Why we rebuilt
Music League outgrew the platform it was built on.
The original foundation made everything harder than it should have been. Shipping a feature meant working around the plumbing instead of building on it. Bugs that should have been fixed in an afternoon took much longer. And we had to deal with awful ads to keep up with the costs of fixing things (including the ads themselves — very meta, we know). Those issues are soon to be distant memories.
We could have kept patching it. Instead we rebuilt Music League from scratch, on a foundation we can move quickly on. The new Music League is simply more reliable: we keep an eye on it around the clock, we double check every new release, and we ship improvements regularly. The things you've been asking for are no longer blocked by plumbing.
That new version is live now at next.musicleague.com, and we'd like you to move over to it to create your next league and to bring your players with you. There won't be any public leagues until enough people move over.
What's different when you sign in
You have your own Music League account now. You used to sign in through Spotify alone. Music League keeps its own account for you, so you can sign in however you prefer: with email and password, with Log in with Spotify, or with Log in with Apple. Sign in a different way later using the same email address and you land in the same account, not a new one.
Connect a music service. Music League still needs Spotify or Apple Music to search for songs, play previews, and build the playlists. Log in with Spotify and it's connected in the same step. Log in with email or Apple and you'll connect a service on the screen right after. If you connect both, you pick which one is primary. (Spotify and Apple Music both ask you to sign in again from time to time, so you may occasionally be asked to reconnect.)
Apple Music works too. If you're an Apple Music listener, you no longer need a Spotify account to play. Search, previews, and playlists all work with either service.
The details are in Signing In to Music League and Connecting a music service.
Your history comes with you
Every league you've ever played is on the new site, waiting for you. Sign in with the same Spotify account you used before, or with the same email address, and all of your leagues are accessible through the new Music League: the finished ones in your Completed tab, the ones still running in your Active tab, with standings, the songs everyone submitted, and your profile picture and all the associated stats are there too. Nothing to claim, nothing to import.
When logging in to the new platform for the first time, be 100% sure you're using the Spotify log-in OR the same email you use for Spotify or your history will not come with you. After that, feel free to use whatever email you want and feel free to change to Apple Music.
Nothing disappears
The original Music League stays online. We're not switching it off while people still have leagues running there.
If a league you're playing started on the original site, you finish it there. When it's your turn to submit a song or vote, the league in your Active tab takes you straight to the original site to do it. One thing to know: the two sites don't share a sign-in, so the first time you go across you'll log in with Spotify again. After that one-time sign in, it's easy.
To protect the integrity of completed leagues, and to limit the time we need to keep maintaining this relic, we've disabled all of the editing options for completed leagues and most of them for leagues in progress. At some point we'll also turn off the button that creates new leagues on the original site, so that new leagues start life on the new platform. We'll give you warnings before that happens — here is one: new leagues built in the old app cannot be scheduled to end beyond January 15.
Playlists are yours now
Round playlists used to come from one shared Music League account. Now every playlist is created directly in your own library (Spotify or Apple Music), using the account designated as 'primary'. Playlists show up right away and stay yours to keep, even if you leave the league later. And entire league playlists are now an option too — see League Playlist.
Mobile (phone and tablet)
The previous iPhone and Android apps were built on a cross-platform framework, the kind that promises one codebase for both phones and faster development. It fell short. Releases were slow, the apps never felt native to your phone, and they crashed and stuttered far more than any app should. So we rebuilt them from scratch, to give you the best experience each platform can offer.
The apps in the App Store and Google Play today still point at the original Music League. They'll continue working… until you download the 2.0 update.
The new apps are in testing, and they're already a big step up from the ones they replace. If you'd like to try the iPhone app, join the beta at next.musicleague.com/ios-beta. The Android beta is coming. Until then, the new Music League works in your phone's browser, and as a web app with its own icon — see Installing Music League on your computer.
One note for League Admins who update: leagues you started on the original Music League are reached through your browser from then on, rather than inside the app. Almost everything still works — you can edit a round as before — but two shortcuts go away: inviting players from one of your older leagues, and extending a deadline in a single click.
A better deal on ads
We know the ads in the original app got in the way. We're overhauling advertising on the new Music League: rethinking where ads appear and how many you see, and leaning on ads less over time. If you'd rather never see one, Premium removes them everywhere, and every gameplay and League Admin tool stays free either way.
New for players
- Apple Music. Play with Apple Music or Spotify, whichever you already use.
- Fewer ads, better ads. And Premium removes them everywhere.
- Follow and be followed. See what the people you follow are up to in Activity, and interact outside of a league setting. You can block players too.
- A personalized profile. Your own profile page, your own picture.
- More control over what we send you. Choose in-app notification, email, or push notification for each kind of update.
- Whole league playlists. Not just round by round.
- Music League in your language. The app is translated into 13 languages.
- Your gameplay history. In-league warnings help you avoid repeats: songs and artists you submitted before (when, and how they did), and songs and artists anyone in the league has submitted.
- New standings. A cleaner look at who's winning.
New for League Admins
- Personalized league images. Upload your own artwork for a league.
- Duplicate control. Allow or block repeat artists and songs, set per league or per round.
- Build in breaks. Put a gap between rounds when your players need one.
- More optional, casual league settings. Song submission can be optional, and voting can be optional for upvotes and downvotes.
- Auto-adjusting vote requirements. Leagues never get stuck waiting on a vote that can't be cast.
Tell us what's wrong with it
This is the part we actually need. We built this to move faster, and that only helps you if we're moving in the right direction.
If something is broken, slower, or just worse than it used to be, we want to hear it. If something finally works the way you always wanted, we'd like to hear that too. Reply to any email we send you, or use the Help button in the app.
Thanks for playing. We think this one's going to be a lot better.