iTunes Match Lost Cover Art

Hi mightymilk, it's not as big a problem as it used to be, I've noticed that since the last IOS update, artwork tends to be downloaded much quicker now, and vice-versa, I have a robust routine in place which ensures that artwork is firmly embedded within the metadata, indeed I now look for better representations of album covers via google's images tab, if I have the CD I scan the jewel case booklet which has rewarded me with very crisp results, so it's not all bad.

I had some missing album art under iOS 7.0.3 and Apple TV using iTunes March. All these albums had album art in iTunes. Try this fix, it worked for me:

1. Select a song in iTunes, select File / Get Info / Artwork, select the artwork and copy it to the clipboard

2. Select all songs in the album

3. Right click / Clear Downloaded Artwork. Nothing visible happens, you still see the artwork in iTunes. This is normal

4. Wait a few seconds by taking three deep breaths. If you are religious, say a short prayer

5. (with all the songs still selected) click on File / Get Info / Info.

6. Paste the artwork to the artwork field. Click OK

7. You will see a "Processing" pop up window

8. Watch your iOS device to update the artwork in less than a minute. You don't have to touch your phone, it will change in front of your eyes.

Do not use the "Download Artwork" option, it doesn't embed the album art, you have to paste the album art in and watch the "Processing" message with satisfaction.

Thanks! 🙂

Thank you Doneko, that's exactly what I've been doing, with satisfying results.

You are a star. I have tried manually deleting album art using the Information option and then replacing it which sometimes works but I was left with a few albums with no art. Just tried your method with albums on my iPad with no art and it works exactly as you describe.

But it is a complex issue. I got all the art displaying on albums but some is still missing in the artist and song views, even though the art is there in the album view. Tried using the same technique with the albums where songs had art missing and it worked.

It is a lot of effort getting all the art to display but this is the only method I have see that works. It is a pity the staff employed by Apple for their training sessions don't know about this. Apple should give you £1 for every iTunes user.

I have all the covers for every album showing up on my IOS 7 devices. But on the artist overview page some artist didn't get a cover generated. Does anybody have a fix for this?

Greetings Henrik

I had exactly the same problem even though on the album view all the covers were there. Just go through the steps described by Doneko above when the cover is missing and it should sort itself out. It did with me.

Well, I did follow the decription. I tried it an artist who has only one album in my collection. I even exchanged it to a totally different cover but still on the artist overview no cover shows up.

How does this work anyway, some Artist show a cover of an album some show a provided picture. Is there some way to influence this?

I play some tracks to try and coax the images to download, that usually has the desired effect, another way is to double-tap the home button and swipe up the music app to delete from memory, then restart the app, something will appear, you've just go to be persistent with it.

I did that already, that worked for me on IOS6/Iphone5 but not on my current IOS7/Iphone5s. I also downloaded all the songy of the artists from the cloud or left the player playing all day, no luck.

Thank you soooo much!!!

Unfortunately, it's as bad as it's always been. I'm quickly loosing album art on an almost weekly basis, and almost everytime iTunes Match updates itself. I have (3) devices, MacBook Pro, Apple TV, and iPhone. Each week I'll scroll through my library and find at least (5) albums missing that had been there for years. This happens whether or not I add/modify anything in my library, and the albums that change are always albums I've made no changes to on any computer. It's quite obnoxious at this point that I have to do this on a regular basis. As I've said, it's deleting album art I've had embeded in music files for literally years. The fact that Apple cannot straighten this out is to be honest appalling in my opinion.

NortholtJohn3 wrote:

Hi mightymilk, it's not as big a problem as it used to be, I've noticed that since the last IOS update, artwork tends to be downloaded much quicker now, and vice-versa, I have a robust routine in place which ensures that artwork is firmly embedded within the metadata, indeed I now look for better representations of album covers via google's images tab, if I have the CD I scan the jewel case booklet which has rewarded me with very crisp results, so it's not all bad.

I don't think it is as bad as it was. The tip from Doneko has worked well for me and I find using it has always put the missing album art onto my iOS7 devices. I did find that in the album view art was there but then some tracks had the art missing so I had to check through both, but when I went through the process suggested by Doneko the art appeared. I did have to try twice with some tracks though. However, as you say art can vanish from iTunes MacBooks but strangely it has still been there on my iOS7 devices. It is certainly not perfect. I have asked in Apple store training sessions and nobeody seems to have an answer. I suspect they have been told not to admit that there is a problem.

Ergonomically, iOS7 is a huge step backward. Although, most of the mundane tasks now require additional steps to complete, the long-standing juggling and disappearing album art nonsense appears to be fixed with iOS7. At least, I no longer have that problem. Not bad, it only took a couple of years to fix.

Absolutely brilliant, Doneko!! 😁