay, 7 were matched but the remaining 5 have defied all my efforts to get it to work. Over 24 hours ago, I just left the process running and ended up with "An error occurred". Here is a screenshot of the relevant part of the Activity window:

At least this gives me something to use when I try to move this further up the support chain tomorrow.

I spoke with a Senior Advisor at Apple last night and explained the situation and all the steps I took to resolve it (the Advisor said I did everything they would have had me do and beyond). The Advisor is sending it up to an engineer, so hopefully they will resolve this issue, eventually. It may not get fixed immediately, but hopefully Apple will see there is a problem and get it sorted out soon enough. The more people call in and report, the more data they can collect and hopefully spot a common denominator.