Tracks Unavailable to Stream on Apple Music

You can’t stream everything that in the iTunes Store on Apple Music. There are lots of labels, and artists, who aren’t playing the streaming game. Notable labels that are missing are ECM, the jazz label, and Hyperion Records, the classical label, both important independent labels in their genres.

But there are also individual tracks, or parts of albums, that are unavailable. I came across a few of them yesterday.

The first I found is a new album by the Kronos Quartet, playing music by Terry Riley: Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector. This album is featured in the Classical section of Apple Music, yet when I went to listen to it, I found the first track was dimmed, and was not available for streaming.

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Another I found is Miles Davis’ Bootleg Series, Vol. 1: Live in Europe 1967. 14 of 24 tracks are available to stream, but the last ten are not.

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In the first example, the unavailable track is what would be an “album only” track on the iTunes Store; it’s longer than ten minutes. But there are plenty of classical albums with longer tracks that are available, so it’s not a blanket ban; it’s simply that the label, Nonesuch Records, still wants to sell some albums.

With the Miles Davis, it’s a bit different. You get about half the album, but if you want the rest, you need to pay.

Both approaches are fair. Just be aware that you can’t stream everything.