Let’s face it – Apple just doesn’t do social. Apple Music executives found that out the hard way – again.
Several years ago, Apple shuttered a highly-publicized feature.
Similar to Last.fm, the iTunes-based social network allowed users to follow people, including artists. They could post comments, set up groups of friends, view custom songs, and find thousands of concert listings.
There was just one problem. Very few had actually used the service.
First launched in 2010, Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed the social network’s closure two years later with an interesting spin.
“I think the customer voted and said this isn’t something I want to put a lot of energy into.“
Apple, he added, doesn’t “need to have a social network.”
Other executives hadn’t heeded Cook’s warning.
Now, Apple Music has shuttered another social-oriented feature.
Adieu, Connect. We hardly used thee.
The Cupertino company will remove the ability for artists to post new works on Apple Music Connect.
Artists on Apple Music received the following note.
“We’ve made a few changes to Apple Music that we’d like to tell you about.
“We’re always looking for ways to enhance our focus on artists and help them better connect to fans. So we’ve given Artist Pages an all-new design and added new, personalized Artist Radio.
“Today we’re streamlining music discovery by removing Connect posts from Artist Pages and For You. This means you’ll no longer be able to post to Connect as of December 13, 2018, but all previously uploaded content will still be searchable until May 24, 2019. You can still create Artist Playlists with the latest version of Apple Music.”
Spinning the move, the company has now pushed a new Artist Pages feature. The official support page reads,
“Apple Music in iOS 12 makes it easier to browse an artist’s catalog and discover new music to play. You’ll find the following changes in the new Artist Pages:
“Improved Organization: Artist Pages are now better organized to make it easier to find the music you’re looking for, including Essential Albums and a featured release at the top of each artist’s page.
“Personalized Artist Radio: Every Apple Music artist now has their own radio station. Press [play] at the top of any Artist Page to start listening to music from across an artist’s catalog.”
On the bottom of the post, in very small font, the company confirms,
“Connect posts from artists are no longer supported.”
Apple Music Connect first launched with the service in 2015. This allowed musicians a way to reach out to new fans. Jimmy Iovine, the service’s former Head of Music, promoted the service alongside Drake at WWDC 2015.
Shortly after launch, however, the company all-but-abandoned the feature. Few artists had actually used it.
You can now find the feature in the For You section, below music recommendations and personalized playlists.
Apple Music executives found out the hard way once again. Apple just doesn’t do social.
Featured image by iPhonedigital (CC by 2.0).
More evidence of how worthless both Apple and Spotify BOTH are to artists, and how there needs to be an independent streaming site set up that shoves these assholes out of the cash stream. Apple is blowing it for the average consumer on so many levels it boggles the mind. It will come back to bite them how horrendously overpriced all of the products of 2018 were. I hope consumers vote to dump that horror show. I know I am.
Music and social is not cool! People want on demand music and people want intsagram. they dont want anymore networks