Apple Music has just launched a new tool letting users import their playlists from other streaming services.
If you’ve been wanting to leave Spotify, but can’t abandon the playlists you’ve spent years curating, Apple Music has released a solution.
After a trial of beta testing in Australia and New Zealand, Apple Music has now launched its new tool which allows users to import playlists from other streaming services.
Users can start importing playlists through the new ‘Transfer Music from Other Music Services’ setting. From there, you can sing in to another streamer and select items to import. You can find more detailed instructions via Apple’s Support page, which also has instructions to import playlists through your web browser (praise be desktop users).
Spotify itself has had a pretty rough PR year so far. Recently, artists including Hotline TNT, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Xiu Xiu and Deerhoof pulled their catalogues from the streaming giant. In statements, all bands except Godspeed You! Black Emperor cited discomfort with CEO Daniel Ek’s venture capital fun Prima Materia investments. In June, Ek had invested €600 million ($1.07 billion AUD) to the defense company Helsin, which specialises in AI military technology.
Additioanlly, the company has been catching heat for its implementation of AI features in the service. Earlier this year, the band The Velvet Sundown drew attention to the service as it was revealed the band and its music were entirely AI. Spotify has also been caught letting AI music onto dead artists profiles.
In July, 404 Media found company Syntax Error had been uploading AI-generated songs onto multiple artist profiles, some who had passed away years prior. While Spotify removed said tracks, label owners have come out to criticise Spotify for allowing the uploads to begin with.
Spotify has also announced even more price hikes. Just yesterday, the platform announced users will be spending an extra $2 per month for a basic plan, changing from $13.99 to $15.99. The streaming platform followed up the announcement, sharing that they would now let users message each other and share recommendations.
So, if you’ve been looking for a new streaming platform to move to, perhaps this is your final sign. And if that doesn’t convince you, Apple Music has all of Oceansize’s own Mike Vennart‘s solo albums on it, which is a compelling argument if you ask me.