Apple Music Connect Relaunches as a B2B Promotional Tool

Photo Credit: Alexander Shatov

(Re)introducing Apple Music Connect, which has returned as a B2B promotional hub with support for editorial pitches and more.

Apple Music just recently shed light on its retooled Connect offering, the initial iteration of which set sail alongside the DSP itself in 2015. “Through Connect,” Apple Music summed up 11 years ago, “artists can share lyrics, backstage photos, videos or even release their latest song directly to fans directly from their iPhone.”

Evidently, though, Connect was a bit ahead of its time and unable to hang with the many other platforms that deal in content sharing. Towards 2018’s conclusion, the service nixed the feature, which also enabled fans to comment on and externally share posts.

Seven years later, Apple Music believes the time is right to relaunch Connect – albeit with a focus on helping distributors and labels spearhead marketing campaigns “in one place.”

First up within the revamped Connect, users can create Apple Music-branded “custom social share cards” encouraging pre-adds or plugging various types of new releases. If the corresponding guide is any indication, generating said share cards (with a photo or a video) is straightforward enough.

So is pitching to Apple Music editorial teams through Connect’s aptly named Pitch. We needn’t explore the involved steps here; like with share cards, they seem clear-cut.

More interestingly, Pitch, which can bring projects to playlists, radio, and genre/category pages, accommodates pre-adds, new releases, and “re-promotion” alike. Meanwhile, one can opt for a global pitch or zero in on specific territories, Apple Music communicated.

What about when a pitch is successful and then requires publicity photos? The DSP highlighted plans to keep the entire process on-platform under Connect, which will notify account admins and marketing managers of any “media request for publicity photos from Apple.”

This isn’t surprising, but the emphasis on Connect onboarding is telling. Non-Connect users can only submit “a one-time request to help fulfill the media request,” Apple Music spelled out.

Of course, time will reveal whether the latest Connect version catches on and, unlike its predecessor, stands the test of time.

Separately, should Apple Music attempt to take on Spotify Connect with a remote-listening feature of its own, it’ll have to settle on a different name. Three days back, an Apple Music user took to Reddit to inquire about the possible rollout of “something like Apple Music Connect.”

Apparently, some are even more passionate about the subject; one commenter pointed to a months-old Change.org petition calling for the addition of “a ‘connect’ feature to Apple Music.”