diff --git a/backend/lib/ytdlp.js b/backend/lib/ytdlp.js
index 35a8200..41676b9 100644
--- a/backend/lib/ytdlp.js
+++ b/backend/lib/ytdlp.js
@@ -220,6 +220,10 @@ async function downloadTrack({ jobId, artist, rawArtist, albumArtist, title, alb
       '--playlist-items', `1-${maxItems}`,
       '--print', 'webpage_url',
       '--no-warnings',
+      // Without the web_music client, yt-dlp parses the YTM search page as a
+      // generic YouTube search and returns unrelated videos instead of the
+      // native Songs shelf (where the actual artist track lives).
+      '--extractor-args', 'youtube:player_client=web_music,default',
     ], { env: { ...process.env, PYTHONUNBUFFERED: '1' } });
     proc.stdout.on('data', d => {
       const text = d.toString();