Apple Music no longer shows album artwork on playlists

To avoid the abstract gradient art, I’ve begun using a workaround of creating a playlist then searching for a representative album cover in safari and saving it to my photos. Then in edit I choose that photo as my artwork for the playlist. Works well for single artist playlists. But still a huge waste of time due to Apples silly limitations.

[Edited by Moderator]

Same issue here with album art after recent 17.4.1 update. This only impacts new playlists. But here is what works, at least for now.

1. Create a new playlist.
2. Add few songs to new playlist.
3. Album art with first 4 songs will be generated but within a minute or less it will be reverted to default gradient image.
4. Before iOS reverts to default image, select edit to modify the album art and take a screenshot.
5. Edit screenshot photo accordingly.
6. Use screenshot photo as new album art.

In the meantime I have found that on iOS 16.7.4, the problem is solved. When I add an album and wait for the Music app to add all the songs (few seconds), next it will add the album title and album art. On MacOS Sonoma 14.3, it is not solved. So the workaround is to create the playlist in iOS.

For me Spotify is not an option. I was one of the very first users, have met the guys that started the company in person and I liked it but Apple Music is in a league of its own: lossless, Atmos, ability to change the start and end times of songs (on Mac using Ctrl-i). In the car, on headsets, and with high-end audio systems at home, I can use the same music service and experience amazing quality. Unless I’m wrong, no other service offers all of this at this price.

Having said that, it is mind-boggling why a company that employs so many top UI designers decided to treat album art like this. It is totally beyond me…

Someone posted the shortcut that makes the album art picture then you edit playlist and add that. Thanks! This is it!

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/8cb4eb54069941dabb77de6905ae745b

There is a workaround, which I'm sure many of you will have discovered. Find the album artwork by googling, take a photo with your iphone and edit your playlist. An unnecessary irritation, I agree, caused by Apple not giving customers what they want.....erm, as is often the case.

Get a grip, Apple.

easy fix. just go to EDIT on the playlist on your phone, and click the CAMERA ICON which is on the new terrible plain color artwork, and chose an artwork... of course you have to have something ready, but I have fixed my new playlists and they are now, PLAYLISTS again

Thanks for this. It works on Mac, as you outline, but not on iPhone. However, adding a new track to a playlist created on Mac with the procedure outlined and then moving the song to be one of the first four tracks does trigger an update to the playlist artwork grid on iPhone. So, I'll be creating playlists on my Mac using this workflow in the future.

The cynic in me thinks that Apple has overlooked this workflow to create playlists and that a future update will take this Mac "fix" away.

No solution here, other than you can upload *one* photo (album cover) that is at least representative of the playlist. The grid is awesome - why take that away?? The "standard" Apple options look like some crap from 2005. Bad move.

avasongbird wrote:

I was told that apple reads the forum.

Whoever told you that was mistaken. Apple doesn't read here for feedback or suggestion

Do u work there?

No one participating in the forum works for Apple.

Do u have the secret handshake?

Submit your feedback here:

Product Feedback - Apple

Give Apple direct feed back. That’s the only way they might change.

There is an Apple Music feedback option down the page at Product Feedback - Apple

think it’s fixed I just created an empty playlist with a name and then added a song and the album artwork popped up instead of the ugly mosaics they use by default

Kirk to Apple. No change. We were obviously not complaining enough or have enough complaints to get a response. I did the feedback thing and still nothing. Only work around I have to take a screenshot of the album artwork and use that instead. Ridiculous. One to beam up..

This has been driving me nuts and I have been looking for an alternative, and this post from MUD has a link to the Playlist Artwork Shortcut Generator which lets you add text, and chose 4-47 covers in a grid and they are added by most plays! Apple should integrate this in!

A solution has been found. It still works. Add a track to a new playlist. At the top choose the left most option for the display. This will fix the problem.