“The idea of Apple Music struck fear in the hearts of listeners like me. The company had enough money to buy exclusives that could fracture and balkanize the world’s music catalog,” Josh Constine writes for TechCrunch. “The problem with exclusives on services like Tidal or Spotify is that only the tiny percentage of people who pay for their subscriptions can hear these songs when they want. It could have been the same with Apple.”
“But it turns out that through Connect and Beats 1 Radio, Apple Music has built a strategy that attracts debuts from the biggest artists in the world and makes them available to everyone for free,” Constine writes. “This in turn attracts users to Apple Music’s free trial. Plus it’s a lot more friendly to listeners.”
“Yesterday, the brand new music video for The Weeknd’s smash single ‘I Can’t Feel My Face’ dropped on Apple Music Connect, the only place it’s available,” Constine writes. “In just the last few weeks, Apple Music got to premiere new songs and videos by Drake, M.I.A., Skrillex and Vic Mensa, and Black Eyed Peas.”
MacDailyNews Note: And Keith Richards (“Trouble”).
“That’s because it’s not locking them behind a paywall,” Constine writes. “Instead, it pushes them to as many people as possible. In some cases, like with Eminem and Drake, Pitchfork reports Apple is even paying to help produce the music videos,” Constine writes. “Black Eyed Peas connectJudging by past debuts, Apple Music isn’t trying to permanently keep the songs off other services.”
Much more in the full article – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Exactly. Apple is trying to build up a critical mass where Connect becomes the first thing fans check to find new music, videos, news, behind-the-scenes content and much more from their favorite artists. Apple Music’s Connect is already much larger and offers much more than we expected it would at this early juncture, Ping-jaded as are.
BTW, and this — like too many things about Apple Music currently — can be confusing, to follow an artist in iTunes via Connect if you’re an Apple Music member, you click the “Follow” button for each artist in Apple Music, not Connect. If you’re not an Apple Music member, you can follow artists directly in Connect.
You can also follow artists in your iTunes library:
1. Click the “Music” button near the top left of the iTunes window, then click “My Music.”
2. Click the pop-up menu near the top right and choose “Artists.”
3. Select an artist you want to follow, then click “Follow” below the artist’s name.Hey, Apple, how difficult would it have been to include a dedicated search field atop the Connect feed that would allow Apple Music members quickly type in an artist’s name and be able to “Follow” them right there without having to leave Connect?
Sheesh. What a fscking mess.