Apple Music Now Separates Studio Albums From Singles & EPs

[MacRumors]

Following the addition of 116 global "Daily Top 100" charts that display the most-streamed songs on Apple Music, the service has now introduced another long-requested update: separating an artist's main albums from various singles and EPs (via Reddit).

Previously, when you navigated to an artist's profile on Apple Music, you would find a scrollable list of their entire body of work, combining albums, singles, and EPs all in one place. Now, Apple Music has separated these into multiple sections.

First, there is a new "Essential Album" list that showcases the artist's most influential albums (some artists don't have this), and below that is "Albums," where every studio album can be found by that artist. Below that are areas for music videos and artist playlists, and then you'll find "Singles & EPs," "Live Albums," "Compilations," and "Appears On."

As with the "Essential Album" area, the appearance of these sections depends on the artist, so while some have an "Appears On" section, some will not. To check out the new artist profiles, navigate to Apple Music on iOS or macOS, and search for an artist in the search tab.

Although Apple Music will not have a major update as part of iOS 12, Apple has been rolling out a few small quality-of-life updates for the streaming music service over the summer. In the weeks after WWDC, Apple updated Apple Music with a "Coming Soon" section, specific album launch dates, slightly tweaked artist profiles, rolled out Friends Mix to select users, and introduced full-length operas.

Article Link: Apple Music Now Separates Studio Albums From Singles & EPs

 

[benshive]

Awesome! I've been waiting for this for awhile. It's such a minor change but it'll be really nice

 

[johnyslats]

An artist’s most recent release is also displayed before Top Songs. Article appears to have missed this feature. If this is a pre release it states when the album is expected. Very useful feature

 

[adamjackson]

finally!

 

[legacyb4]

Nice touch with the Top 100s lists too; it's mind-boggling at just how much music is out there outside of our regular listening bubble.

 

[adammusic]

This was a huge issue. Finally.

BUT.

EPs & remix EPs still show up in albums for me.

So its not across the board or implemented correctly yet.

 

[erinsarah]

Oh hallefreakinlujah! That’s been driving me nuts lately.

 

[ChromeAce]

Still need all albums clearly labeled with recording year, release year, remaster year, and remix year as well as clear indicator of versions with extra tracks. Sick of having to figure this all out on my own.

 

[keysofanxiety]

Yes, live albums separated too! That's great news.

 

[lazyrighteye]

Any improvement to this experience is welcome.

I’ve been building my vinyl collection. And something missing from the digital experience are all of the yummy production liner notes. Like, who played what instruments, producer’s name, recording studio, etc.

Is that currently buried somewhere within Apple Music and I’m missing it or does this type of info not exist?

Cheers.

 

[Brenster]

Any improvement to this experience is welcome.

I’ve been building my vinyl collection. And something missing from the digital experience are all of the yummy production liner notes. Like, who played what instruments, producer’s name, recording studio, etc.

Is that currently buried somewhere within Apple Music and I’m missing it or does this type of info not exist?

Cheers.

It’s the sort of info that used to exist when the iTunes purchase contained either an iTunes LP (now depricated and about to vanish) or a digital booklet/PDF, the latter of which seem to be getting rarer and rarer with the exception of certain classical labels.

 

[H3LL5P4WN]

All I want are proper genres and albums in absolute chronological order.

I'm sorry, a polish blackened death metal band like Behemoth is not Rock, and Metallica's remasters should not be labeled as having been released in 1988.
[doublepost=1536588356][/doublepost]

It’s the sort of info that used to exist when the iTunes purchase contained either an iTunes LP (now depricated and about to vanish) or a digital booklet/PDF, the latter of which seem to be getting rarer and rarer with the exception of certain classical labels.

Imagine if Coverflow made a comeback... with the perks of iTunes LP.

 

[toph2toast]

It’s the sort of info that used to exist when the iTunes purchase contained either an iTunes LP (now depricated and about to vanish) or a digital booklet/PDF, the latter of which seem to be getting rarer and rarer with the exception of certain classical labels.

Am i correct in saying that most iTunes LP content was only available to view on a computer? If so, I think this was a reason it never really took off. Being able to use an iPad to interact with this content would be awesome. On a phone it would be more difficult IMO, but not impossible. Given that apple is so focused on its mobile devices, it seems odd that this had to be tied back to a computer.

 

[stoopkidblues]

Any improvement to this experience is welcome.

I’ve been building my vinyl collection. And something missing from the digital experience are all of the yummy production liner notes. Like, who played what instruments, producer’s name, recording studio, etc.

Is that currently buried somewhere within Apple Music and I’m missing it or does this type of info not exist?

Cheers.

Ehhh, kind of? You can search/sort by composer which will at least pull up the people who worked on said song BUT only if that artist bothered to include that info.

All I want are proper genres and albums in absolute chronological order.

I'm sorry, a polish blackened death metal band like Behemoth is not Rock, and Metallica's remasters should not be labeled as having been released in 1988.
[doublepost=1536588356][/doublepost]

Imagine if Coverflow made a comeback... with the perks of iTunes LP.

I think a lot of that has to do with the user upload error. Apple does do a lot of housing for music already but a lot of the newer albums and artists who are “revamping” their catalog are pushing out updates that I’d think Apple prioritizes by relevance.

Also, I agree with the lacking genres but I think Apple is just trying to do a catch-all. Subgenres get too convoluted to the point you’d be scrolling forever to determine who is acid rock vs horrorcore (rap? alternative?) vs trance etc. I think this could be better accomplished with something like tagging.

DEF waiting for cover flow to make a comeback though.

Am i correct in saying that most iTunes LP content was only available to view on a computer? If so, I think this was a reason it never really took off. Being able to use an iPad to interact with this content would be awesome. On a phone it would be more difficult IMO, but not impossible. Given that apple is so focused on its mobile devices, it seems odd that this had to be tied back to a computer.

I agree. I think LP just needed to be remarketed correctly and it would’ve worked great but I assume Apple didn’t see the need to dedicate vital resources to it whilst trying to creat an entire new music experience with AM. LP was only designed with computers in mind because of the era but you’re right they could easily redesign it for use with mobiles and I think it’d be a hit (imagine if Kendrick Lamar had one for good kid & To Pimp!!!!)

I think it was too niche for the average listener so Apple dropped it but they still support the ones they’ve already uploaded so maybe there’s still hope lol

 

[mw360]

It's nice to see them adding these quite essential and obvious details once every few years.

 

[stoopkidblues]

Also, curated playlist artworks are also larger to differentiate from surrounding music. Apple have been slowly tweaking AM here and there throughout the beta series and the few changes/additions they’ve made are in the right direction. I think we’ll get that significant improvement/overhaul with 13 while they iron out the nuisances through 12.1, etc.

 

[tonyr6]

Now if only Google would listen what a mess of a service that still is when you search which is why I always come back to Apple Music despite the abysmal iTunes.

 

[Brenster]

All I want are proper genres and albums in absolute chronological order.

I'm sorry, a polish blackened death metal band like Behemoth is not Rock, and Metallica's remasters should not be labeled as having been released in 1988.
[doublepost=1536588356][/doublepost]

Imagine if Coverflow made a comeback... with the perks of iTunes LP.

I work with a guy who has kept an older copy of iTunes around so her can Coverflow his library on his Tv in his listening room. Although I never used it much myself, plenty did and it was a notable part in Steve’s original legendary iPhone into presentation.

Am i correct in saying that most iTunes LP content was only available to view on a computer? If so, I think this was a reason it never really took off. Being able to use an iPad to interact with this content would be awesome. On a phone it would be more difficult IMO, but not impossible. Given that apple is so focused on its mobile devices, it seems odd that this had to be tied back to a computer.

The writing was on the wall when iTunes LP didn’t receive iOS/iPad support in the next release after introduction. I’ve wound up opening up the iTunes LP package and extracting the booklet jpg pages so I can lie back and read through them on my iPad whilst the music is on. If ever a device was just made for this kind of thing, the iPad is surely it. It has made little to no sense that I can only read say the liner notes for the Beatles US Albums box set whilst say at a desktop or laptop. Even folding support into iBooks/Apple Books would have made more sense than simply letting the idea whither on the vine and die.

 

[TomaxXamot]

Awesome! I've been waiting for this for awhile. It's such a minor change but it'll be really nice

Yes it has been annoying to have to google an artist’s discography in order to see which are their full studio albums. Amazed it has taken this long.

 

[Apple4everr]

I also noticed in the new music section, there is a coming soon page for pre released albums, I didn’t see that mentioned until I double checked, that’s another cool feature

 

[deyorew]

Now if only they would support iso/DSD and DSF files for all the hi res downloads on the market these days.

 

[tkermit]

I work with a guy who has kept an older copy of iTunes around so her can Coverflow his library on his Tv in his listening room. Although I never used it much myself, plenty did and it was a notable part in Steve’s original legendary iPhone into presentation.

I'm still using the last version of the original CoverFlow app – before Apple bought it and then integrated the functionality into iTunes. I'm happy to report that it continues to work fine on MacOS (10.14 Mojave) with iTunes (12.8) and can even handle Apple Music tracks if they've been downloaded. Pretty remarkable, considering the app's last been updated 12 years ago. I remember using the exact same version on OS X 10.4 Tiger...

 

[Mak47]

Following the addition of 116 global "Daily Top 100" charts that display the most-streamed songs on Apple Music, the service has now introduced another long-requested update: separating an artist's main albums from various singles and EPs (via Reddit).

Previously, when you navigated to an artist's profile on Apple Music, you would find a scrollable list of their entire body of work, combining albums, singles, and EPs all in one place. Now, Apple Music has separated these into multiple sections.

First, there is a new "Essential Album" list that showcases the artist's most influential albums (some artists don't have this), and below that is "Albums," where every studio album can be found by that artist. Below that are areas for music videos and artist playlists, and then you'll find "Singles & EPs," "Live Albums," "Compilations," and "Appears On."

As with the "Essential Album" area, the appearance of these sections depends on the artist, so while some have an "Appears On" section, some will not. To check out the new artist profiles, navigate to Apple Music on iOS or macOS, and search for an artist in the search tab.

Although Apple Music will not have a major update as part of iOS 12, Apple has been rolling out a few small quality-of-life updates for the streaming music service over the summer. In the weeks after WWDC, Apple updated Apple Music with a "Coming Soon" section, specific album launch dates, slightly tweaked artist profiles, rolled out Friends Mix to select users, and introduced full-length operas.

Article Link: Apple Music Now Separates Studio Albums From Singles & EPs

 

[NikeSG]

It makes me violently ill to count the number of times I went looking to find a list of an artist’s studio albums, only to find a heaping pile of anything and everything. Now, I’ll be violently ill until I am given an explanation as to why it took so long to decide that it should be broken out. I need an explanation. My level of obsession is like that of Ryan Gosling’s SNL skit for Papyrus and Avatar.

 

[danmart]

Is this US-only? In the UK I’m still seeing a mushed-up group of EPs, albums etc. I even checked HAIM and they are mushed up despite appearing split-out in the image included with the article.

ETA: seems like the info is split out on the Artist page but still lumped together in the search results screen