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How do I export Music out of Apple Music on to my Mac?

I want to export songs from Apple Music or iTunes so that I can use them inside of my DAW as reference tracks. So far I've used music download websites like 7Digital but they seem a little complicated, sometimes expensive, and often they just don't have the songs I am looking for. Is there a way to download songs from Apple Music and just export them so that I can use them on my Mac outside of the Apple Music app?

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 14.6

Posted on Sep 26, 2024 9:37 AM

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1 reply

Sep 26, 2024 10:07 AM in response to CarlLes

Replying to my own post because other discussions I found on this subject are archived and read-only.


Exporting Songs From Apple Music On Mac


  1. Use a device that has access to the iTunes Store (for me that's my iPhone - it seems very difficult to do this on Mac for some reason) and purchase the song(s) you want from the iTunes Store.
  2. On your Mac - open Apple Music. In the menu bar at the top of your screen go to the Account menu and select Purchased. This will refresh your Apple Music screen to only show the music you have purchased on iTunes.
  3. Hit the download button on the top right corner of the song(s) you are downloading. This will download a non-protected version of the song to your computer. To go out of this Purchased screen - click on one of the Library options on the left side of the Apple Music window.
  4. If the song was already in your library before buying it (if you're like me you already have it from an Apple Music Subscription) you might want to find that song in your library and delete the original protected version so that you don’t have any duplicates in your library.
  5. Open Finder. On the left side select Macintosh HD then Users then select your username, then Music then Media and finally Music again. Here you will have an artist folder with an album folder inside - and your song will be in that folder. If a directory is easier for you to read: /Macintosh HD/Users/(your username)/Music/Media/Music will get you to the artist folders. This will be a non-protected version that you can use outside of Apple Music.
  6. Drag that file into your DAW, your video production software, wherever you need to use it, enjoy!


Additional Notes

  • If you have an Apple Music subscription; any downloaded songs will appear in this same directory. However, these songs are protected and impossible to use outside of Apple Music. Buying the song on the iTunes Store is gonna give you that non-protected version that you can actually use outside of the Apple Music App
  • Make sure you have permission before publishing or distributing any version or portion of a downloaded song.

How do I export Music out of Apple Music on to my Mac?

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