Apple introduces new concert discovery features for Apple Maps and Apple Music
Music fans, rejoice! You can now discover concerts near you using Apple Maps and Apple Music. The Cupertino company has introduced a couple of new features that will provide information about upcoming events near your location.
Apple Music Guides
Apple Maps has new guides which the company says have been curated by experts to highlight the best venues where users will be able to experience live music. There are over 40 guides that you may access, and these range from landmark symphony halls to latest techno clubs.
It features the following cities: Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York City, San Francisco, Berlin, London, Paris, Vienna, Tokyo, Melbourne, Sydney and Mexico City.
Apple Music Guides are rolling out on Maps, you can access them on the web at https://apple.co/MusicVenues (redirects to Apple Map's Guides). Alternatively, you may also access the Music Guides directly from the Maps app, and browse for concert venues. This is possible thanks to the Shazam's concert discovery module, which Apple debuted last Spring, in partnership with Bandsintown.
To use it, open the Apple Maps app, and search for a city mentioned above. Click on the result, and once the map has been loaded, scroll down its details page, and you should see the new Music Guides under the "Guides" section. It will display a variety of genres that you may choose from, select one. For example, if you picked Classical Music, Apple Maps will display pins for all music halls where the events are held. Scroll down further on the widget to view the times for the shows, read a bit of the history related to the landmark, and other tidbits. Click on the pin button in the widget to view some photos, ratings and reviews about the place. You can also book tickets to the shows from a supported service.
Set Lists in Apple Music
The location data is interesting, but what about the concerts? The Apple Music app has a new space called Set Lists that shows details about an artist's tours. This includes the date of the concert, the city and the venue where the event will take place. Users can access the upcoming shows in their city directly from the app, which once again relies on the aforementioned Shazam integration. The Music app's discovery experience can do more.
Tap on the browse button in the bottom of the app, and select Set Lists. Scroll through the list to find an artist, and you will be able to browse their scheduled concerts. This will also allow you to find the list of songs that an artist or band will play at the concert. And just like the Maps app, Apple Music also offers the option to buy tickets for the show.
Note: The browse button won't appear in the app unless you have an Apple Music subscription.
The Apple Music Concert Discovery features currently support just a handful of artists, which may not cater to the preferences of many people. Hopefully, this is just the start, and it should add more artists on board in the future, as well as expand coverage for more regions around the world.
In case you missed it, you can listen to Classical Music at no extra cost if you are subscribed to Apple Music, all you need to do is download the Apple Music Classical app on your iPhone to access the service.