Wondering which is the best streaming platform to release your music on as an artist? You don’t have to wonder because we’re here to tell you that Apple Music is right at the top.
Getting to grips with a platform like Apple Music will be more than beneficial for your success either as an artist or an artist manager. If you’re an artist, you probably don’t need to worry too much if some of the minute details of the platform go over your head, but if you’re looking to become an artist manager, you need to know this stuff like the back of your hand.
Luckily, we’ve got all the info for you right here.
Why Apple Music for Artists?
Out of all the music platforms you could use, why choose Apple? The first reason is probably the one you’ll like the most: Apple Music pays a better royalty rate than Spotify.
So, if you’re an artist manager, you should definitely be thinking about finding ways your artists can make the most of Apple and if you’re an artist, thinking about ways you can use the platform to your advantage as well.
As well as their leading Lossless Audio format compared to other platforms, Apple Music’s dashboard has a ton of useful data and information at the ready to guide your marketing strategies and decision-making.
You can find out if your music is truly global and if you’re looking to think big, you can even start tour planning by using the heatmaps feature to discover who’s loving your sound from around the world – by country, region and city.
Features of Apple Music
For our latest Music Industry Mondays event, JD, our Industry Liaison and Artist Manager, broke down the Apple Music dashboard using one of his (many, many) successful clients, Peter Sandberg, as an example.
Want to see everything for yourself? You can watch the full event right here.
When you open up your dashboard, it will automatically show you all your stats from the past four weeks. From here, you can see your average daily listeners, song purchases and even the number of Shazams (fun fact: Apple owns Shazam, who knew!)
Yes, getting a manager to analyse data bits and work with all the stats is probably easier, but understanding all this information yourself means you’ll really be able to tap into and understand your audience.
It’s totally free to set up your account with Apple and although it’s a little trickier to navigate than Spotify for Artists, for example, but all you need to do is paste your artist link, fill in some details and get started.
Top tips to make the most of Apple Music for Artists
To wrap up our 600 words of free promo for Apple, here are some tips straight from our designated professional on using the platform to your advantage.
Keep your profile fresh and updated by adding your lyrics, getting a good-quality photo for your artist image (making sure to follow Apple’s overly strict guidelines) and don’t forget about Shazam! Apple runs their own editorial playlist for big Shazam tracks so it’s a great way to get your music promoted by Apple itself.
Use audience data to inform your marketing decisions. Wasting money on poorly targeted Instagram and Facebook ads? In a cost of living crisis? Not a great idea.
Use embed links! No one wants to click 13 times from their Instagram feed to your profile to your Linktree, choose a streaming service and then finally find your artist page – they’ll be cashing out their pension by the time they actually listen to your song. Embed a link on your website or blog instead so they can instantly hear your music in one click.
Was that helpful? There’s more where that came from at our live Music Industry Mondays events! Come along to a future event and get some of the best up-to-date industry-related tips and ideas. Get your tickets here.