Two years in and I still wasn’t getting even remotely closer to finding amazing music with Apple Music the way I did when I tried 90 days of Spotify Premium. 

Seeing the new HomePod ad where FKA Twigs play with the fabric of time and space after she asks Siri to play something she likes stirred something in my soul. When I asked Siri to play something I liked, it came close, but not close enough. As much as I like TLC’s ‘No Scrubs’, I did not want go Interstellar in my lounge.

Meanwhile, friends using Spotify discover the sickest, most incredible playlists and get the best recommendations. So I prepared to make the switch after years of getting staggeringly poor matches in my New Music Mix every Friday. But before I gave up, I tried one last time to make the most of Apple Music. I started doing my homework.

I was surprised to find out that there’s a lot I could do to find new music and enjoy the discovery process.

Let Apple Music know you like or don’t like songs

Apple Music doesn’t pick up on your musical preferences the way Spotify does. You have to tell it what you like, and over time it gets better at figuring you out.

Tell Apple what artists and genres you’re into by tapping on your profile icon on the “For You” page, tapping on “View Account”, and “Choose Artists For You”.

You can 3D Touch on a song and “Love” or “Dislike it”.

If you’re in the middle of a radio station playlist, you can get the station to play similar music to the tune you’re on by tapping on the star.

Discover. Be Curious. Explore the not-so-vintage record store that is Apple Music 

No one undertakes research in physics with the intention of winning a prize. It is the joy of discovering something no one knew before. – Stephen Hawking

A part of the fun of uncovering music in cafes or bars or movie trailers is that sense of discovering a little slice of talent that no one else told you about. From Natalia Lafourcade to Billie the Vision, some of my favourite tunes were discovered while traveling, writing or talking to someone in a bar. 

I tried to be more adventurous on Apple Music and, despite it not being as effortless as Spotify, found myself enjoying the digging and diving through playlists, discographies, and curated playlists.

I’m not trying to give Apple Music a break. There’s so much that can be done in terms of user experience and music discoverability that one wonders why they’re putting over $4 billion into original content rather than focusing on putting a laser focus on the music experience.

Nevertheless, I wanted to try a few more things before I swapped over to Spotify.

Be Patient. But if you don’t have patience, try creating a Radio Station

One of the most useful features that I used to find absolutely useless and obsolete back in 2015 is radio stations, which put together music inspired by specific songs (3D Touch a song and then “Create Station”). 

This feature, in combination with Shazam discoveries, has worked wonders for me and I’ve added dozens of tunes this month alone, which you can explore in my March 2018 playlist below.

Sharing is Caring!

Seriously, though, I’ve discovered a number of tunes from my friends’ shared playlists. I ignored the “Friends Are Listening To” feature in the “For You” since it was released, but since discovering a handful of songs I like from the handful of friends I’m following, I have since started following a few more people including “recommended friends”.

In return, I’ve made a few of my playlists public so my followers can discover a tune or two as well. I’m hoping that karma will reward me with even more musical adventures.

Oh and for those of you who have websites, you can use Apple Music Marketing Tools to embed playlists like you can with Spotify.

So yes, this loyal Apple Person is giving Apple Music another chance

Maybe I’ve been ignorant the whole time and only now realise that Apple Music can do what I want it to do. It just requires a bit more hands-on work than Spotify, which picks up on your listening preferences silently in the background. With Apple Music, you need to be a bit more explicit in telling it what you like and don’t like, but since I started doing so over the past week, I’ve noticed a much, much better selection of music.

Spotify’s personalised Discover Weekly playlist is still exponentially better than Apple’s New Music Mix. Still, for now, my Apple biases and research have bought Apple Music another year or two of my loyalty.

Have I missed any ways to discover new music on Apple Music? I’d love to hear your ideas in comments below!