Apple Music's 'For You' Section Now Offers Theme-Based Recommendations, More Personalized Suggestions

[MacRumors]

Apple appears to be updating the "For You" section of Apple Music to provide Apple Music subscribers with more customized suggestions and music recommendations based around different themes.

The updates to the Apple Music app's "For You" section appear to be rolling out starting today, and we're seeing the new recommendations on devices running both iOS 12.2 and iOS 12.3 According to 9to5Mac, these changes will be coming to all Apple Music subscribers on all platforms over the course of the next few weeks.

Apple Music is now recommending content based on specific bands you've listened to before, and there are categories such as "Case of the Mondays," "Start Your Week Right," and "To Make You Smile." There are also category recommendations for music genres you've listened to in the past.

Recommendations can be shifted using the Love and Dislike features in Apple Music, and going forward, Apple plans to provide more regular updates to the "For You" section so you'll have fresh content and recommendations more frequently.

Apple is maintaining already existing playlists such as Friends Mix, Chill Mix, New Music Mix and Favorites Mix, and there are still sections like Recently Played, Recently Updated, Friends Are Listening To, and New Releases.

Article Link: Apple Music's 'For You' Section Now Offers Theme-Based Recommendations, More Personalized Suggestions

 

[iObama]

Sweet! Hoping it becomes much more like Spotify in that respect. Apple Music recommendations tend to feel very algorithmic, rather than just being algorithmic and me not noticing.

 

[BWhaler]

The rate of improvement for Apple Music is impressive.

 

[iRutherford]

I hope this improves Apple Music. I hate listening to one genre and being told, "Since you like rock: Céline Dion's Falling Into You, Lorde's Pure Heroine, The Carters' Everything Is Love and Weezer's Pinkerton". The latter is the only one even representative of the genre. I don't know how they do it.

 

[DNichter]

This is awesome! I have already gotten a bunch of really good recommendations with the type of music I like. This is exactly what I was hoping we would see eventually and may be able to beat Spotify when it comes to curation. Definitely a pleasant surprise.

 

[19SK91]

I was excited. But after going through the sections, there‘s a bunch of albums and playlists I disliked long ago. Plus albums that don‘t even fit in their sections. Why does Apple Music have to push Hip-Hop/Rap on me? I don‘t have a single Hip-Hop/Rap song in my library and have disliked many hundred songs, albums and playlists over the months to finally get rid of those recommendations. This change is actually a step back for me.

 

[DNichter]

I was excited. But after going through the sections, there‘s a bunch of albums and playlists I disliked long ago. Plus albums that don‘t even fit in their sections. Why does Apple Music have to push Hip-Hop/Rap on me? I don‘t have a single Hip-Hop/Rap song in my library and have disliked many hundred songs, albums and playlists over the months to finally get rid of those recommendations. This change is actually a step back for me.

Strange, I listen primarily to metal/punk/etc. and it is showing no hip-hop/rap at all for me. Maybe it hasn't fully rolled out yet?

 

[19SK91]

Strange, I listen primarily to metal/punk/etc. and it is showing no hip-hop/rap at all for me. Maybe it hasn't fully rolled out yet?

If you are on the 12.3 beta and see the new layout, then it‘s rolled out to us both. Check each category and tap on albums to see the genre. I have quite a few that don‘t fit. Either to the genre of the section or the artist. I mean "Similar to Halsey" - xxxtentacion? Are you kidding me? Besides I‘ve disliked his whole discography including all his playlists. He shouldn‘t be anywhere in my recommendations.

Edit: now it refreshed and after I disliked everything Hip-Hop/Rap, most is gone. But xxxtentacion is still there, this time in "Similar to Billie Eilish". Still some stuff that doesn‘t exactly fit the section but it‘s close enough. I‘ll keep disliking and am curious how often it actually refreshes.

 

[mcfly88]

The rate of improvement for Apple Music is impressive.

Definitely loving all these improvements over the last few weeks. New Releases in the For You tab is night and day better. I just hope they finally fix pre-release singles.. I'm so sick of having to delete / re-download songs.

 

[lunarworks]

Strange, I listen primarily to metal/punk/etc. and it is showing no hip-hop/rap at all for me. Maybe it hasn't fully rolled out yet?

When people are always complaining that Apple Music constantly pushes hip-hop on them I begin to suspect that they don't actually use Apple Music.

 

[19SK91]

When people are always complaining that Apple Music constantly pushes hip-hop on them I begin to suspect that they don't actually use Apple Music.

Yeah, about two hours daily use with constant disliking and liking for a year, I’m definitely not using Apple Music. /s

 

[lunarworks]

Yeah, about two hours daily use with constant disliking and liking for a year, I’m definitely not using Apple Music. /s

I actually listen to some hip-hop, and my "For You" page barely contains any. In fact, the only thing it's showing me that I find disagreeable is "'10s Love Song Essentials".

 

[19SK91]

I actually listen to some hip-hop, and my "For You" page barely contains any. In fact, the only thing it's showing me that I find disagreeable is "'10s Love Song Essentials".

Good for you! You think I have nothing better to do than to lie about my recommendations? In my first comment I wrote that I disliked hundreds of songs, albums and playlist until no more Hip-Hop/Rap was recommended to me anymore. Now it‘s back.

 

[Totemsflare]

When people are always complaining that Apple Music constantly pushes hip-hop on them I begin to suspect that they don't actually use Apple Music.

Or they use browse tab instead of the For You. I never get hip hop recommended.

 

[19SK91]

Or they use browse tab instead of the For You. I never get hip hop recommended.

Must be really for some people to understand that not everybody gets the same recommendations. *shrug*

 

[eroslws]

I dislike whatever algorithms Apple uses for Music and find them completely inadequate compared to Spotify. It's not even close. Don't believe me? Make a playlist with Spotify about a theme of your choosing and the songs it will start recommending you add to that list are eerily spot-on. Until Apple has something as powerful as that, Apple Music is objectively worse than Spotify. That said, I do use Apple Music because it ties in with all my junk and my family and I'm hoping this change is a sign of more good things to come.

 

[iRutherford]

Strange, I listen primarily to metal/punk/etc. and it is showing no hip-hop/rap at all for me. Maybe it hasn't fully rolled out yet?

I share his problem. I get so many hip-hop recommendations despite disliking and avoiding them. The only one even close to the genre that I've listened to was Blurryface by Twenty One Pilots, and that's even a reach considering it's not really hip-hop. It just happens to have "white" rap in a couple of songs.
[doublepost=1555371273][/doublepost]

I dislike whatever algorithms Apple uses for Music and find them completely inadequate compared to Spotify. It's not even close. Don't believe me? Make a playlist with Spotify about a theme of your choosing and the songs it will start recommending you add to that list are eerily spot-on. Until Apple has something as powerful as that, Apple Music is objectively worse than Spotify. That said, I do use Apple Music because it ties in with all my junk and my family and I'm hoping this change is a sign of more good things to come.

I agree with you. It didn't even take long for Spotify to give me spot on recommendations. Even my "Browse" page lists my four main genres: rock, metal, indie and punk. I also love Discover Weekly and Release Radar. Great inclusions every time.

Apple Music has four different "personalized" playlists, yet none of them reflect my listening habits. I'm unsubscribing this coming month.

 

[jonnyb098]

Still not showing for me after restarting my devices.....must be a slow rollout.

 

[DNichter]

If you are on the 12.3 beta and see the new layout, then it‘s rolled out to us both. Check each category and tap on albums to see the genre. I have quite a few that don‘t fit. Either to the genre of the section or the artist. I mean "Similar to Halsey" - xxxtentacion? Are you kidding me? Besides I‘ve disliked his whole discography including all his playlists. He shouldn‘t be anywhere in my recommendations.

Edit: now it refreshed and after I disliked everything Hip-Hop/Rap, most is gone. But xxxtentacion is still there, this time in "Similar to Billie Eilish". Still some stuff that doesn‘t exactly fit the section but it‘s close enough. I‘ll keep disliking and am curious how often it actually refreshes.

I’m not sure, mine is working great. I have hit like for a lot of stuff over time though.
[doublepost=1555377303][/doublepost]

When people are always complaining that Apple Music constantly pushes hip-hop on them I begin to suspect that they don't actually use Apple Music.

Well, to be fair, it is mostly what they market, but when you actually use the like/dislike, it makes for a very good product.

 

[ipedro]

Apple Music has always been pretty great for me, having learned my tastes and playing songs I love or that it knows I will love but I’ve kept around a Spotify account for the themed curated playlists Spotify is famous for. The new a For You looks like it’ll fill that void. Adding to the much more rich Browse tab introduced a couple of weeks ago, Apple is doing all the right things. Paired with a HomePod at home and AirPods on the move, Apple Music is one of my favourite Apple products right now.

 

[pratikindia]

Apple Music has the worst personalization styles. Even I have not selected any R&B, hip-hop/rap songs, my For You section is full of them. And it does not show anything closely related to my chosen artists. Spotify is much much better than this.

 

[robbysibrahim]

For Me isn't loading on either of my iOS devices (12.3b) at the moment

 

[DeepIn2U]

I was excited. But after going through the sections, there‘s a bunch of albums and playlists I disliked long ago. Plus albums that don‘t even fit in their sections. Why does Apple Music have to push Hip-Hop/Rap on me? I don‘t have a single Hip-Hop/Rap song in my library and have disliked many hundred songs, albums and playlists over the months to finally get rid of those recommendations. This change is actually a step back for me.

I have a name that most likely explains what you've noticed:

Clyde Stubblefield
RollingStone Magazine

Clyde Stubblefield, James Brown‘s one-time drummer and the creator of one of hip-hop’s most popular samples, has died at the age of 73. Stubblefield’s wife, Jody Hannon, confirmed the drummer’s death to Rolling Stone. The cause of death was kidney failure.

Stubblefield, while a member of Brown’s backing unit, performed on the funk legend’s classic cuts like “Cold Sweat,” “Ain’t It Funky Now,” “I Got the Feelin'” and Brown’s landmark LP Cold Sweat and Sex Machine.

However, it’s a 20-second drum break, a snippet of a Stubblefield solo found on Brown’s 1970 single for “Funky Drummer,” that marked the drummer’s biggest impact on music.

The drum break served as the backbeat for countless hip-hop tracks, ranging from Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power,” “Bring the Noise” and “Rebel Without a Pause” to N.W.A’s “**** tha Police” and Dr. Dre’s “Let Me Ride” to LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out,” Run-D.M.C.’s “Run’s House” and Beastie Boys’ “Shadrach.” Even Ed Sheeran’s “Shirtsleeves” and George Michael’s “Freedom ’90” were among the over 1,000 songs to sample Stubblefield’s beat.

What I'm getting at is since his drum beat has been sampled so many times, linked, it's most likely shown up across all sorts of genres ... sped up, spliced, slowed down, etc. and thus the algorithm gets skewed. Just a thought and hunch.

 

[bilbo--baggins]

Apple Music recommendations need to improve significantly. It’s been extremely disappointing so far. The only new stuff I ever see are new albums by bands I have in my library - which is fine, but it never recommends stuff otherwise. All I ever see in for you is stuff I already listen to, or stuff that’s completely different to my taste of music.

 

[idrewuk]

When people are always complaining that Apple Music constantly pushes hip-hop on them I begin to suspect that they don't actually use Apple Music.

No, I understand what they mean. A lot of the banners they use to promote in Browse are for hip hop/r&b and Beats1 feels completely geared towards that type of music too. Wish they’d even it out a little, that’s all.