Spotify has been dominating the DPS space for a while now, but that doesn’t mean Apple Music should be ignored: it is the most popular streaming service in the US in 2023 and is predicted to reach 125 million subscribers in 2025.
Most music distributors will publish your music on various streaming platforms. To take full advantage of having your music out there, you must understand how to promote it, as each platform has its specifics and designated tools. When planning your strategy, Apple Music should be high on your list, even more so if you target an audience across the US.
The platform has its pros and cons. While Apple Music is known for high sound quality, it’s also harder to get a guaranteed number of plays on the platform than, for example, on Spotify due to a smaller number of in-depth artist resources and more limited access to playlists.
Still, Apple Music pays more per stream than other platforms (again, Spotify). All aspects considered, there are many reasons why one should be familiar with Apple’s streaming service and its abilities.
How to make your music heard on Apple Music in 2024?
Let’s jump straight in.
What is Apple Music?
Apple Music is an ad-free subscription-based music streaming service where users pay a fixed monthly amount for unlimited streaming access. Launched in 2015, Apple Music has slowly replaced iTunes, its sibling platform where users can purchase, download, and organize albums and tracks (As of 2024, iTunes is no longer available on new Apple devices). On a side note, Apple also owns Shazam, an app that helps identify music based on a snippet played.
Apple Music for Artists Profile
Before you get started, make sure to claim your Apple Music for Artists profile. It will not only verify your account but also give you greater control over your music and access to a range of valuable tools, including analytics and promo tools. From your profile, you can track your streams, including geolocation data, average daily listeners, and your sales in iTunes and Shazam. A downside is that you can’t track your playlist streams.
You can get access to Apple Music for Artists if you are working with an Apple-preferred distributor (one that will get your music on the streaming platform).
How to claim your Apple Music for Artists profile:
- Head over to https://artists.apple.com/promote and create your account.
- After signing up, click the ‘Request Artist Access’ button.
- Copy and paste your artist link from iTunes into the text box.
- Complete the verification process after selecting your artist’s name.
It’s worth noting that the person (artist or artist’s manager) who will first claim access to an artist’s page will get an admin role. Admin can add and appoint other users who will be using the profile.
To edit your bio in Apple Music for Artists, you need to access your profile from a computer (you cannot do it from your phone.)
Check out this video from J Nolan to find out exactly how to do that:
How to Edit Artist Bio on Apple Music
On top of that, there is also the option to add or edit the lyrics of your songs; head over to the artist content in your account, click on a song, and select + to send the lyrics directly to Apple Music. You can get back to the song at any time to modify the lyrics you already submitted.
Make sure to follow the formatting guidelines.
Apple Music for Artists Promote
Once you claim your artist profile, you can take advantage of built-in promotional tools. Promote, available on the Artists iOS app and Apple Music for Artists, offers a number of features that can help you spread the word once you get your music on the platform.
Here is the list:
Customized assets
Promote allows you to create different graphic assets to share your music on socials. Anyone with an Admin or Analyst role on the profile can use assets to share and promote significant moments – “milestones” in the artist’s career, such as new releases, pre-save campaigns, being added to a playlist, etc. Apple Music allows you to create images and video assets and edit colors and sizes to adjust the graphics to various social platforms.
Ready assets, including customized text and a link to your music, can be shared directly on Instagram Stories, Facebook Stories, Twitter, and Snapchat, downloaded or shared via email.
Linkfire links
Now, Linkfire landing pages and smart links are available for free to all Apple Music artists; you will receive your Linkfire link when creating a Promote asset in Apple Music for Artists on the web. While it’s a neat perk, it’s worth noting that the link will only offer an option to listen to your music on Apple Music. To give your audience a choice, you should use an
All-encompassing smart link service.
Embeddable Player
This feature gives you the ability to offer a sneak peek of your music anywhere on the web, even to listeners without an Apple Music account. After selecting a track, album, or playlist you want to embed, you can edit the size (height and width) and copy the embed code to add the player to your website or blog.
Your fans can listen to up to 30 seconds of a song and see the preview of an album or a playlist, including all tracks, without logging into Apple Music. Logged-in users can listen to an entire song directly from your website.
Twitter Song Preview Cards
Twitter Audio Card works like the embedded player but on Twitter (or should I say X). It allows you to showcase a 30-second preview of a track (it’s not available for albums or playlists) with your cover art. Quick and effective. It’s a good option if you have a substantial fan base on Twitter (X).
You can copy and paste the link into the post or tweet it out from Apple Music. There is also an option to preview your card before posting.
Badges and Icons
Thanks to badges and icons available to download on Apple Music, you can let your fans know that your music is available on the platform. Obtainable in 42 languages and various colors, visual assets can be added to your socials, website, apps, or printed promo materials.
A badge is a branded image with text that displays the name of it.
An icon is an image with an Apple music note and color scheme.
You can download a badge or icon to save on your device or embed it on your web page from the URL.
Meta ads for Apple Music
Pitching to Apple Music playlists is a piece of cake, which is why many artists use Facebook and Instagram ads as the core of their promotional strategy. There are a number of services you can use to run your ad campaigns, like feature.fm, Hyppedit or ToneDen.
Before you start, here are a few things to check: make sure that your music sounds great, you have some good cover art, and your music has already been released on Apple Music.
Whether you choose to focus on Facebook or Instagram depends mainly on where your targeted audience is more present and where you have already built a base of followers. Of course, you can advertise on both platforms.
There are some tools that can help you indicate which songs are worth running ads for, except for the number of streams. You can check your Shazam stats; if people are checking your songs on Shazam, it means that they are interested in finding out more about your music.
In Apple Music stats, you can also identify where most of your streams came from and target your ads to these locations.
Are you already running ads on Spotify? From this video, you can learn how to adapt your campaigns specifically to target Apple Music.
How To Promote On APPLE MUSIC Using Facebook Ads (3 Key Differences)
Playlists
Unlike Spotify, Apple Music’s playlists are run by in-house playlist curators or partners working with the company, which makes it virtually impossible to pitch them unless you personally know someone on the editorial team. My educated guess is that most of you (including me) don’t have a direct connection with the Apple team.
That said, there are a couple of things you can do to increase your chances of getting playlisted:
- Verify your profile with Apple Music for Artists.
- Grow your follower base. Right, that’s what this whole article is about, but the more followers you have, the higher your chances of being spotted by playlist curators.
- Many distributing platforms will tell you that you need to find a distributor with connections to Apple Music, but I don’t have proof that this works or will work for you.
Apple Music has a Made For You section (similar to TikTok) where they recommend new music tailored to your preferences. It’s worth mentioning that their algorithm creates playlist-based recommendations; if someone listens to a playlist that has your music on it, it’s more likely that they will be recommended more of your stuff in the future.
This brings me to the next point: it makes sense to create playlists and add your own music to it. Once you create a playlist, you can share it with other users, and if they listen to it, it’s more likely the algorithm will recommend your new music to them in the future. The same will happen if you send your listeners to any playlist with your music on it.
Building your fan base
All of the tactics mentioned have one objective in mind: to bring you more listeners who will save your music and add it to their playlists. If you are new to the platform, start building your follower base by connecting all of your social media profiles and spreading the word amongst friends and existing fans on socials or through a newsletter.
No matter the platform you choose, promoting your music is not a lonely game.
Collaborate and connect with fellow artists on Apple Music by supporting their music; you might prompt them to return the favor and ultimately help you grow your network.
Finally, keep adding new music regularly. The more music you distribute on the platform, the higher the chances that it will be picked up by the playlist curators and recommended to new audiences. Ensure that your music is good quality, well-optimized, and has the potential to attract new listeners. Each song should include a track title, artwork, and lyrics.
Final Words
Deciding whether to prioritize Apple Music, Spotify, or another streaming platform depends on your specific needs, target audience, and growth goals. Apple Music is one of the most popular streaming services worldwide, and knowing how to use it to your advantage will undoubtedly benefit your career.
Since Spotify took the streaming scene by storm, we tend to look at all streaming services through the lens of the Swedish platform. Nonetheless, Apple Music is a powerful service with its own rules, and it’s worth spending some time learning about its characteristics.
The step-by-step instructions and effective strategies included in this guide will help you promote your music and build a loyal base of listeners on Apple Music.
If you are still undecided, check out the video of Sean “Brandman” Taylor and Jacorey “Kohrey” Barkley to get to the bottom of why you should be concentrating your promotional efforts on Apple Music.
Artists Should Focus On Apple Music Over Spotify?…Here’s Why
Good luck, and have fun!
