Touch Bar stops working for iTunes control

Does anyone have a solution to fix this issue? It happens about 3-4 times a week. I'll suddenly find that the Touch Bar controls stop working for iTunes control. Pressing play, rewind, fast forward, etc. on the Touch Bar stop working. I can press them but they don't control iTunes. The only fix I've found is to reboot my MacBook Pro (purchased Jan 2017). Very frustrating.

Maybe related to this is that I have iTunes in Notifications Center, where I can also control iTunes when the Touch Bar stops working. But the problem is, at least half the time the navigation controls there for iTunes also disappear and all I see is the name of the song and artist. I have to disable iTunes from Notifications Center and reenable for them to reappear.

This is very annoying. Help welcome.