Apple Music Song Merging

[Andy_2341]

Hello everybody. I have a Macbook Air M4 on Tahoe 26.5. There was a version of a song that I loved and reminds me of a time in my life that has since passed. That memory means a lot to me and so when the song was removed from Apple Music for some odd reason, it was really saddening.

Therefore, I went and found it on my own and want to import my M4A file of the same song. I have edited the artwork and all the song details to be the same, however I cannot get the play count to change on either one. Is there some way to change the play count or merge the songs to be one in Apple Music's eyes so that my Replay playlists are not disturbed and the play count remains accurate?

Thank you all for any help you can provide!

 

[!!!]

when the song was removed from Apple Music for some odd reason, it was really saddening.

This is what happens when you subscribe to a service instead of purchasing songs. Apple or the record label can remove the song at any time without warning, and it may never come back.

Is there some way to change the play count or merge the songs to be one in Apple Music's eyes so that my Replay playlists are not disturbed and the play count remains accurate?

There are AppleScript scripts which can modify the play count. I've used dougscript's scripts in the past, with iTunes specifically. I've found one which purports to work with AM, though I have not tested it:

https://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=mxaddorsubtractplaycount

 

[Andy_2341]

This is what happens when you subscribe to a service instead of purchasing songs. Apple or the record label can remove the song at any time without warning, and it may never come back.

There are AppleScript scripts which can modify the play count. I've used dougscript's scripts in the past, with iTunes specifically. I've found one which purports to work with AM, though I have not tested it:

https://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=mxaddorsubtractplaycount

Unfortunately so. I could never afford to purchase the volume of music i listen to though as it’s over 3000 songs.
I will try the Applescript. Thank you 🙂

 

[Andy_2341]

So I went to try the script today to find that Apple Music automatically merged them and the play counts sometime since my original post. Turns out when you input identical info, it figures it out. I also played the track once from my iPhone, and I don't know if that had anything to do with it. At any rate, the problem solved itself. Thank you @!!! for your help anyways.