The web URL to look up an iTunes album looks like this:
https://music.apple.com/album/1440817211
or like this:
https://music.apple.com/de/album/1440817211

MusicBrainz still uses the old URLs:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/id962939796

(This URL taken from this release will be redirected by Apple, updating both the URL and the album ID)

I therefore believe the URL variable in code should be changed rather than depending on redirects. New release additions should use the current URL and without the "id" prefix.