How to get started with Apple Music Connect

Apple Music is here, and the new Connect feature has the potential to be great for finding out more about your favorite artists.

New in the latest version of iTunes, Connect gives musicians a personal space where they have the opportunity to post short audio or video clips their audiences wouldn’t otherwise see, and it lets them chat directly with their biggest fans. For users, it’s a way to see the latest happenings from the artists you follow on Apple Music, and even get never before seen footage of videos, music and lyrics posted by the musicians themselves.

Some of you will remember Ping, Apple’s previous attempt at adding a social element to iTunes. It fell flat with users, but Connect seems like a bit more of an open platform, and with sharing features for social networks, I think it has a chance to be great. Here’s how to get started with Connect.

• Launch Apple Music from your home screen.
• Touch the Connect button at the bottom of the screen.
• Touch your user profile icon in the upper-left corner
• Select Choose Artists For You

Here you’ll get a screen with floating pink circles with musical genres, and you can select the ones you like. When you’re done, hit Next. On the next screen you’ll get the same floating circle interface, but this time you can select individual artists you like. When you’re finished select Done.

Now when you go to the Connect screen, you’ll see a feed of any posts from your selected artists along with suggested music from Apple curators. You can touch an artist post to go to the landing page, then make comments, “Like” the post and — if the artist is online at the time and willing — have a conversation.

From this point on, whenever you follow an artist in Apple Music, they will be added to your Connect feed. It’s pretty easy to see how Connect has the potential to be a great way to see exclusive content from top artists, but we can only wait and see if it takes off.