Why do I need to connect a music service?
Music League uses your connected music service for three things:
- Song search — When you're submitting a song, we search the service's catalog to find it.
- Playback — During voting, everyone can listen to each submitted song using your connected service (on very rare occasions a song will not be available in both Apple Music and Spotify).
- Playlist creation — At the end of each round, we build a playlist in your service with all the submissions. We also offer playlist generation for the entire league.
You can connect Spotify or Apple Music — either one works.
You don't have to pick a service you don't already use. If you have a Spotify account, connect Spotify. If you use Apple Music, connect Apple Music. Both give you the full Music League experience.
Can I connect both Spotify and Apple Music?
Yes. If you connect both, you choose one of them as your primary service. Your primary service decides two things:
- Which catalog your song search uses when you submit a song, and
- Which library a generated playlist is saved to.
You can change which service is primary at any time from your music settings, and switching takes effect the next time you search or generate a playlist. If you only connect one service, that service is your primary automatically — there's nothing to choose.
Where do I manage my music connection?
Open your Profile, then Settings, and tap the Music Streaming Connection section. From there you can connect or disconnect either service, and — if both are connected — tap Make primary on the one you want to drive search and playlists. The Primary badge shows which service is currently in charge.
Can I hear a song that isn't on my service?
Yes. While you're voting, Music League plays a 30-second preview of each song on the web, so you can listen before you score it. If a song someone submitted isn't in your own service's catalog, Music League finds a preview of that same recording from wherever one is available and plays that — there's no "unavailable" label and nothing extra for you to do. The song still appears on your ballot and you vote on it like any other. (In the rare case no preview exists anywhere, there's simply nothing to play.) A song that isn't in a given service's catalog is left out of that service's playlists — the players on that service just won't see it in the playlist Music League builds for them. It still plays for everyone during voting.
Whose account are round playlists created in?
Apple Music: yours. Music League builds the playlist directly in your own Apple Music library, using the account you connected, and it stays there even if you later leave the league or disconnect the service.
Spotify: each round has one playlist for the whole league. The first player to tap Create round playlist makes it in their own Spotify account, and it shows their Spotify name. Everyone else taps Open and lands on that same playlist. It's never a shared Music League account.
If you opened someone else's round playlist, remember:
- Opening it plays it, but doesn't save it. To keep it, tap + (Add to Your Library) in Spotify. That follows the playlist.
- Following depends on the player who made it. If they delete the playlist in Spotify, it disappears for everyone who follows it.
- For a permanent copy that's yours, open the playlist in Spotify, select all the songs, choose Add to playlist, then New playlist.
- If the player who made it disconnects Spotify from Music League, Music League stops linking to their playlist, and the next player to tap Create round playlist makes a new one.
The songs are in the same order for everyone in the round, and that order matches the order on your voting ballot exactly. It's shuffled once when submissions close and doesn't change after that.
There's a song in my Spotify playlist that no one submitted. Is that a bug?
No. On free Spotify accounts, Spotify sometimes adds a recommended song of its own to the end of a playlist. That extra track comes from Spotify, not from Music League — it isn't part of the round and you can't vote on it. Only songs players actually submitted count toward voting and scoring. This is a Spotify behavior; it doesn't happen with Apple Music.
What kind of account do I need?
For Spotify, either a Free or Premium account works. For Apple Music, you connect the account you already subscribe to. Either way, you'll sign in with your existing account the first time you connect — you don't need to create a new one.
Why does Apple ask me to approve Apple Music twice?
Apple keeps signing in and granting music access as two separate permissions. So if you signed in with Apple, you'll be asked to approve Apple Music access once more before it's connected. That's expected — it isn't an error, and it's a one-time step.
When will I be asked to connect?
If you tap Log in with Spotify on the sign-in screen, Spotify is connected automatically in the same step.
If you sign in another way — with email and password, or with Apple — you'll be taken to a screen to connect a music service right after. You need to complete this step before you can create or join a league.
You can change your preferred music streaming service at any time from your Settings page.
My connection stopped working. What do I do?
- Spotify. In most cases, Music League refreshes the connection in the background and you won't notice. If it can't be refreshed automatically, you'll be asked to sign in to Spotify again — this usually takes a few seconds.
- Apple Music. Apple Music access can lapse over time, because there's no way to refresh it quietly in the background. When it does, Music League asks you to allow Apple Music again and returns you to right where you were.
Either way, you won't lose any of your league data.
Why did I lose my music connection?
A few things can disconnect your account from Music League:
- You disconnected the service. If you tapped Disconnect on the connection card in your music settings, or removed access to Music League from your Spotify apps page, your connection ends immediately.
- Your access lapsed. Spotify access tokens have a limited lifespan, and Apple Music access can expire because it can't be refreshed in the background. If Music League can't restore the connection automatically, you'll be asked to reconnect.
- Someone else connected the same account. Each Music League account must be tied to a unique music-service account. If another Music League user connects the same account to theirs, your connection is replaced.
- The service is down. If Spotify's or Apple's service is having an outage, Music League can't verify your session. Try again in a few minutes.
To reconnect, open your music settings and tap Connect (or Switch account) on the service you want to use.
Can I disconnect a service?
Yes. Open your Profile → Settings → tap the Music Streaming Connection section, and tap Disconnect on the service's connection card. For Spotify, you can also remove access from Spotify's side at spotify.com/account/apps by clicking Remove Access next to "Music League."
Either way, you'll need a music service connected the next time you use Music League — so if you disconnect one, connect the other or reconnect the same one before you submit, vote, or generate a playlist.
Will Music League connect to other music services?
We would love to! Please send a note to support@musicleague.com with the subject line "Additional Music Streamer."
Please send it from the same email account you use for Music League. Tell us which provider you currently use for Music League and which one you want us to add. Also, please let us know what country you play from.