Apple Music carries a database of around 45 million songs. That being impressive enough, it’s ultimately the ability to discover new songs and artists that makes Apple Music one of the best streaming service available right now. Apple Music, in fact goes far beyond just a streaming service. It not only develops your taste but also keeps you up to date with the latest music trends and dopest of artists. Here are quick tips and tricks that can help you get around the app and broaden your music taste.
Search with elaborative key words
The best thing about streaming services is that you have music on demand. You simply type in the name of the song or the artist you want to listen to and you’re there. However, Apple Music takes the search feature to a different level. Besides just typing in the name of an artist or a song, you can actually type in the music you’re in mood for. You can be pretty specific as well, while still getting valuable results. For example – ‘Workout music hip-hop’ or ‘Rock hits of the 80’s’. You’ll get multiple playlists to choose from.
Another way to find new artists through the ‘Search’ feature is by simply going to the page of artists you follow. Scrolling down here will reveal a list of ‘Similar artists’, who are known to produce similar music or belong to the same genre. Of course, there will be tons of songs and albums you’ll have to go through before getting to know a new artist. In our opinion, the best way to get started is by playing their ‘Essentials’ playlist, if available. This playlist generally carries what are known to be the artist’s best songs. These are curated by Apple’s very own music editors, who almost are never wrong about the choice of songs.
Explore recommendations ‘For you’
The ‘For you’ tab on Apple Music is specifically designed to help you discover new music and artists, based on your listening habit. By keeping a track of songs added to your library, the artists you listen to more often, songs you like and genres you show interest in, Apple Music presents a number of playlist and artists that you might also like. All you have to do is just hit the play button.
If you like a playlist, then you can add them directly to your library, by pressing the ‘Add’ button. A thing worth noting is that, these playlists are updated frequently, so you get to explore new artists every time. However, that also means that you need to add all the songs you liked from the previous list, to your library individually, before it gets updated. Besides that you’ll also find tons of other stuff in the ‘For You’ tab, including regular updates of new songs and albums released by the artists you like and follow. Apple Music goes as far as recommending new releases from the genres you might like as well.
Tune in to radio
Radio is probably the most organic way of discovering new artists and Apple Music lets you do that on global level. Apple music features ‘Beat 1’, a radio station that’s live 24/7 all around the world. Here you’ll find tons of shows, with multiple hosts, across genres. There are other radio stations as well that are catered towards specific countries, hosted in their native languages. Not only can you find new music, but can also come across interviews of your favourite artists, get a sneak peak at their new release and even watch some of the music videos. There is a ton of content available here and the best part is that there are no annoying ads.
On the flipside, if you’re not interested in interviews or the hosts and just want to find new music, then that’s possible too. You can play a song from the genre you want to explore, then click on the ‘Menu’ button on the left-bottom corner and then press ‘Create station’. Apple music will then play songs from artists who belong to the same genre. If you like a recommended song, you can add it directly to your library and even notify Apple Music to play similar or different songs.
Connect with friends
We naturally tend to have friends who have similar taste in music and Apple Music lets you take full advantage of that. With the new iOS 11 update, Apple Music now allows you to follow your friends on the app and find out what artists, songs, and playlists they have to recommend. You can also have people follow you and share the music you’ve come across. However, both users need to activate the share feature to take advantage of it. You can do it by going into your profile in the ‘For you’ tab and then clicking on ‘Start sharing with friends’ option. Finding your friends is also super easy. Simply type their name in the ‘Search’ tab and look for them in the ‘People’ section at the bottom. Apple Music is avaialable in both iPhones and Android smartphones.
