In June 2015 Apple unveiled its music social network, to great fanfare. However, it killed-off the service in December 2018. Music Business Worldwide looked at what might have been.
In a world where every streaming service is desperate to differentiate itself, Apple had something really unique. Connect could have been hugely influential… At its core, Apple Music Connect was a social media platform embedded into the Apple Music ecosystem. Artists could use it to share lyrics, exclusive photos, videos or even release their latest song directly to fan followers from their iPhone. As such, Connect was sort of an Instagram-SoundCloud-Facebook-Twitter-YouTube hybrid. This is why Jimmy Iovine, Apple’s former Head of Music Operations, described Connect at the time as one of Apple Music’s three key differentiating elements, alongside human-curated music streaming and the 24-hour Beats 1 radio station.
Check It Out: The Demise of Apple Music Connect And What Might Have Been
