Apple launched an Apple Music analytics tool today called Apple Music for Artists. It lets musicians see data about their fans’ buying and listening habits. Right now it’s in beta, and provided to several thousand musicians. Billboard reports that the tool will launch in the spring.
Apple Music for Artists
Musicians will be able to use this tool to optimize their music. They will be able to see which songs and albums are being listened to the most, which songs are skipped the most, and which music listeners are buying on iTunes.
However, what musicians won’t have access to is financials. Apple considered adding financial data, but right now it’s not included, presumably because how royalty payments are calculated is complicated.
The hope is that independent artists in particular can use this tool. Canadian R&B singer Daniel Caesar said:
As a truly independent artist with a small team, music analytics is something we can’t do without. We don’t have the luxury of deep major label market research to rely on to help us make important decisions like where to perform and how to advertise the things that we make.
Musicians can dive deep into the dashboard. A global map allows an artist to click on any of the 115 countries that Apple Music is in and see how their music is doing locally. This could help artists plan tours better if they can see the top songs in each city.