Apple Music Launches Songwriter Spotlight ‘Behind The Songs’
Apple Music is rolling out a new hub specifically created to spotlight songwriters, producers, publishers and session musicians, which it is calling Behind The Songs.
Apple Music is rolling out a new hub specifically created to spotlight songwriters, producers, publishers and session musicians, which it is calling Behind The Songs. The new hub will be centered on two Apple Music playlist brands, Songbook and Behind The Boards, as well as editorial features and promotions and original content like its Lyrics To Live By and Song Stories video series.
The hub, which is searchable in Apple Music, is broken out into radio shows — like Deep Hidden Meaning Radio, hosted by the legendary Nile Rodgers — as well as playlists that focus on individual producers and songwriters, artists who also write their own songs, and ones that focus on the work of session musicians, who are often unheralded and uncredited in their work. Apple also has a partnership with the U.K. songwriter/composer body The Ivors Academy, for which Behind The Songs will serve as the home.
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“Apple Music has, above all, continued to invest deeply in the songwriting community and its various components, and ‘Behind the Songs’ is a new place we can call home,” Rodgers said in a statement about the announcement. “I’ve loved bringing the stories of today’s most inspiring songwriters to life on my Deep Hidden Meaning radio show, and Apple Music been able to spotlight the best of what’s next with their resolute support of The Ivors Academy and the Rising Star Award.”
As streaming has taken over as the dominant form of not only music listening and consumption, but also music discovery, songwriters have often been left behind in the discourse, as liner notes become less prevalent and digital metadata can be often incomplete. Lately, streaming services have taken steps to address those issues, introducing songwriter and producer credits and lyric-based search functionalities, as well as playlists that are specifically designed to shine a light on writers whose work is often obscured by the headline-making artists who sing and perform their work.
In December, Spotify launched its own Songwriters Hub within its app and web player to serve a similar dynamic, which is centered on its Written By playlist series, which also features podcasts and other content from writers and producers. The service also introduced songwriter pages, giving writers their own place to share their work on the platform.