Ministry of Sound playlists aren't exclusive to Apple Music anymore

Apple Music on iPhone (Image credit: iMore)

Ministry of Sound logo

Ministry of Sound logo (Image credit: Ministry of Sound)

What you need to know

Ministry of Sound playlists are no longer exclusive to Apple TV.
They had been exclusive as of October last year.
The playlists are back on Spotify, Deezer, and YouTube.

Apple Music's exclusive access to Ministry of Sound playlists has come to an end as spotted by Music Ally (via Cult of Mac).

The first Ministry of Sound playlist to be exclusive to Apple Music appeared on October 4 2018, but as of right now they're starting to reappear on services like Spotify, Deezer, and even YouTube.

When Ministry of Sound first removed the playlists from Spotify it didn't actually delete them, making it easier to return to the platform when needed.

Cunning.

The gist being, as Ministry's profile on that streaming service explained it: "All Ministry of Sound playlists and the monthly Ministry Mix – only on Apple Music." At the time, we noted that Ministry had stripped its Spotify playlists of artwork and tracks, but not deleted them entirely: "an entirely-sensible strategy for Ministry of Sound of hanging on to the followers of its Spotify playlists, in case it wants to revive them in the future if and when its exclusive partnership with Apple Music comes to an end" as we suggested. And so here we are in December 2019, and a full set of Ministry of Sound playlists appears to be back up and running on Spotify, including flagships like Dance Nation and R&B Mixtape, as well as the 2020 incarnation of the label's 'The Annual' compilation.

We don't know whether this was always the plan or if something has changed recently. Apple Music and Spotify in particular have become fiece competitors, although the playlists' return to Deezer and YouTube may be less of a concern for Apple.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.