iOS Music Comes Up As DRM-Protected Every Time

For the last couple of update iterations, I have had every single song that I sync onto my iPad from my iCloud Music Library is flagged as DRM-protected when I try to load it onto my decks. Is anybody else experiencing this?

These are all files that were bought either on BeatSource, Amazon Music, iTunes, or Bandcamp, and have worked without issue until recently.

I am a mobile DJ that uses my iPad for ceremony music. I build the playlists on the Music app on my Mac and sync it onto my iPad using iCloud Music Library.

Thank you in advance for your help!

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If I remember correctly, there were some things how iCloud Music Library works.
I.e. it ainā€™t a cloud storage, itā€™s something else. When uploading your file, it will encode it to AAC.

In worst case it might even change live version to ā€œalbmum oneā€:

Dunno how it works now days, but I rather do things manually than try to automate everything.

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Hi @CarneWest,

Thanks for bringing this to our attention and sorry that youā€™ve encountered DRM-protection on songs that clearly sound like they shouldnā€™t be.

As @dj_romy_fi shared some related information to the iCloud Music Library, itā€™s possible that the Cloud Status assigned to these songs is whatā€™s causing the issue here. So that we can rule that out first, could you please provide the following information:

For 3 of the tracks you are finding this to be the case for, could you please open the Apple Music app on your Mac, right-click on the song, click ā€œGet Infoā€, click on the ā€œFileā€ tab, and send me a screenshot of that screen for each song?

Thanks in advance, and I look forward to your reply.

Hi

I gave the Pro subscription a try to see whether I can move away from Traktor and using a MacBook. Unfortunately, my start has not not been that smooths and I hope you may be able to help me out (support couldnā€™t):

My iPad is from 2021, max spec, OS on the latest version. I have an Apple Music subscription, so I purchased songs via iTunes on the Mac. These are tracks published in the last two years. They play on Traktor 3 on the Mac and they play on the DJay app on the iPhone.

About one third of the tracks I purchased are however grayed out, giving a message that they are DRM protected etc.

Deleting the download and re-downloading them in the Music app, did not work. Deleting the Djay app and reinstalling it, did not work.

Anyone who has had this, or has a tip how to proceed?

Thank you!

Olaf

Hi @OlafWolkenhauer,

Sorry to hear youā€™ve run into this issue. Iā€™ve moved your post over to this already existing topic thread in the Bug Reports category as it sounds like a similar problem. Please read the posts above as they may be helpful for you as well. As stated above, itā€™s possible that the Cloud Status assigned to these songs is whatā€™s causing the issue here. So that we can rule that out first, could you please provide the following information:

For 3 of the tracks you are finding this to be the case for, could you please open the Apple Music app on your Mac, right-click on the song, click ā€œGet Infoā€, click on the ā€œFileā€ tab, and send me a screenshot of that screen for each song?

Thanks in advance, and I look forward to your reply.

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Dear Emily

as requested, I sent you three screenshots. The cloud status for these files is ā€œpurchasedā€.

This happens to newer and older tracks, I would estimate about a third of what I purchased cannot be loaded in the Djay app on the iPad.

Strangely, there is no problem with loading them into the Djay app on the iPhone!

Regards

Olaf

Thanks for sending the screenshots and for sharing the additional information, Olaf.

As youā€™ve said, the cloud status for the tracks you shared does say "Purchased, and the files are listed as a ā€œPurchased AAC audio fileā€. Since the tracks work as expected on your Mac (e.g., without DRM-protection), and this information was taken from the track info on your Mac, then we can assume somehow in the process of the files being transferred to your iPad, it may be that Appleā€™s iCloud Music Library listed these tracks as DRM-protected when they shouldnā€™t be.

For this reason, the next step to troubleshoot this would be to try syncing the music from your Mac to your iPad using a cabled connection to do so. This should hopefully allow the iPad to see the tracks as Purchased, as they currently are seen on your Mac.

For more information about how mix-ups like these can happen when using Apple Music (streaming service) and the iCloud Music Library, here are some outside resources that also offer additional troubleshooting steps which you may find helpful:

Apple Music problems? Hereā€™s the fix!

Seeing ā€œApple Musicā€ instead of ā€œMatchedā€ on your iTunes tracks? Hereā€™s the fix!

How to check your iCloud song status

Please let me know if these troubleshooting steps solve the issue for you!

Iā€˜ve had loads of problems with this behavior and have since switched to syncing files locally. That way works 100% of the time and is what I would recommend to everyone having trouble. There are workarounds to get your grayed-out files working again but in my case they were temporary and the problem came back again and again.

Hi

I did a sync of the iPad with the Mac (and repowered the iPad), with no success. The tracks are still not playable.

Technically speaking, I am not syncing the music though, since I use iCloud for music syncing. I do not have a local separate library, just for my purchased tracks. iTunes has to distinguish tracks from Apple Music and the purchased ones, and this seems to work on the iPhone and elsewhere.

I in a seven day trial for the iPad app to decide whether I can move from Traktor and the Mac to an iPad solution, and donā€™t want to spend another day to create separate music libraries or reset the entire library (which will take long).

ā€œGoodā€ to hear that others have this problem as well, although I was hoping for a smoother ride :slight_smile: The iPhone is certainly not working as a replacement for the Mac and Traktor.

Iā€™m having the exact same issue. Just set it up on my iPad Pro to test djay out. I currently use my laptop with Serrato - but was curious about using an iPad instead. So far - itā€™s been a tough sell since 1/2 my library is not useable because of this bugā€¦

I, unfortunately gave up, after having spent hours with the Apple helpline. Back to Traktor. Would have loved to switch. The latest iPad is quite powerful and would be an excellent display and player.

Just upgraded to iOS15 on a new iPad Pro. Many of songs Iā€™ve played in the past are greyed out. Iā€™ve looked into the types of file and all the iTunes purchased music shows up, but ā€œCloud status: Apple Musicā€ does not. Songs that are listed as Matched songs also play.
Iā€™m just confused why these songs worked before, but donā€™t anymore. At this point I donā€™t think itā€™s an algoriddim issue.

Try deleting the song in Apple Music, then redownload in Apple Music.

Hi, 2020 iPad Pro on iOS 15.1. The fixes Iā€™ve seen in the forums have not worked for me. Iā€™ve tried deleting my purchased music downloads and redownlowding them again. I checked the files on my Mac and they have no DRM. Also closed and re-opened Music and Djay several times. Have also tried setting audio quality to AAC (ā€œHigh Qualityā€) in Settings case it was trying to consume lossless. Still does not work.

Iā€™ve had to start manually syncing the playlists that I need on my iPad via Finder on the Mac. Hopefully this works for you!

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