"Apple Music Previous Libraries" growing like mushrooms

Music is supposed to place an updated backup of the library database in the Previous Libraries folder as part of the process of updating the library when Music has been updated in a way which makes changes to the internal layout of the database. That you're getting them daily suggests that either those updates are being prevented from completing properly, or there is a perhaps a bug. What version of macOS are you running? You might try temporarily disabling any third party security software and holding down option+cmd as you launch Music to open it in its safe mode which can sometimes fix odd issues with the library.

See Managing your Mac media libraries - Apple Community for more on cleaning up a Music library.

tt2

Hi majortom1967,

We are referring to Time Machine backups on your Mac. The "How local snapshots use storage space" section here has more information on what might be causing these files to appear in your Music folder: About Time Machine local snapshots

If you are not using Time Machine to back up your Mac, then contact Apple Support next. They would be the best equipped to look into this further with you. Reach out using this: Get Support

Cheers!

Hi majortom1967,

At this point, we'd advise to contact Apple Support for the Music app, as they can take a closer look at what's happening.

Get Support

Under "Tell us what’s happening", type in Music, to get started.

Take care!

Hello majortom1967,

These files may be daily backups that are a snapshot of your current library. Even if it's not opened, if you have a backup stream, it would be expected to see file entries for as frequently as you are set to backup.

This article offers more information about your music files on you Mac and how you can interact with them, if desired: Change where your music files are stored on Mac - Apple Support.

We hope this helps. Let us know if we can assist with anything else at all. Take care.

That page doesn't address the question here at all. The text "Previous Libraries" doesn't even appear.

My ~/Music folder is a little wonky and I would also like to know more about Previous Libraries. I have several libraries stored in various subfolders and I would like to understand what each is for and/or if I can remove older ones.