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Why can't I make a Genius playlist of certain songs?

I have a really massive music library, and I understand that despite there are some songs and artists in general that Genius can't work with(music that's very obscure, especially things that are too obscure to even be in the iTunes store that I bought physical copies of and imported or bought as downloads from sites like bandcamp, that's not what this is about) I have come across songs that should easily spawn Genius playlists but the option is just not available for that particular track, despite being available for literally every other track on the same album and the fact that the two songs I can't create Genius playlists from are literally the two biggest singles off of that particular album(in case it matters I'm specifically talking about the songs Genesis and Oblivion by Grimes). I have lots of similar electronic pop from the same era and lots of Genius playlists where other songs off of the album Visions by Grimes(the one that Genesis and Oblivion are on). But neither track shows up in any Genius playlists and as I mentioned on only those two tracks I'm missing the "Genius" sub-menu where you would normally go to click "Save as Playlist". i went to the iTunes store and hit "Buy" on both tracks to see if somehow my copies of those two songs weren't versions from the iTunes store(I once accidentally duplicated my entire 100+GB library in a weird freak backup accident and despite numerous attempts to use programs to automate or speed up the process ended up having to delete duplicates an album at a time, it took so long that I didn't finish removing all duplicates until several whole-number versions of itunes later so because of how the interface changed over time the speed at which I could remove things was also altered(the point of that whole story being that because at times I removed duplicates a song at a time, I thought my inability to make Genius playlists was because I had deleted the version of the song that was recognized as a store purchase)). I had already purchased them but it offered to allow me to re-download them, so now I have duplicate copies of Oblivion and Genesis in my library, and they have an option to "Add to iCloud Library" in exactly the spot that the Genius sub-menu would normally be. I have selected the option on both tracks several times, as doing so seems to do nothing(I mean, if it's still saying I can add it to the iCloud Library, surely that must mean that's because it isn't there already). I don't know why they're not adding themselves to the iCloud library, but if they do eventually succeed in being added, will I then be able to make a Genius playlist from one of those songs and have them show up in other Genius playlists? This is a very perplexing issue to be having.

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015), OS X Yosemite (10.10.5), Itunes, Genius Playlists

Posted on Apr 14, 2017 7:19 PM

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Posted on May 10, 2017 9:22 AM

I actually have the album you are referring to in this example and the two tracks you are interested particularly works for me with Genius. The source of the music is not a factor, so buying in iTunes vs. Bandcamp won't make a difference in your Genius results.

One possible cause for the lack of Genius results is if there is a lack of metadata information in your library that match the iTunes Store. For example: Genres. Often, Genres from CDs or other sources don't match with the iTunes Store and sometimes correcting some of this information can help improve Genius results.

You may also want to try Spotalike, which acts similar to a Genius Playlist. You simply type in the song and it generates a similar song playlist based on users of a different service.

You can compare the song suggestions with what you have in your library and make a playlist from that. Obviously, much less convenient - but an alternative.

In case you are curious, this is the 'Genesis' Genius Playlist from my library:

1. Genesis - Grimes 2. Eight - Grimes 3. Reunion - M83 4. Odessa - Caribou 5. Recover - CHVRCHES 6. The Look - Metronomy 7. When I'm Small - Phantogram 8. Dance Yrself Clean - LCD Soundsystem 9. Don't Save Me - HAIM 10. Oblivion - Grimes 11. Vowels = Space and Time - Grimes 12. Fiction - The xx 13. Tessellate - Alt-J 14. Sun - Caribou 15. Gun - CHVRCHES 16. Intro - M83 17. Under Your Spell - Desire 18. Forever - HAIM 19. Be a Body - Grimes 20. Hurricane - MS MR 21. Dissolve Me - Alt-J 22. The Mother We Share - CHVRCHES 23. Where the Boats Go - M83 24. Gasoline - Alpine 25. All My Friends - LCD Soundsystem


You may also notice that recent music doesn't work with iTunes. I have a 30,000 song library and Genius doesn't work with any new music in my library released between roughly October 2015 and now. Not one song. I have posted about this before on here and I have brought it up with Apple.

For any and all Genius issues, I would suggest to send feedback to Apple here. The more Apple can here from its user base about the issues with Genius, the more likely they will address the issues.

1 reply
Question marked as Best reply

May 10, 2017 9:22 AM in response to HummusBastard

I actually have the album you are referring to in this example and the two tracks you are interested particularly works for me with Genius. The source of the music is not a factor, so buying in iTunes vs. Bandcamp won't make a difference in your Genius results.

One possible cause for the lack of Genius results is if there is a lack of metadata information in your library that match the iTunes Store. For example: Genres. Often, Genres from CDs or other sources don't match with the iTunes Store and sometimes correcting some of this information can help improve Genius results.

You may also want to try Spotalike, which acts similar to a Genius Playlist. You simply type in the song and it generates a similar song playlist based on users of a different service.

You can compare the song suggestions with what you have in your library and make a playlist from that. Obviously, much less convenient - but an alternative.

In case you are curious, this is the 'Genesis' Genius Playlist from my library:

1. Genesis - Grimes 2. Eight - Grimes 3. Reunion - M83 4. Odessa - Caribou 5. Recover - CHVRCHES 6. The Look - Metronomy 7. When I'm Small - Phantogram 8. Dance Yrself Clean - LCD Soundsystem 9. Don't Save Me - HAIM 10. Oblivion - Grimes 11. Vowels = Space and Time - Grimes 12. Fiction - The xx 13. Tessellate - Alt-J 14. Sun - Caribou 15. Gun - CHVRCHES 16. Intro - M83 17. Under Your Spell - Desire 18. Forever - HAIM 19. Be a Body - Grimes 20. Hurricane - MS MR 21. Dissolve Me - Alt-J 22. The Mother We Share - CHVRCHES 23. Where the Boats Go - M83 24. Gasoline - Alpine 25. All My Friends - LCD Soundsystem


You may also notice that recent music doesn't work with iTunes. I have a 30,000 song library and Genius doesn't work with any new music in my library released between roughly October 2015 and now. Not one song. I have posted about this before on here and I have brought it up with Apple.

For any and all Genius issues, I would suggest to send feedback to Apple here. The more Apple can here from its user base about the issues with Genius, the more likely they will address the issues.

Why can't I make a Genius playlist of certain songs?

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