If you’re an artist on Apple Music, today is a good day for you.
Spotted by MacRumors, Apple has released a slew of new features for Apple Music for Artists, the company’s program that allows artists to manage and track how their music is performing on the streaming service.
The company announced a number of improvements including more profile personalization and better account and analytics management:
- Profile: Image and personality are key to connecting with fans and engaging new listeners. The new Artist Profile section lets artists take control of their Apple Music profiles and connect with fans in their own words. Artists can answer a series of short questions to create a customized biography that displays on their Apple Music artist page. Artists can also optionally add their hometown (or place of origin for bands), date of birth (or year formed for bands), and identify band members, collaborators, influences, and pronouns.
- Lyrics: Lyrics have become an integral part of discoverability and the listening experience. Artists can now add their song lyrics to appear alongside their music in Apple Music so fans can read the words behind the beats. Adding lyrics is as easy as copying and pasting formatted lyrics.
- Account: Building a great team is part of any artist’s success. New permissions in the Account section (formerly Manage) provide an easy way for artists to control who has access to their profile so their team can jump into action and support upcoming releases and keep content new and fresh. Artists can also assign different roles to individuals on their team, specifying admins, analysts, and profile editors.
- Measure: Apple Music for Artists insights are now in a single, easy-to-access location under Measure. Artists can chart their performance and monitor Apple Music plays, average daily listeners, iTunes song purchases, and Shazams. Intelligent insights and detailed analytics help artists plan future releases, tour dates, and other activities, like creating merch.
Apple Music just crossed 100 million songs
The announcement came soon after the company revealed that Apple Music, the company’s music streaming service, had officially crossed one hundred million songs.
Twenty-one years on from the invention of iTunes and the debut of the original iPod, we’ve gone from 1,000 songs in your pocket to 100,000x that on Apple Music. It’s phenomenal growth by any metric. The entire history, present, and future of music is at your fingertips or voice command.
So, if you want to differentiate yourself in an ocean of 100 million songs, go personalize that profile!