Meet MusicKit for Swift

MusicKit allows access to Apple Music API to search for content

It also allows for playback in third party apps (user needs to be subscribed)

Music items: Album with attributes, relationships and associations

Use album.with([.artists, .tracks, .relationAlbums]) for fetching relationships

All calls are using Swift concurrency, so try await needed on call site

Playback integrates with system, so media controls in lock screen work for example

Requests done via MusicCatalogResourceRequest<Album>(matching:equalTo:)

Then just call try await request.response() on the request object

Contributor comment: The networking structure here is interesting, maybe a new platform best practice!?

User consent is needed to access music listening history & music library (separately)

Access is given once per device & per app, dialog has “yes” / “no” options

As always, a usage description must be provided in Info.plist file

Use MusicAuthorization.request() (async method) to get access in MusicKit

API token for Apple Music API is automated by Xcode, just check the box in Connect

3 information to check regarding subscription capabilities:

• can play catalog content, has cloud library enabled & can become subscriber

MusicSubscription.subscriptionUpdates informs app when user subscribes

Two players available, SystemMusicPlayer integrates with system more, ApplicationMusicPlayer allows for more customization for the app like playback queue

Apple Music free trial can be started right within third party apps via system sheet

New Affiliate program to get bonus if users subscribe via 3rd party app

Class supports album customization, named MusicSubscriptionOffer (.Options)

Possible use cases: background music in games, music during workouts, social media