How to remove uploaded music from the cloud

If you have content that you specifically want to exclude from the cloud library then one approach is to create a separate Music library on the computer for that content, in which you do not enable the Sync Library option, then hold down option to swap between libraries when required.

So if he does this now, after the fact, will it remove the songs in that other (non-synced) library from the cloud?

Alternatively he could potentially delete these tracks from his iPhone, or a second library where Sync Library is enabled, which would remove them from the cloud and any Apple devices. In the primary library their cloud status would change from Uploaded to Removed.

Would this delete those songs (files) on his Mac? He definately doesn't want to lose those local files on his Mac.

Note your iCloud storage quota is entirely separate from Apple Music.

Interesting. I didn't know this.

Whichever route he takes he should make backups first. If he wants to make a separate library he should make sure it is using an independent media folder, add all of his own tracks to that library, back it up, then remove them from the primary library so that they also get removed from the cloud library.

Thanks again for your help. I want to try and test this out myself. I also have an iPhone and a Mac. I personally don't have any local music; all the songs in my playlists are in the cloud. I have an album's worth of MP3s on a memory stick. Should I create a new folder in my ~/Music/ folder alongside the other Music folder (say I call it "LocalMusic"? would I then put my new local album in that folder? Or do I need to create a hierarchy with band name, album name, etc? Or does that all get taken care of when I import the album into my new library (which I haven't created yet).

Can I create the new library first, without any content? When I do that, will it create it right next to the default library (~/Music/Music/Media/Music Library.musiclibrary?). Can I then import music? Sorry for all the confusion, but I want to document these steps so I can give them to my son. I would like to come up with the best order of operations. Like I said, I would also like to reproduce the steps myself.

Thanks again!

Great information. Thank you.

I imported an album from a USB stick on my Mac. I verified that it created a new folder in the Music/Media/Music/ folder as expected.

After a while, I was able to see this album on my iPhone.

Next, I created a playlist on my Mac and added some of those songs to it. I saw the playlist on the iPhone. I then selected the playlist on the iPhone and selected Delete from Library. The playlist was removed from both locations.

Finally, on the iPhone, I selected the album and did a Remove > Delete from Library. There is no longer a trace on the iPhone, but on the Mac, I still see the album and under artists, I still see the artist (including artwork). If I look at the information for one of the songs, under File, for "cloud status" is shows "Removed". Is this what I should expect? Apple Music still knows about it, but it is no longer in the cloud. I guess it only is uploaded when you import it and the playlist is uploaded only when you create it.

I think my son still wants to have playlists on his Mac, but i guess that can be done after he creates the new music library, does not enable 'sync' and then he can create playlists that are only local. Would be nice if there was a option to create local playlist only. That would solve his problem!

UPDATE: Just found this... Yes, you can create local, non-synced playlists in Apple Music by disabling the Sync Library feature on your device and then creating playlists from your local music files. Alternatively, for a seamless cloud and local mix, you can use multiple music libraries, turning off Sync Library in your original library, adding your local tracks, and then switching back to it. 

I would recommend that you don't disable and then enable Sync Library in primary library as this can negatively affect any Apple Music content that has been downloaded for offline use. Content that is added while Sync Library is off will be merged into the cloud library when Sync Library is turned on again.

I think I agree with you on this. I'm going to suggest my son create a new "Local Music" library. Turn off sync, and turn off “Copy files to Media folder when adding to library” so he can add the songs to his new library without copying them (he doesn't have room for dups). I'm not sure how that will work in the future when he adds more music. I will suggest that anything new he adds should go in the new folder structure ~/Music/Local Music/Media/Music/. I will suggest he first close Apple Music before saving the files there.

You mentioned placing the songs in "Automatically add to Music". Will that move it to the new location for you, even if you have the “Copy files to Media folder when adding to library” checkbox unchecked? Or is it better to put the new songs in the Media/Music and manually "Add to Library? I could test that out myself. Thanks

I was playing around with exporting a playlist in my default AM library, then turning around and importing it into the new "Local Music" library. Works great! In this case, I first created the playlist and selected songs that were local (not in the cloud).

One interesting thing I discovered was that this new playlist doesn't show up on my iPhone. I would expect creating a playlist would push that playlist to the cloud, since I have 'sync' enabled. Is it just taking time? Or is it smart enough to know that since the songs aren't in the cloud, it doesn't sync that playlist?

Another observation was that when I created the second music library (Local Music), I still see songs in the "Artists", "Songs", and "Albums" sections. Is this new library still seeing things in the cloud, even though I don't have 'sync' enabled?

Thanks!