Apple Music promotion: how Apple's editors find new music

Apple Music works differently from Spotify. There's no pitch form for artists, its playlists are built by a team of editors, and its own song recognition app, Shazam, sits right beside it. Promoting a release on Apple Music means getting the release itself right, making sure the editors hear about it in good time, and giving Apple listeners reasons to find it.

This guide covers each of those. It's part of our guide to getting more listeners, which looks at how people find a new song across every service.

How Apple Music's editors find new music

Apple Music's editorial playlists (New Music Daily, the genre playlists, the mood and activity playlists) are made by people. Spotify gives every artist a pitch tool inside Spotify for Artists. Apple Music for Artists has no equivalent, so the information Apple's editors see about an upcoming release travels with the release, from the distributor or label that delivers it.

That makes two things matter most on Apple. The first is the pitch that goes out with the release: who you are, what the song is, its genre and mood, and what's happening around it. The second is time. Editors plan ahead, and a release delivered close to its date leaves them little room to hear it.

Apple also runs a program for new artists, Up Next, and editorial features such as artist spotlights, all chosen by its editors. None of these can be applied for or bought. What you control is how complete the release is, how early it arrives and how much is happening around it.

Get the release right

A clean release reads well to an editor and lands where it should. Check that:

• the artist name, title and featured artists are spelled the same everywhere;
• the release is linked to your own Apple Music artist page, so it doesn't land on another artist with the same name;
• the cover is square and sharp (3000 × 3000 pixels is the common standard) with nothing promotional on it;
• every songwriter, producer and performer is credited.

Apple suggests that independent artists work with one of its preferred distribution partners. Our guide to releasing music on Apple Music walks through delivery step by step, and song credits and metadata covers the fields stores check.

Claim Apple Music for Artists

Apple Music for Artists is Apple's free dashboard for artists. According to Apple's FAQ, you claim your artist page in the app or on the website, and the first artist or manager to request access becomes its administrator, who can then add the rest of the team.

Once you're in, fill in your artist page: a strong image and the Q&A that shows on your Apple Music profile. Apple says on its artist page help that these submissions may be considered by its editorial team, though publishing is not guaranteed. Then use the analytics: where your listeners are, which songs they play and how they found them. That tells you where to point your promotion next.

Shazam and why it matters

Shazam is owned by Apple, and its catalog is filled by distributors. Apple's guide to adding your music to Shazam says artists work with an Apple-approved distributor to get their music into it. Once a song is in Shazam, anyone who hears it in a café, a shop, on the radio or in someone's video can find out what it is and open it on Apple Music.

Shazams tell you where a song is being heard by people who don't know it yet. A song people keep Shazaming in one city is a sign that something is happening there: a radio play, a playlist, a club, a video. Apple Music for Artists shows your Shazam count next to your plays, with the places Shazam activity is strongest, and it's worth checking after every release.

Pre-adds: Apple's pre-save

A pre-add lets a listener add an upcoming release to their Apple Music library before it's out. Apple's pre-add page says fans who pre-added are notified the moment the release is available, and that for independent artists the distributor sets it up with you. A pre-save link that covers Apple Music as well as Spotify lets every fan save the song on the service they use. Our pre-save guide explains how those links work.

Promote around release day

Apple Music listeners find a new song the way everyone else does: through people they follow, posts they see and links they're sent. A release that's being talked about on social media, played by friends and linked from your bio gives Apple's listeners a way in, and gives the editors something to notice.

• Before the day: share the cover, a clip of the hook and the pre-save link, so people know what's coming.
• On the day: the out-now post with a link that opens the song on whichever service a listener uses, Apple Music included.
• After the day: the story behind the song, live takes, the playlists it's on and what listeners are saying.

Our guide to how to promote your music goes through each stretch per platform.

How Audora handles Apple Music

Audora delivers every release to Apple Music along with Spotify, TikTok, YouTube and 140+ stores, and into the databases radio stations, cars and song recognition read (Shazam and Gracenote among them). Each release goes out with a pitch for the people who market it to the stores, Apple Music included, written from your answers about the song. Audora dates the release to give the editors time to hear it.

Link your Apple Music artist page in the release form and the release lands on your page, even when another artist shares your name. Albums and EPs can take pre-orders, and fans can pre-add them on Apple Music with the tracks you choose playing at once. Your release link takes pre-saves before the day and opens the release from release day.

Around the release, Audora plans a promotion campaign, every post written in your voice with its caption, hashtags and the picture or video it needs. You approve what goes out.

TikTok, YouTube, Instagram (Stories included) and Facebook Pages post automatically, and nothing goes out until you approve it. Stories carry no link sticker, so your release link goes in your bio.

After release, Audora shows you every playlist your song is on, editorial, algorithmic and listener-made, plus plays and saves from the stores' own reporting, split by store and including how often you're Shazamed. The exact steps for your release, dated to its day, are in your Audora account, and Audora keeps tuning them as it learns what works best for its artists. See what every track gets for the full list.