Roger Fingas
Musicians on Apple Music are receiving notifications saying that, as of Thursday, they can no longer post new content to Connect, the service's blog-style platform for reaching out to fans.
All existing Connect content will continue to appear in searches until May 24 of next year, according to Apple. The company is meanwhile pulling Connect posts from artist profiles and the "For You" tab.
When Apple Music launched in June 2015, Connect was initially pushed as hard as any other aspect of the service, and many musicians were quick to hop on. Interest rapidly faded both from artists and the public, however, in some cases leaving launch content as the only Connect material on profiles.
In its letter to artists, first reported by 9to5Mac, Apple spins the pending shutdown as "streamlining music discovery."
"This means you'll no longer be able to post to Connect as of December 13, 2018, but all previously uploaded content will still be searchable until May 24, 2019," the letter reads.
Connect is Apple's second failed attempt at music-based social media. In 2010 the company launched Ping, which like Connect let people follow their favorite artists. People were also able to find out what music and concerts their friends were interested in, and share their thoughts online.
That service was hampered from the start though, as artists and the public alike had to approve each follower, and Facebook integration fell through shortly before launch. Worse yet, the service was initially bombarded by spam and fake celebrity accounts.
Ping did eventually pick up Twitter integration, but low usage ultimately led to Apple killing the product in September 2012.
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17 Comments
I guess they are as good at social media as Google and Microsoft. Google+ and Hangouts shutting down as well. And what was Microsoft’s attempt.
One can only hope that this entire social media, narcissist, selfie, self promotion business collapses; not just for Apple, but in general.
Cheers to each and every platform gone.
Good riddance!
Apple Music Connect? I've purchased music through iTunes regularly for over a decade and I've never even heard of this service. Honestly. No wonder it failed. I wouldn't use it anyway.
Seemed like a good idea.
As for apple being bad at social media, I think they’re actually pretty good at it, just in different ways. Messages is my #1 social media platform by an outrageous margin. Almost all my friends are on iPhone and we have several “clubs” and groups between us. It’s an extremely powerful social media tool especially now with all the apps and plugins for it.
And here we we all are talking about apple products.
Does any music streaming service have a successful social media connection going strong? What are these things supposed to provide, a connection between artists and listeners? Listeners sharing thoughts about songs with each other? I guess I don’t get the purpose or use.