Using SPSearch to retrieve playlists/artists/etc?

Question

I am attempting to accessing related artists/playlists, etc using the SPSearch class as follows, but upon examining the logs it appears that the search never finishes loading:

    self.search = [SPSearch searchWithSearchQuery:self.artist inSession:[SPSession sharedSession]];
[SPAsyncLoading waitUntilLoaded:self.search timeout:100.0 then:^(NSArray *loadedItems, NSArray *notLoadedItems){
    NSLog(@"Search completed, Loaded items = %d, unloaded items = %d", [loadedItems count], [notLoadedItems count]);
}];

I saw a similar question SPSearch in CocoaLibSpotify but the Key-Value-observer appears to be overkill/convoluted for what I would like to do(maybe it is just my relative newness to iOS dev that makes the KVO seem as overkill/convoluted). Even if it isn't overkill, how would I go about using the SPSearch class to accomplish what I would like to do? It looks like it should be straight forward, but I appear to be getting hung up with some devilish details(search never loads, artist/playlists arrays returning count of of 0, etc).

Edit: Additionally, I attempted to give the KVO a shot, as opposed to the SPAsyncLoading, but it it has been 10 minutes, and no change seems to have been observed:

    [self addObserver:self
       forKeyPath:@"search.loaded"
          options:0
          context:nil];

...

-(void)observeValueForKeyPath:(NSString *)keyPath ofObject:(id)object change:(NSDictionary *)change context:(void *)context {

if ([keyPath isEqualToString:@"search.loaded"]) {

    if (!self.search.isLoaded)
        return;

    NSLog(@"artists length %d", self.search.artists.count);
    NSLog(@"playlistslength %d", self.search.playlists.count);
    NSLog(@"albums length %d", self.search.albums.count);

} else {
    [super observeValueForKeyPath:keyPath ofObject:object change:change context:context];
}

}

Also, I can rule out a network related issue, I am over Wifi with solid data rates and authentication happens flawlessly.

Thanks.