MusicKit Now Playing Reference

MusicKit integration patterns for Now Playing metadata when playing Apple Music content with ApplicationMusicPlayer.

When to Use This Reference

Use this reference when:

• Playing Apple Music content with MusicKit's ApplicationMusicPlayer
• Building a hybrid app that plays both Apple Music and your own content
• Now Playing info is wrong or missing when playing Apple Music tracks
• Manually setting nowPlayingInfo and overwriting MusicKit's automatic data

Example Prompts

Questions you can ask Claude that will draw from this reference:

• "Do I need to set Now Playing info when using MusicKit?"
• "Now Playing shows wrong metadata for Apple Music tracks"
• "My app plays both Apple Music and local files -- how do I handle Now Playing?"
• "I'm manually setting nowPlayingInfo but it keeps getting overwritten"
• "How does ApplicationMusicPlayer handle Now Playing automatically?"

What's Covered

• What ApplicationMusicPlayer publishes automatically (title, artist, album, artwork, duration, rate)
• What is NOT automatic (custom metadata, remote command customization, mixed content)
• Correct pattern for MusicKit-only playback (let the system handle it)
• Hybrid app architecture for switching between MusicKit and AVPlayer
• The common mistake of manually overwriting MusicKit's automatic Now Playing data
• When manual MPNowPlayingInfoCenter updates are appropriate with MusicKit

Key Insight

MusicKit's ApplicationMusicPlayer automatically publishes to MPNowPlayingInfoCenter. You do not need to manually update Now Playing info when playing Apple Music content. The most common mistake is manually setting nowPlayingInfo, which overwrites MusicKit's automatic data and causes incorrect metadata.

Documentation Scope

This page documents the axiom-now-playing-musickit reference skill -- MusicKit-specific Now Playing patterns.

• For core Now Playing setup (MPNowPlayingInfoCenter, remote commands, artwork), see now-playing
• For CarPlay integration, see now-playing-carplay

Related

• now-playing -- Core Now Playing patterns (manual MPNowPlayingInfoCenter setup)
• now-playing-carplay -- CarPlay Now Playing with CPNowPlayingTemplate customization
• avfoundation-ref -- AVAudioSession and AVPlayer for non-MusicKit audio content

Resources

WWDC: 2021-10294, 2022-110338

Docs: /musickit, /musickit/applicationmusicplayer