Music App - Search error: "Something went wrong. Please try again later."

PROBLEM SOLVED !!!

I had the same problem. I am not able to upgrade to Sequoia yet, as I have 1-2 other apps which stilI require Sonoma 14.7. As others have discovered, I found that Apple Music searches on pre-Sequoia OS were failing on multi-word searches, but only on some, usually less popular artists or songs/albums.

I spent 2-3 hours with support, first on a support chat with a not very helpful person, then the case was escalated which resulted multiple call-backs, several of which were cut off mid call, and which involved me getting bounced to 2-3 different support offices.

Eventually I ended up with a very helpful support person, Maria, who patiently spent quite a lot of time testing with me. She was able to reproduce the same error on her macbook (also running 14.7). After a time, she agreed with my assessment that the problem was probably either in the app code itself, or in Apple's database that runs behind Apple music. She had me prepare and submit a screen recording demonstrating the problem, which I did, then promised a followup response in 3-4 days time.

Got a call-back from Maria today, and she confirmed that Apple engineering had made changes to the database code. I find the problem is now resolved, at least on my machine with my settings and OS.

So I urge anyone following this thread who previously had this problem to see if all's well for you now.

I'm not sure if this will work for everyone, however I seem to have fixed my individual issue (Apple Music would not search for more than 1 word).

I created a new library with this article:

Use multiple libraries in Music on Mac - Apple Support

In that new Library I just created, the search worked as expected and this "Search Error" was not present.

From there, I also opened System Settings -> Screen Time -> Always Allowed

In that list, I toggled "On" both "Music" libraries listed.

I also confirmed that my "Content and Privacy" settings were "Off".

After that, I quit Apple Music, Ctrl + Clicked Open and "Choose Library" and selected my old Library.

From there, the search seemed to be working appropriately.

I'll come back with an update if it happens to give me the Search Error "Something went wrong. Please try again later" in the future.

-G

Can confirm this works for me too. One word search and no error. The only thing that has changed for me is that I just got a new iphone 16 pro max. Nothing else has changed. I am on OS 14.5

Just use the web player (https://music.apple.com) til the issue is resolved.

I have the same problem on macOS 14.0 with Music v1.4.0.118.

Another fun thing is that the search works fine whenever I use up to 8 characters

PROBLEM SOLVED !!!

I had the same problem. I am not able to upgrade to Sequoia yet, as I have 1-2 other apps which stilI require Sonoma 14.7. As others have discovered, I found that Apple Music searches on pre-Sequoia OS were failing on multi-word searches, but only on some, usually less popular artists or songs/albums.

I spent 2-3 hours with support, first on a support chat with a not very helpful person, then the case was escalated which resulted multiple call-backs, several of which were cut off mid call, and which involved me getting bounced to 2-3 different support offices.

Eventually I ended up with a very helpful support person, Maria, who patiently spent quite a lot of time testing with me. She was able to reproduce the same error on her macbook (also running 14.7). After a time, she agreed with my assessment that the problem was probably either in the app code itself, or in Apple's database that runs behind Apple music. She had me prepare and submit a screen recording demonstrating the problem, which I did, then promised a followup response in 3-4 days time.

Got a call-back from Maria today, and she confirmed that Apple engineering had made changes to the database code. I find the problem is now resolved, at least on my machine with my settings and OS.

So I urge anyone following this thread who previously had this problem to see if all's well for you now.

A quick check on the status page doesn't indicate any current issues with Apple Music.

That said, it happens sometimes that the Music app acts up.

Parts of it are essentially web pages that are being loaded within the app.

You've already tried signing out and signing back in as well as restarting your MacBook.

Only other thing that that comes to mind offhand is to make sure you don't have a firewall, VPN or other process that could affect your network connection in ways that might inadvertently block (parts of) the Apple Music service.

This could also be happening at the network level (e.g., modem, router, etc.) so if you do have another device on hand like an iPhone be sure to test if that one shows any issues as well while connected to the same network.

If all else fails and the issue persist then I suggest you reach out to support at https://getsupport.apple.com/topics

Click on "Show more" under Apps & Services and select Apple Music.

jchapper wrote:

Apple is likely not reading this, as it's a user forum. Please contact Apple Support or send feedback via the Product Feedback form to add your voice to the case.

OK, so I have submitted my own description of the problem as feedback and linked to this thread in the comment; it only took a couple of minutes. We all ought to be letting Apple know about this if we're paying subscribers to Apple Music.

Also, thanks to others in this thread for the temporary workaround advice to use the web interface to search and then click 'Open in Music'.

Having the same issue - incredibly frustrating and makes Apple Music on my MacBook Pro useless. Anyone find a work around outside of the upgrade?

Hi everyone,

I'm also having that issue with Mac OS 14.4.1 on my work MacBook Pro. I'm happy to know the issue as been reported to Apple as I've been following up with them for more than 2 years for various HomePod issues. Hopefully they will fix this issue faster than the HomePods.

Thanks!

By chance that a friend shared some music with me, I started using https://music.apple.com/ and no problem. I find it almost more practical 😅 than the Lourds client, the only problem being that there's no equaliser

That's a good shout. I spent most of Sunday on a call with Apple Support who said we exhausted their support options and were going to escalate to engineering.

I've submitted feedback via the link you posted with lots of examples of working and failing searches.

Hi. This sounds like the same problem I've been having.

I have noticed that the search function WILL work if it's restricted to one word.

For instance the artist Zachary Williams doesn't appear as a preview but if you search for 'Zachary' search will work and bring up a whole bunch of artists with Zachary in their name of which the above is one.

It's not ideal but at least you can access music and artists that don't appear as previews in search.

I am having the same problem on my Macbook Air running macOS Sonoma 14.6.1. I can search my own library, but if I want a song that's not in my library, I can't search Apple Music. I have used iTunes as a workaround, but I am only able to play a sample and not purchase. Will follow the suggestion to use the Apple Music Feedback website.

I have this too, on Sonoma 14.7, Apple Music 1.4.6.32.

A workaround I have found is to log into Apple Music in a browser, do the search there, then add the album into my library. It is then available in Apple Music under Library/Recently Added.

I'm also getting this error on a MacBook Air (MQKP3B/A) running macOS Sonoma 14.7 with all OS updates applied, and the Music app versioned at 1.4.6. As far as I can tell, it only ever happens when there's a space in the search query - though I've also seen some queries with spaces in them succeed.

Since this search problem started happening, I'm also getting temperamental error messages when dragging and/ or dropping tracks to the Playing Next pane on the right of the Music app's UI, saying that I'm not logged in with an Apple ID even though I am. For the drag/ drop to succeed, I have to Sign Out from the account menu, re-authenticate, wait for all my playlists to re-sync from the cloud and repeat the operation.

Hoping that Apple will investigate & fix these recently introduced bugs, as I (and some others out there who are also affected, I suspect) ought not to be force-rushed into updating to Sequoia just because of it.