Apple Music API required fields missing

Hi,


I am using the Apple Music API to fetch some albums for an artist. In the documentation for the Album object it says "releaseDate: (Required) The release date of the album in YYYY-MM-DD format.". Same for song as you can see here.

However I can find many examples where the releaseDate is just missing. Here is one:

https://api.music.apple.com/v1/catalog/de/songs/1478131395 - this returns a full Song but it is missing the releaseDate. It is part of an album that hasn't been released yet. But this single has been.

(I can not proof this with an example, however) there are many songs which are released within an album that is NOT and they are missing the releaseDate property. I know they are released because I can play them using the API and I can play them in the Music App.

Unfortunately I can not rely on playParams or previews to be available. Because sometimes playParams are already there, but playing returns an error and just for checking the state whether a song has been released or not I don't want to try and play it. Besides on my server I have no way to play the song.


This is especially annoying if you rely on the release dates to determine which song is new and which isn't, because the API has no sorting option.

I already reported this and the missing sorting option to the Feedback Assistant and I am about to file a TSI, but it said to check the forums first so that is what I am doing. I am trying to get the attention of someone that could potentially fix / improve the API as my app and potentially many others are depending (or would like to depend) on the accuracy of the Apple Music API.


Any help appreciated,


Thank you very much