In short: Add more favorite artists and loved songs on Apple Music to get notifications. If you’re still not getting notifications, use a third-party tool like BEEPR or MusicHarbor to get real-time alerts from your favorite artists.
Did you know that you can add the artists you love to favorites and be notified when they release new music? Sadly, Apple Music notifications are often not working. Let’s talk about it.
Make sure the Apple Music notifications settings are correct
If you already have allowed notifications from Apple Music, but it’s not working, you’ll need to make sure both Apple Music push notifications and New Music notifications are switched on.
Open the Settings app and tap on Notifications.
Scroll down and tap on Music.
First, make sure the Allow Notifications toggle is turned on.
Now scroll down and tap on Music Notification Settings.
Make sure both the New Music and Show in Library toggles are turned on.
Many people don’t realize that there are two notification switches that they need to enable in order to get the Apple Music notifications working properly.
Add more favorite artists on Apple Music
If you’ve turned the New Music notifications toggle ON but you haven’t got notifications from Apple Music, make sure you add more favorite artists on the Apple Music app.
Ever since the release of iOS 16, you can add favorite artists on Apple Music. This is crucial if you want to get better recommendations as well as notifications about new releases.
- Open the Apple Music app.
- Tap on the Search tab in the bottom-right corner.
- Type the name of the artist that you want to follow in the search field.
- Tap on the Artist’s name.
- Tap the empty star in the top-right corner of the screen.
Even if you have the correct settings applied for Apple Music, there’s a chance the New Music notifications won’t work if you don’t add favorite artists on the app.
Love more songs on Apple Music
In addition to adding more favorite artists on Apple Music, it’s a good idea to “love” more songs so the app can give you better recommendations as well as notifications about new releases.
To like songs on iOS devices, tap the music player near the bottom of the screen and tap the three-dot menu in the top right corner (next to track info). Tap on the Love option.
Alternatively, you can also choose to Suggest Less Like This to dislike the song. This lets Apple Music know that you don’t like the song and the app will literally suggest similar songs.
To like songs on Mac, navigate to an item (such as a song or album), move the pointer over the item, click the More button (three-dot icon), and then choose Love or Dislike.
Remember, if you want to improve your experience and get notifications from Apple Music, you should let the app know the songs you like and the songs you dislike.
Use MusicHarbor or BEEPR to get real-time music alerts
While I wouldn’t go as far as saying that the New Music notifications are another “half-baked” Apple feature, many people never received notifications from Apple Music.
Even if you’ve added favorite artists and liked songs, most of the time the Apple Music notifications come a day and a half late. In my case, it comes at exactly 3:06 a.m.
In fact, every time an artist I follow releases new music, I often end up hearing about it through social media (Twitter) or websites, and not directly through Apple Music.
For some people, notifications about new releases from favorite artists show up on Listen Now under New Releases, but it doesn’t send them notifications about it either.
Without being alerted and having to manually check for new releases, the New Music notifications feature is pretty much redundant on Apple Music.
If you’re dealing with the same problem, then I suggest you use a third-party tool like BEEPR or MusicHarbor, both of which alerts you when your favorite artists release new music.
I think BEEPR is so good that the notifications come out faster than the artist can tweet about their song, and it even tells you when an artist announces a song so you can be ready.
I personally use BEEPR, but MusicHarbor is also a great service with a nice UI and amazing implementation because it works seamlessly with Apple Music.
Yes, it’s a bummer that Apple Music users have to rely on third-party tools for real-time notifications, but it’s much better than waiting for alerts that never come.
I personally think that Apple Music should either disable the New Music notifications feature or make it work because in its current state, it’s causing more frustration than enjoyment.
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