How Apple Music's Liking System Works to Customize 'For You' Recommendations

[topmounter]

The fact is that "hearts" are there only to train the For You section. Nothing else. They are a general "oh, I like it" while you're listening to a song.

To do anything different, you have first to add that song, album, playlist to your music and then treat it like it was before Apple Music. For example, using the 5-stars system in combination with smart playlist (that, however, can only be created in iTunes) you can have a Favorites playlist that gets constantly updated. And so on.

Considering the last question, that is the worst issue about Apple Music: there's no way (at least that I can find) to switch to the artist page when listening to a song. Frustrating.

I'm still not seeing any effect on the "For You" section based on albums that I have hearted in "My Music". However I am seeing recommendations that make absolutely no sense based on what is in My Music, Purchase History or based on input from the initial Apple Music setup process.

It would be nice if My Music gave you a hint as to why something was being recommended... e.g. This selection has been recommended based upon what we found in My Music or Purchase History or Initial Setup or a Paid Promotion or whatever.

edit... actually it is worse than that, I am seeing music in genre's being recommended that I specifically did not click on during the initial setup, e.g. "Pop" (and nothing in My Library would make anyone think that "Oh, we should recommend a bunch of "Pop" music to this person either). Strange, I'm sure they'll get it sorted out though.

 

[seans23]

So... It works the way Rdio has for years.

 

[bbbb4b]

Thank you for proving my point, especially since you had nothing of substance to post to prove me wrong. Yeah, every big company should just wake up and buy everything because they can.

Ah, so now you speak for me.
You should learn something about public companies. You just know nothing. That was absolutely clear in your first reply.

 

[sambaman1]

Exactly kds1.

During installation of Apple Music, that app could:
a) use 5-stars songs in "My Music" to determine user's taste, and
b) pre-populate the various tabs ("For You", "New", etc.) accordingly.
As a result, this would:
a) save user's time (All would be transparent to user, no need for user action or bubbles UI).
b) simplify the UI (which is, currently, unnecessarily complex).
c) improve recommendations (specially for non-american songs. See my previous feedback "American-centric curation makes Apple Music useless to many people").

The user has already documented his taste in detail by clicking 5-stars in "My Music" in iTunes over the past few years. No need to force users to do it again in Apple Music
(by clicking incomplete/gimmicky/tedious bubbles).

 

[HenryDJP]

Ah, so now you speak for me.
You should learn something about public companies. You just know nothing. That was absolutely clear in your first reply.

And once again you still haven't justified any of what you pretend to know. Because you haven't said anything still, or posted any facts. Typical.

 

[Aeolius]

Exactly. This app could have figured out what songs I play the most in my iTunes library, to seed the "for you" section. When I select Oldies, it should know i want 30s and 40s but not 50s or 60s.

 

[Stiksi]

Ok, so I have iTunes Match, and Apple knows everything that's in my library. Yet, my "For you" is filled with music I already have in my library. That and 90's crap. Yes, I was born in the seventies but that does not automatically mean I'm pining to hear all those genre hits from my youth. I don't recall tapping a single predominantly 90's balloon in the intro.

Even when I press "I don't like this suggestion" on every single bad suggestion, they still stay there. This is a pretty good indication on how much Apple appreciates my opinion on what my music taste is. Btw. this option only exists on the iPhone, so it's clearly an afterthought. It's completely plausible it just doesn't do anything yet.

Newsflash, Apple, people have pretty varied tastes in music. I'm most likely not going to agree with your "curators" about pretty much anything.

 

[macUser2007]

How is this different from Pandora or Google Music?

I've been comparing Apple Music to Google Music over the last few days and Apple has basically brought Apple Music to where MOG was, before Beats acquired it for $15 million and ruined it.

I used to love MOG and tried Beats for a few months, before I moved on to Google Music.

Right now, I think Pandora has the best algorithm, followed by Google Music, followed by Apple Music.

I really don't see anything so different about Apple Music that sets it apart. Am I missing something?

 

[HenryDJP]

How is this different from Pandora or Google Music?

I've been comparing Apple Music to Google Music over the last few days and Apple has basically brought Apple Music to where MOG was, before Beats acquired it for $15 million and ruined it.

I used to love MOG and tried Beats for a few months, before I moved on to Google Music.

Right now, I think Pandora has the best algorithm, followed by Google Music, followed by Apple Music.

I really don't see anything so different about Apple Music that sets it apart. Am I missing something?

Yes, you are missing something because it really doesn't sound like you've tried Music. Pandora is just a radio station and it does not hold a library of music for you decide to listen to. It's curated. With Pandora, you can't decide to listen to Michael Jackson's albums and play those songs track for track.

 

[Marshall73]

Been loving Apple Music so far apart from one thing. It suggests Lady Gaga and even selecting I do t like this suggestion doesn't remove it.

 

[londrum]

One thing that i haven't worked out yet...
In the "for you" section you can choose "i don't like this suggestion" for the little boxes, but there doesn't seem to be any way of doing the same thing for the big boxes that stretch across the entire width of the page. There are quite a few of those that i would like to disappear, but for some reason they haven't provided the same menu (in iOS, at least -- i haven't tried it on the mac). But maybe i am being a bit dumb and haven't seen where you're supposed to click?

 

[macUser2007]

Yes, you are missing something because it really doesn't sound like you've tried Music. Pandora is just a radio station and it does not hold a library of music for you decide to listen to. It's curated. With Pandora, you can't decide to listen to Michael Jackson's albums and play those songs track for track.

Dude, this article is about Like/Dislike machine learning.... My point was that Pandora, in my experience, has the best algorithm for determining music taste based on personal criteria for its "stations." Google Music is not nearly as good as Pandora, but still seems to me to be better than Apple Music.

Apple Music is basically what MOG was, before Beats bought it and ruined it, but with a more Google Music - like UI. I am still trying obscure artists and Apple Music appears a little more comprehensive than Google Music, but so was MOG.

Basically, Apple could have purchased MOG for $15 million (as Beats did) and come out with Apple Music a lot sooner.

And a lot ($3 billion) cheaper for the Apple shareholders....

 

[freediverx]

Apple Music - "Do you like Biffy Clyro, Katherine Jenkins and Whitney Houston?"

Me - "ARGHHH!" DELETE DELETE DELETE

Apple Music - "Do you like Biffy Clyro, Katherine Jenkins and Whitney Houston?"

Me - *sounds of smashing iPhone*

I haven't seen any of those artists in my "For You" page. Could it be that you sent some wrong signals during the setup process? Any artist bubbles you didn't delete expressed at least a tolerance for that artist's music.

 

[Yumbo]

Did you also add that track to My Music? I believe Smart Playlists only act on music in your library. Loving the track does not put it to My Music. I wish it did.

Currently you need to add to My Music first, and then heart it if you want it to be permanent.
The smart playlist then kicks in accordingly.
It stems back to "do I stream this randomly as a like?" or, "Do I add this to My Music as a favourite?"

It prevents people from randomly liking everything on a whim I suppose.

 

[Benjamin Frost]

As far as I know there is no way to create a Smart Playlist on iOS, the functionality to build these kind of filters is not there. But if you create them in iTunes under your account they synchronize to iOS and seem to update automatically on iOS too.

That reminds me: why can you still not create smart playlists on iOS?

It's only been 14 years since the iPod came out...

 

[CrzyP]

I'm liking Apple Music. I'm starting to prefer it over Spotify

 

[Yumbo]

That reminds me: why can you still not create smart playlists on iOS?

It's only been 14 years since the iPod came out...

Because it's not iTunes?

 

[beany boy]

I am enjoying Learning Apple music. I just wish it streamed at a higher bit rate. After getting used to Tidal Apple Music sounds really bad.

 

[tdale]

Sorry, I've been busy, have not updated my iPad Air or 6 Plus, or have had time to read all about Apple Music. But I have on a forum I belong to, seen concerns, more so, stuff changed or removed, example Home Sharing. I assume that once I update to 8.4, the music I imported to my iOS will remain untouched? And remain the same easy way to play to my headphones or UE Boom? I read that artwork for some has gone. I added most of my artwork manually by adding the image to the album in iTunes. Im fine with changes, but I'm not being forced to streaming, I just want to play my own music, nothing else. Will I be inconvenienced by 8.4?

 

[Scrump]

Sorry, I've been busy, have not updated my iPad Air or 6 Plus, or have had time to read all about Apple Music. But I have on a forum I belong to, seen concerns, more so, stuff changed or removed, example Home Sharing. I assume that once I update to 8.4, the music I imported to my iOS will remain untouched? And remain the same easy way to play to my headphones or UE Boom? I read that artwork for some has gone. I added most of my artwork manually by adding the image to the album in iTunes. Im fine with changes, but I'm not being forced to streaming, I just want to play my own music, nothing else. Will I be inconvenienced by 8.4?

You'll be fine. Streaming gets out of the way enough when you decline the trial. I'm happy with the new UI and am happy to be able to love my own library's tracks from the lock screen, to drive a smart 'loved' playlist (edit: I think this will work, will prob' need a sync to iTunes though)

I had no tagging issues as I never used match and don't currently use iCloud music. I don't use home sharing so I have no pain there either.

It's business as usual for me, and I do like it a little bit more.

 

[Yumbo]

Lock screen Heart is red, and Music screen heart is Black.
Loved Smart Playlist is cool; just make offline first.

 

[esaruoho]

Only complaint I have about the liking feature so far is if I'm listening to Beats 1 and "heart" a song, it rarely goes away for the next one, unless it's a song that you can't tap the heart icon on anyways. Is it counting that I've liked this song? Is it just a UI bug? It doesn't do this on the other radio stations, so I'm guessing it's a UI bug. Hopefully this can be fixed, otherwise it's been a great experience on Beats 1 so far.

I've got some really dreadful news for you. You'll figure it out, if you click on the triple dots next to the track. If you go "Go to iTunes Store" or whatever, you'll see that it's going to Beats 1. So, basically, some of the DJs are so lazy that they forget to actually tag the tracks correctly, so once you like one, you're basically just liking Beats One - the channel.

There are a few DJs that will just leave the ident tag of the previous dj's last track running throughout their broadcast. It's rough stuff.

 

[esaruoho]

I guess I don't get the utility of making recommendations, creating playlists, or making radio stations based on a single song.

I've got great news for you then, because "create radio station based on song" or "create radio station based on artist" does not actually work, at least for me, here in Finland. does it work for anyone else?

 

[esaruoho]

So far, the entire "For You" is a classic case of everyone who worked on it loves it and if you like Taylor Swift & Niki Manaj, then it works great!

If, however, you have never liked, loved, or purchased TS or NM, then how in the world do they keep showing up on my Apple music? I also deleted every "Hits" and "Pop" bubble during set up!

Furthermore, the "I don't like or please make it go away" also does not work...I have tried it on 6 different Niki Manaj suggestions and it keeps coming back.

Well, for me, Apple Music's For You keeps recommending me classic Warp Records stuff - giving me playlists for introduction to Marvin Gaye, Squarepusher, Aphex Twin, Seefeel, Ninja Tune, etc. Squarepusher Deep Cuts, Sade Deep Cuts, Introduction to Sade, etc. I'm really keen on this. It gave me a Future Garage Playlist - but unfortunately when I started listening to it, I had to dislike the list and stop listening to it. So sometimes they give me a really decent playlist like Dark Ambient, sometimes they really mess up really badly. But the more I like stuff, the better suggestions it gives me.

Still waiting for a Minnie Ripperton playlist.

I think they know what they're doing, slightly, but I think they're gonna get more accurate as they go.

 

[esaruoho]

The For You feature has helped me discover some pretty amazing artists/songs. I'm really digging Apple Music.

I'm actually really glad I was listening to DJ Julia on Beats One, cos I found this track.. Fono: Real Joy (TC Bootleg).

That alone made it worthwhile to check out Beats One. I wish the DJs would tag their tracks better though. Tired of hearting "Beats One", and only finding I've hearted Beats One, because the DJ hasn't bothered tagging.