When Apple announced Apple Music in 2015, the company emphasized how it wanted artists to connect with their fans on a more personal level. In order to do so, the iPhone maker introduced a new social platform: Connect. Here, artists could share updates, photos, videos, and more directly with fans so they could stay in the loop with what their favorite people in the music business were up to.
As it turns out, this wasn’t Apple’s best idea. Besides some artists who likely have relations with Apple, a vast majority of those who share content on Apple Music don’t use Connect or haven’t since its inception three years ago. An example that comes to mind is Logic who, after releasing Young Jesus and its music video back in 2015, hasn’t used the platform at all. To say Connect flopped would be correct, and it looks like Apple is recognizing that.
As reported first by 9to5Mac, Apple has begun contacting artists and confirming it’s shutting down Connect for good. the company is warning potential users of the platform that moving forward, they’ll no longer be able to post content to the service any longer. Of course, artists will still be able to create their own playlists to share with fans, but as far as Connect posts go, they’ll be fading away by next year.
I say that because, until May 24th, 2019, Apple will let users search through Apple Music’s library of Connect content. Beyond that point, Connect will officially die off. If you’ve been meaning to sift through someone’s Connect profile (for whatever reason), now would be the time to do so.
Apple doesn’t have a good reputation when it comes to social networks for music anyway. Back in 2012, the company pulled the plug on iTunes Ping which tried a similar approach as Connect and ultimately failed. Instead, it seems artists are more interested in marketing to where there’s attention like Twitter and Instagram. Besides, who doesn’t wanna see their favorite artists’ content right in the same feed as their news and other updates? It’s called convenience, and both Connect and Ping lacked that.
This is usually the part of the article where I say “pour one out” for whatever’s dying that I’m writing about. But not this time. Connect was DOA. There was no saving it, there was no expanding it. It was doomed from when it was introduced, especially thanks to the explosions of attention social networks like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and more are getting nowadays. Yeah, sure, it’s always sad to see something go, but not something no one uses or cares about.
