Hide new “play” icon in menu bar after upgrading to Big Sur

Question

I recently upgraded to Big Sur and I now have a media player icon which I don't really use or need. Is there any way to hide it?

It's the far left icon in the screenshot below:

Answer 1

You can hide the "play" icon in the menu bar as follows:

1. Launch System Preferences.

2. Open Dock & Menu Bar.

3. Scroll down and select "Now Playing".

4. The "Show in Menu Bar" option controls whether the "play" icon is displayed

   

   Unselect it to hide it for good, or change the value to "when active" to only display it when playing music.