Apple Music allows artists to turn their concert setlists into playlists.
With a new feature, you may no longer need to manually create playlists based on the setlists of your favorite artists on Apple Music as often.
The concert fandom can lead fans to research a band's setlists before their performance in the city. Many enjoy reminiscing about great concerts through platforms like setlist.fm. Once this information is obtained, the next logical step is to create a playlist on their favorite streaming service for easy access to the music.
Recently, Apple Music has made it easier for artists to create playlists from their setlists, thanks to data provided by the tour information site, Bandsintown. By connecting both services, artists can select the type of show (concert, tour, or residency) in Apple Music for Artists and link it to the scheduled dates on Bandsintown. From there, they have the option to set a release date and use the search function to build the playlist. The collections can include original songs, covers, or collaborations with other artists. Although Apple Music allows for unlimited playlists for past or future events, it recommends that artists choose a song list that accurately represents the entire tour when creating a playlist for all scheduled dates.
Setlist-based playlists are not entirely new to Apple Music; the service has been curating playlists for popular tours for some time, such as Zach Bryan's Quittin' Time Tour in 2024. This new tool is also promoted as an option for artist promotion, providing various ways to share the playlists once they are available. Additionally, it will be useful for fans looking for more information about the songs they can expect to hear, for those who cannot attend a tour date, or simply want to relive the experience of seeing the band live.
If one of your favorite artists is not utilizing this new feature, there are still alternatives to create setlist-based playlists. With Setify, it's possible to link Apple Music or Spotify and use data from setlist.fm to create your own collections. While it is not a perfect process, it generally works well, and the selection can always be adjusted in the streaming apps as needed. For example, even though I missed the chance to see Blindside at Furnace Fest, thanks to this combination, I can enjoy their music through About a Burning Fire.