Apple Music introduces monthly version of year-end ‘Replay’ feature

Apple Music is providing a significant improve to its widespread ‘Replay’ characteristic, introducing a month-to-month model alongside the present year-in-review expertise. 

This follows the success of its annual model, just like Spotify Wrapped, which supplies customers with a personalised abstract of their listening habits all year long.

This new characteristic, which Apple Music confirmed to MBW, supplies music lovers with a extra detailed and personalised take a look at their listening habits, permitting them to relive their musical journeys, one month at a time.

Beforehand, Replay provided a complete recap of customers’ high songs, artists, and albums on the finish of every yr. Whereas this supplied insights into total listening tendencies, it didn’t seize the nuances of evolving tastes and seasonal preferences. The brand new month-to-month Replay addresses this hole, providing customers a extra granular perspective on their musical journey.

To entry their month-to-month Replays, customers merely want to go to replay.music.apple.com and sign up with their Apple ID. Customers can now entry particular person month-to-month pages on the Replay web site, revealing their high songs, artists, albums, and whole listening minutes for every particular month.

Customers may begin listening to their private high songs chart of the yr with their Replay Combine, which updates weekly.

“The Replay combine that customers already know and love additionally turns into obtainable at present for the 2024 calendar yr. Customers should take heed to sufficient music to qualify for each the month-to-month insights and the yearly playlist.”

APple Music

“The Replay combine that customers already know and love additionally turns into obtainable at present for the 2024 calendar yr. Customers should take heed to sufficient music to qualify for each the month-to-month insights and the yearly playlist,” Apple stated in an e mail.

Apple Music’s choice to supply month-to-month Replays comes amid rising competitors within the music streaming market. The characteristic, which Apple rolled out in 2019, got here three years after Spotify launched its Wrapped characteristic in 2019. 

Spotify Wrapped has change into a cultural phenomenon, producing social media buzz and person engagement on the finish of yearly. It has been touted as the corporate’s “largest advertising and marketing marketing campaign” and the “blueprint for contemporary advertising and marketing.”

By providing a extra frequent and personalised model of this idea, Apple Music goals to seize a bigger share of the market by offering a extra dynamic expertise for its customers.

Different music streaming companies that took notes from Spotify’s playbook embrace Tidal and YouTube Music, which additionally unveiled their year-end summaries in 2020 and 2021, respectively. In 2022, YouTube Music began providing a characteristic known as seasonal recaps as an enlargement to its Recap expertise.

Whereas options like Spotify Wrapped and Apple Music Replay provide a enjoyable and personalised take a look at customers’ listening habits, some critics have raised considerations concerning person information assortment and privateness.

“This can be a significantly shining instance of the truth that Spotify’s enterprise mannequin is predicated on surveillance,” Evan Greer, director of the digital rights advocacy group Combat for the Future, advised Wired in December 2022.

“Spotify has accomplished an incredible job of promoting surveillance as enjoyable and getting individuals to not solely take part in their very own surveillance, however have fun it and share it and brag about it to the world.” 

Music Enterprise Worldwide