Yesterday, MBW broke the news that Apple is launching a new global division to work more directly with publishers and songwriters across the music business.
Today, we can reveal that Apple Music is launching another new worldwide department – one which might ignite slightly less industry chatter, but which could prove even more important.
A transformation is coming to the way that Apple reports streaming data – both to the industry and to the public via its charts.
The move appears to be yet another shake-up taking place under new Apple Music global boss, Oliver Schusser.
According to a freshly-posted Apple Music job ad, the platform is building out an entirely new worldwide team to ‘enable data-driven conversations between Apple, labels, artists and the broader industry’.
Charts will, unsurprisingly, be a major focus of this new team.
The job ad reveals that the successful candidate will ‘define and drive a clear strategy for Apple Music charts, including official charts for music and podcasts’.
The role, for a Charts & Market Analytics Manager based in Culver City (LA), explains that Apple is looking for someone to ‘define a common set of metrics and data methodologies between Apple and the broader music industry’.
As such, Apple is establishing ‘a new, global team to work directly with the broader music industry to link data with action’ which, it says, will lead to ‘a clear music industry business strategy for Apple Music data products’.
The music business has long used Apple’s iTunes download charts as a key barometer of success. Yet it’s fair to say that, in recent years, Spotify‘s global and territorial streaming charts have become a more frequent point of reference for labels and artists than Apple Music’s equivalents.
Apple clearly wants to change that.
The company launched its new artist-facing portal, Apple Music for Artists, in March – providing richer behind-the-scenes data to talent and managers.
Apple Music’s new charts-focused division appears to be a continuation of Apple’s growing willingness to share this information with its industry partners.
(A quick, scores-on-the-doors reminder: Spotify currently has over 75m paying subscribers worldwide; Apple Music has over 50m subscribers, but around 8m of them are on free trials.)
Apple’s new Charts Manager will apparently build ‘strategic relationships with chart partners around the world, researching and understanding the industry chart rules and logic, and working to… develop innovative and dynamic internal Apple Music charts’.
Their mission will include ‘meeting directly with music labels and chart partners to identify ways to improve Apple Music reporting’, in addition to ‘implementing a cohesive charts and label data strategy and enabling effective, data-driven conversations with labels and artists’.
Apple’s new music publishing division, meanwhile, is headed up by Elena Segal.
With the job title of Apple Music’s Global Director of Music Publishing, Segal oversees sub-divisions including Operations, Commercial, Publisher Relations and A&R.
The latter function, MBW is told, will not directly sign songwriters, but will work with industry partners to develop key talents.Music Business Worldwide
