Apple Music Rolls Out New Analytics Tools

Apple Music unveiled a new suite of analytics tools on Thursday (May 9) that will be available to labels and distributors. The streamer also launched a Shazam Radio Spins Chart that can be accessed via Apple Music or Shazam’s website.

Those who pay to gain access to the tools can lose themselves in more than 4,500 charts — each ranking as many as 1,500 titles — that cover 60 genres and span 270 countries, regions, and cities. While radio is not the commercial force it once was, Apple also harnessed Shazam to monitor what’s playing on over 40,000 radio stations (terrestrial and internet) across the globe. 

In addition, Apple Music will provide partners with real-time listener counts for all the songs in their catalogs, and give them tools to measure how marketing campaigns drive discovery and reengagement. This theoretically allows labels and distributors to gain a better sense of how — and how quickly — any promotional spends impact the streams they earn on Apple Music.

The new tools are one of several recent changes at the platform.

In January, the platform announced that music available in Spatial Audio — which is supported by Dolby Atmos — will receive a royalty rate up to 10% higher than content not available in the format. Apple Music told its partners via email that “this change is not only meant to reward higher quality content, but also to ensure that artists are being compensated for the time and investment they put into mixing in Spatial.”

Apple Music has also taken a proactive approach to deterring streaming fraud, providing partners with daily reports on manipulated streams and hitting egregious repeat offenders with “financial adjustments” if they don’t take steps to address the problem. In the first six months after the program was implemented, streaming fraud dropped by 30%.