(Hypebot) — Apple Music For Artists has long lagged behind Spotify and Pandora with the tools and analytics that it offers artists. That changed overnight with the public launch of a toolkit that insiders have been playing with for months.
Apple Music For Artists now offers all musicians and their team a robust set of analytics and notifications, as well as some limited tools to control your image on the platform.
image from artists.apple.com
Two Key Features
Apple Music For Artists launches with iOS app as well as a web version. That should please artists and teams on the go – if they own an Apple device. Also, Shazam, which Apple acquired last year, is front and center, adding an important source of data often used to measure early spikes in interest.
The usual stats can be found in a dashboard format including overall plays, iTunes downloads, and spins on Apple Music editorial and algorithmic stations. In an interesting twist, badges are awarded for hitting milestones and personal bests.
Global geotargeted data on a city level is available both as a heat map and as a list.
What’s Missing?
Spotify still offers artists more control of their image and messaging on the platform and an impressive set of How-To Guides. But neither Spotify or Apple Music offers any direct ability to message their fans for free. Only Pandora offers several tools to communicate with fans and potential fans alongside its own Next Big Sound powered analytics.
Sign Up
Apple Music for Artists is now available free for all artists with tracks on Apple Music. Sign up and claim your account here.
