Apple Music Rolling Out Update With 'Coming Soon' Section, Album Launch Dates, and New Artist Profiles

[MacRumors]

Apple appears to be rolling out a series of updates for Apple Music today, including a small but useful new section called "Coming Soon," which allows subscribers to check out new albums about to be released over the next few weeks. On iOS and macOS, the hub is located in the Browse tab > New Music > scroll down to find Coming Soon > tap "See All." Music Videos were previously the last thing to see here, but now Apple has introduced Coming Soon as well.

The hub lists artists from a variety of different genres, with impending albums from Panic! At The Disco ("Pray For the Wicked", June 22), Florence + The Machine ("High As Hope", June 29), Interpol ("Marauder", August 24), and more. With only about 10 albums listed, Coming Soon isn't an entirely definitive source of every upcoming album on Apple Music, but albums have been added to the section throughout the morning so it appears Apple will be continuously expanding this area.

On macOS, there is a drop down menu for sorting options, but it only has a "Recent Bestsellers" option at this point. Apple could update this to make it even easier to sort upcoming albums by release dates, genres, and more. On iOS, however, there is no sorting option at this time.

Coming Soon on macOS​

In another addition, Apple is now making it possible to easily see album launch dates on their respective pages on iOS and macOS. In the Editors' Notes section, following the traditional encouragement to add the pre-release album to your library, there's a new line that begins "Album expected..." followed by the album's specific release date. Some albums not listed in Coming Soon still have a release date specified on their pages, so this update appears to be a bit more wide-ranging.

Lastly, another rollout appears to be happening today in regards to artist profiles, showing up as of now only in iTunes on macOS. These profiles have a slightly tweaked layout with artist portraits in circular bubbles, and a "Featured Release" that includes release dates.

There's also a "Play" button next to the artist's name, which was first noticed by iOS 12 beta testers and appears to be launching now for all Apple Music users, although as of writing MacRumors has only seen profile updates on a computer running macOS 10.13.4 and not on iOS. This button shuffles all of an artist's music at once.

The Coming Soon tab and release dates have appeared for multiple users on iOS 11.4, as well as on macOS 10.13.4. Apple didn't mention Apple Music during its WWDC keynote and at this time doesn't appear to be planning a major update to the app this fall. Besides the updated artist profiles, iOS 12 beta testers have discovered that subscribers will be able to perform searches for music via lyric snippets.

(Thanks, Ram K and Jack!)

Article Link: Apple Music Rolling Out Update With 'Coming Soon' Section, Album Launch Dates, and New Artist Profiles

 

[Squirrelxb]

Oh my god, is this an actual useful update to Apple Music? Waiting for someone to tell me Spotify or Tidal does this already...

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Now they need to add the option to read reviews of albums, and I will be happy. Oh, and also allow us to sort an artists album by popularity, not release date,.

 

[gemoritzt]

They just cannot be serious about these new banners...

 

[sniffies]

The UI is still a huge mess

Hopefully iOS 3000 will change that

 

[johnyslats]

Nice to see album release dates in there, although it would be MUCH more useful if that information actually transferred over into your library when pre-releases are added

 

[bluespark]

Any word on MusicKit? I thought this was going to be the year we started seeing Apple Music functionality in third-party apps, but beyond Sonos (which appears to have a special sweetheart deal with Apple), things are weirdly quiet on that front.

 

[Keesmcqueen]

That's all nice and stuff, but I'd rather see them focus their attention on cleaning up their messy UI and doing something about double or triple album listings on artist's pages.

 

[earthTOmitchel]

Nice to see album release dates in there, although it would be MUCH more useful if that information actually transferred over into your library when pre-releases are added

At this point I'm just happy pre-releases are starting to successfully appear in my library without having to delete what I had before, search, then add it again. Now if notifications just worked!

 

[syklee26]

I guess we will see new Tupac, Beatles, Michael Jackson albums in “coming soon” section

 

[4492865]

I guess we will see new Tupac, Beatles, Michael Jackson albums in “coming soon” section

No that would be in the "Gone to soon" section.

 

[1050792]

The UI is still a huge mess

Hopefully iOS 3000 will change that

Why is it a mess? Doesn't it function properly or just looks ugly to look at? Design and UI isn't just how it looks but how it functions and between Apple Music and Spotify AM wins function wise.

 

[cliffster82]

This is nice. I wish that the Recently Added page would continue endlessly on iOS, or at least further back in time, much like on Mac. It's easy to forget what I've added recently once the albums fall off the page. If someone told me you can change this setting somewhere it would make my day.

 

[busyscott]

One Apple Music issue down, 945,370 to go!

 

[bjwhite3114]

Probably still no landscape mode in this stock Apple app. Guess I'll keep struggling to work the UI by tilting my head to the side when my phone is mounted in my car. Thanks.

 

[citysnaps]

The UI is still a huge mess

Hopefully iOS 3000 will change that

Works great for me. Maybe a visit to the Genius Bar could help get you up to speed?

 

[zulkiflim]

Apple Music UI is a mess and confusing.

Spotify is more elegant and the the new music showcased is amazing ...

Apple Music keeps showing me the same songs over and over again.
Spotify changes every day !! i found loads of cool new artists.

 

[stoopkidblues]

I really like that AM is, slowly but surely, rolling out new sections, action-cues, play options, etc. Small changes in 12 already make the player worlds better and yes Apple has a way to go to make it “better” per se, but it’s classic Apple: only add/takeaway as needed. All the white-space is there almost like a placeholder until the space *needs* to be used.

 

[ayjem]

How about we fix the shuffle

 

[TimWillz]

'Coming soon' is a very welcome feature, also the fact that if you have pre-ordered an album when a new track is released during the pre-release it appears back at the top of your recently added. nice.

 

[AeroZ]

Android app forgotten and abandoned?

 

[DEXTERITY]

The UI is still a huge mess

Hopefully iOS 3000 will change that

it is even worst via itunes.. apple music looks like it was organized by an intern...and that may even be an insult to interns.

 

[happysymptom]

Apple Music UI is a mess and confusing.

Spotify is more elegant and the the new music showcased is amazing ...

Apple Music keeps showing me the same songs over and over again.
Spotify changes every day !! i found loads of cool new artists.

Depending on your musical tastes, Apple Music's suggestion algorithm is an absolute train-wreck.

 

[chrisbru]

Now they need to add the option to read reviews of albums, and I will be happy. Oh, and also allow us to sort an artists album by popularity, not release date,.

And remove singles from the album list. For some artists, it clutters the album list view to the point where it is unusable.

 

[jonnyb098]

Why is it a mess? Doesn't it function properly or just looks ugly to look at? Design and UI isn't just how it looks but how it functions and between Apple Music and Spotify AM wins function wise.

I never understood why people say Apple Music interface is a mess. So is every other major music streaming service to some degree. They have the near impossible task of being a "one-stop shop" for 40 million songs and tens of millions of users. Improvements can always be made but I'd hardly call it a mess. Everyone expects something slightly different since music is a very personal thing.

Spotify does a few things better than Apple Music and visa versa.

Everyone wants to complain but few have any solution on how to do it better. Theres a reason Apple and Spotify have loads of happy music customers. Clearly they're doing something right.