Apple Music now lets artists turn their set lists into playlists for tour promotion

Apple Music has unveiled a new feature that allows artists to turn their concert set lists into playlists, offering a new way to promote live performances.

The Set Lists feature, available through Apple Music for Artists on the web, enables musicians to share their concert experiences and upcoming tour dates directly with their audience.

The new tool integrates with Bandsintown to facilitate the creation of tour-related playlists. Artists can create Set Lists for individual concerts, entire tours, or residencies. These playlists are automatically published to the artist’s Apple Music page, Shazam artist profile, and related event pages.

To use the feature, artists will have to first upload an artist image to their profile, which will serve as the playlist’s cover art. The platform also requires artists to connect their Apple Music page with Bandsintown to improve show discoverability. Bandsintown allows users to receive notifications about tours and bands playing in their area. Last year, Apple Music and Apple Maps added concert discovery features powered by Bandsintown.

“This can be a fun way to announce a future tour, reach fans who couldn’t make the live experience, or reconnect with those that were at your show.”

APPLE

Creating a Set List involves a straightforward process where artists can select tracks through a search function or by pasting Apple Music links. The feature also accommodates cover songs and collaborations, allowing artists to provide a sneak peek into their live performances. Artists can schedule the playlist’s publication date and rearrange tracks to match their actual show sequence.

“This can be a fun way to announce a future tour, reach fans who couldn’t make the live experience, or reconnect with those that were at your show,” said Apple. The platform also provides promotion tools that enable artists to share their Set Lists across various social media platforms.

Additionally, the new feature makes managing content flexible, with options to hide or delete playlists as needed. Fans can still access to hidden playlists when they have already added them to their libraries. However, deleted playlists are permanently removed from all platforms and user libraries.

Set Lists will display on artist pages based on popularity, allowing fans the option to view recent and historical concert experiences. The feature is now available to all verified artists through their Apple Music for Artists account.

The launch of Set Lists marks Apple Music’s latest effort to strengthen the connection between artists and fans and offer promotional tools for musicians. Apple Music launched Apple Music For Artists in August 2019 to rival the Spotify For Artists app launched in 2017. It allows artists to monitor the volume of their streaming plays on Apple Music, all within a data set that updates daily.

Earlier this year, Apple Music launched a ‘premium’ data analytics toolkit for its record label and distributor partners called the ‘Apple Music Partner Program’. The toolkit features various tools for Apple Music’s partners to track trends on its streaming service and global radio plays using Shazam technology.

In July, Apple Music unveiled an upgrade to its Artist Analytics dashboard, providing artists with insights into their radio play. The platform now monitors over 40,000 radio stations globally, offering artists a comprehensive view of their airplay worldwide.

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