Apple Music has introduced a new program that is set to create and feature a lot more music from independent artists.
Apple Music for Artists was created to allow independent musicians to create their own artistic page, upload their original music online and be heard worldwide. It is a great way to promote your music, build your fan base, and make sure your music is heard by the right people.
But one may ask what are the pros and cons for each artist? How much do they get paid and if it benefits independent musicians?
Well if you have those questions, you came to the right place as we will update you on all the latest that Apple Music for Artists has to offer and review if it’s worth joining the platform and uploading your music.
In this guide, we will showcase and introduce you to what Apple music for artists offers, how to get started with Apple Music for Artists, fun new features, and how to make the most of your music on Apple Music.
But first, let’s explain what Apple music for artists is…
What is Apple Music For Artists?
Apple Music For Artists is a free platform where independent artists can upload their music and has an analytics platform that provides artists with insights into their music’s performance on Apple Music. You can view your music’s performance, connect with fans, and get insights into how many streams and locations where your music is most heard.
The platform offers data on streaming, radio, and video performance, as well as insights into fan demographics and other features, giving artists the best feedback about how their music is being performed and received by the audience, to have a better understanding of how their audience and make informed decisions about their music.
The program also provides an artist page for each artist, which allows them to showcase their music and connect with their fans.
How to use and set up your account
Apple Music for Artists is a web and iOS application that allows label and distributor partners to track their performance, see how fans engage with each song, album, or playlist, and understand where and how listeners are discovering their artists’ music.
The first step to using Apple Music for Artists is to sign up for an account. You can do this by visiting the Apple Music for Artists website and creating an account.
Sign up at the Apple Music for Artists website and create an Apple ID if you don’t have one.
Once you create your Apple ID add New Artist, and copy and paste your iTunes Store artist page link to search. Find the link to your artist page, where you can put your artist name in the search field.
Selecting, one of your albums ensures you are claiming the correct page.
You must have the primary artist role on the album to claim your artist page. If you are a featured artist, you will not be able to claim the account.
Then choose your role (Artist, Manager, or Label Rep), and fill out the requested application fields.
For faster verification, sign in to your social media or distributor accounts. The more information you provide, the easier it will be to verify your relationship with the artist.
Once you are verified you can start uploading your music on the platform. For more information on how to upload your music, check out this link.
Features
Apple has introduced new features for ‘Apple Music for Artists’, giving it a fresh new look and is now more artist-friendly and easier to use. Here’s a breakdown of everything new on the app.
A lot of the new features are going to give artists more control of their music and the ability to personalize the info that their fans can see. The new Artist Profile section will let artists take control of their Apple Music profiles and connect with fans through their own words.
Image and personality are so important whilst connecting with fans and attracting new listeners. That’s why the Artist Content section will give the artists more control over their Apple Music presence and customize your profile.
Artists can now answer a series of short questions made by their fans to create a custom bio that will appear on the Apple Music artist page. Artists can also add their hometowns, band members, collaborators, influences, and any other information they want to have on their page.
Also, artists can now update their lyrics, add new artist images, and share personal details, all while keeping tabs on your available content and upcoming releases.
The new Account section of Apple Music for Artists which use to be known as ‘Manage’, now contains all the access points to add people from your team to your profile, so they can support you and help with your next release.
Some of the roles that you can assign to a team include Admin, Analyst, and Profile Editor. The artists can add permissions for each of these roles and use them as necessary.
The new measure section also gives artists insights into their music and how well they are doing up on Apple Music. Artists can also explore the overview, trends, places, and information about their music to get a closer look at what’s trending and where.
This way artists can monitor their performance and plays, collect data on the average daily listeners, purchases of their music and even how many times their songs have been Shazamed.
This data breakdown can help artists gain meaningful insights about their audience while using this information to help strategise how you promote your next release or tour dates.
Overall Apple Music for Artists is a great platform for all upcoming musicians that want to gain an audience, have their music heard, collaborate with other artists and build a fan base, while getting paid through streams.
It is definitely a good option to start from and will maximize your potential for an even bigger career.
Pricing
It’s good to know that Apple Music for Artists is free to use and artists are allowed to upload their music whenever they want.
If you are thinking of releasing music on Apple Music then you should know that there is a lot of potential to bring in some serious revenue in the form of streaming royalties.
But first, it’s good to know the average amount of money you can expect to earn for a single stream of your track on Apple Music.
Apple Music pays artists $0.01 per stream on average, essentially 1 stream is equal to 1 penny earned.
Apple confirmed this in a letter that they sent to label companies and publishers and also posted online on their artist’s dashboards, where they stated:
“As the discussion about streaming royalties continues, we believe it is important to share our values… we believe in paying every creator the same rate, that a play has value, and that creators should never have to pay for their music to be promoted by Apple”.- Apple Music.
Although the stream rate may not seem like much, it is still twice the amount that Spotify pays to its artists.
According to the letter issued by Apple Music, while the average artist’s pay-per-stream rate is a penny per stream, there are two major factors that can fluctuate this average.
The listener’s subscription plan and the country or region, thus the royalties are calculated based on a stream per area and finances from the subscription plans. Therefore there is no clear way to calculate how much an artist can make per month.
For more information check out our blog about how much does apple pay per stream.
Pros and Cons
Pros
Apple Music offers artists a platform to reach a large and diverse audience worldwide, which allows them to gain exposure, have their music heard on a large scale and build their fan base.
Being able to upload your own music whenever you want and have an income based on your own streams is a huge deal for many upcoming artists.
Another pro is that it is free to become a member of Apple music for artists and each artist is treated equally. Whether one artist is “bigger” or well-known, every artist has the same features, revenue and opportunities online.
Every artist has the luxury to see the analytics about how their music performs, how it is received and where it is most popular. Also, each artist has the ability to connect with other artists through the program and also with their fans, which can help them build a community and to get their music out to the world.
Cons
One of the biggest cons is that the artists do not have full control over their music. As the basis of uploading their music and joining the Apple Music for Artists program, a part of the royalties goes directly to Apple Music.
Thus the artists will not have the ability to adjust prices, make changes or control where their music will be distributed.
Also, although it is free to create an account and sign up, your music rights go to Apple Music, where they will get paid with royalties and have rights over your music.
Another con is creating your own driven merchandising offers, as your music and page are part of the Apple Music app, you are not allowed to upload your own merchandise or adjust the prices of your own products.
Also, you will not be allowed to display your full music catalogue including music where you are a featured artist on another musician’s song, or if you are a remix producer for another artist.
In Summary
Apple Music for Artists is a brilliant platform for independent artists that want to get their music heard worldwide without having any additional promotions or managers.
It allows artists to easily upload their music and videos, without any difficulties or extra payments, create playlists, and promote their music to a large audience.
The latest features allow the artists to create a more unique and detailed profile, share info with their fans and connect with other artists.
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