Default Location - Finder Path for Music Files - macOS Catalina 10.15.7

Back in the day artist folders were put in the media folder, along with additional folders for different media kinds like Movies or Podcasts. iTunes 9 introduced iTunes Media Organization, changing the default media folder name from iTunes Music to iTunes Media and added a Music subfolder for artist folders to go into. These were defaults on new libraries but older libraries weren't converted automatically. They could be updated using a one way option under File > Library > Organize Library > Rearrange Files. Now that Music doesn't really offer any other media kinds the additional Music folder is redundant, and looks messy when there are already two other Music folders in the path, however Apple haven't provided a mechanism to remove it. They should really flip the behaviour of rearrange files to remove the extra folder in Music but that hasn't happened.

To remove the bonus Music folder start with the Music app closed and look inside the Media folder for a hidden file called .Media Preferences.plist. (You can reveal/hide hidden files with Shift+Cmd+. if required.) Its contents will look something like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">

<plist version="1.0">

<dict>

<key>GUID</key>

<string>83CBF720-9DF0-2414-753C-77538D89E54F</string>

<key>Layout Version</key>

<integer>1</integer>

</dict>

</plist>

Open it with some form of text editor and change the integer value from 1 to 0, save the file, launch Music, then turn Music > Preferences > Files > Keep Music Media folder organized off, click OK, then turn it on again. Music should move all artist folders up one level and remove the now empty /Media/Music folder when it completes the task.

tt2

Yes, by default Music adds the additional Music folder inside the Media folder. I've just rechecked in Big Sur with a new empty library.

tt2