Apple Music for Artists Now Available

Artists and managers have always received more royalties from Apple Music than Spotify, apparently close to double the amount, and yet, everyone still gushes over Spotify. Why?

Short answer: Data

When Spotify launched it’s Spotify for Artists app back in 2017, it gave artists and their teams a lot of much needed information about their popularity on the service. This info became essential in the process of analyzing how well an artist is streaming on the platform and how to adjust their marketing accordingly. As you can imagine, if you were Apple Music, you’d definitely want in on the action.

Finally, Apple has stepped their game up.

On August 8th, Apple Music For Artists (AMFA) became available for every artist on Apple Music.

The app allows artists to keep track of the volume of their streaming plays on Apple Music and album/song sales on iTunes, all within a data set that updates every day.

Artists can also:

• Gain insight into how specific songs/albums are performing
• See how their fans are growing in international markets in over 100 countries
• Find out which locations they’re the most popular
• Help them plan tours
• Specifically tailor set-lists for fans in each location

Additionally, artists can keep track of how many plays of a certain song in a given period have been generated by playlists, what position their track has been placed within these lists, and how many of their streams are the result of algorithmic radio vs. active plays.

Since Apple bought out Shazam last year, they’re putting Shazam data front and center with this new app, giving artists the ability to see where their music has been Shazam’d the most in particular locations and time periods.

One thing Apple doesn’t do is provide insights into how an act’s streams translate into royalty payouts, but it does have the ability to notify artists of any meaningful changes to their data.

To learn more about Apple Music For Artists, click here.