We know that the magic of music is not measured in the extent of the selection, but in those who are selecting it. Now you are part of Apple Music - a home for your brand where you can broadcast your message and create connections with fans, artists, and the music they love.
This guide will help you understand the necessary components required for creating a profile as an External Curator. It will also help you stay on track with making playlists, sharing playlists and how to use Connect with your External Curator account.
Art Best Practices
Cover Art
When you submit a Curator Playlist to Apple Music, you will also need to supply Cover Art to represent it.
Cover Art Specifications
Minimum Dimensions: 3000 x 3000 pixels
Resolution: 72 dpi minimum
File Format: PNG (no transparency)
Color Space: RGB
Tips for Creating Cover Art
Design your Cover Art to be representative of the playlist’s title/description. Consider imagery that visually represents the listening experience of the playlist.
Make sure text is legible and images are easy to discern, considering the range of sizes in which the art will appear in the application.
For a Dynamic Playlist, consider creating a series of covers that can be updated when the songs are updated. The covers should be easily identified as being part of a series.
Things to Avoid
Don’t use photography if you do not own the rights to it. Please ensure all images have model releases or appropriate licensing where needed.
Don’t include third-party trademarks without authorization or usage rights.
Don’t incorporate explicit references to racism, misogyny, homophobia, illegal activities, or sexual imagery/pornography.
Don’t use the Apple logo, Apple Music logo, images of Apple products, or the term “Exclusive” without prior authorization from Apple.
Don’t use the San Francisco or Myriad Set font families.
Don’t use design elements that attempt to look like Apple Music UI buttons or other interaction elements.
Don't repurpose cover art from the artists featured in your playlist, or manually recreate a 2x2 square grid of album covers. If no cover art is uploaded, the 2x2 grid will show by default.
Banner Art
Banner Art will always be used in conjunction with your Brand Logo throughout Apple Music. Follow these guidelines and use the downloadable Banner Art PSD Template to ensure your banner displays correctly on all devices.
Banner Art Specifications
Size: 4320 x 1080 pixels
Resolution: 72 dpi minimum
File Format: RGB PNG with no alpha support
Guidelines for Banner Art
Banner Art can help convey the mood and feel of your brand. Use art that features textures and photography that accompany your Brand Logo to add atmosphere.
Start by placing your artwork in the layer group named Your Banner Art Here.
Keep the important elements of the Banner Art in the Green Safe Area to ensure they’ll display unimpaired in the user interface.
Fill the entire template with artwork or photography to each of the edges.
Don’t include text or logos. Your brand logo will always accompany your Banner Art.
Don’t use the Apple logo, or any of its affiliated services or products.
Banner Art PSD Template
PSD Template
Download and use the Photoshop template to design your banner art.
Green Safe Area. This is the focus of your art. Keep faces and other important elements in the green area.
Preview Final Brand Logo Here. Use this Smart Object layer to view your logo in a circular crop laid over your Banner Art.
Your Banner Art Here. This layer group is for artwork and should be added according to the guidelines outlined next.
Using the Template and Delivering Your Files
In Photoshop, double-click the thumbnail for the layer named Preview Final Brand Logo Here. This will open the Smart Object in a new PSD file.
In the Layers Palette, place your final Brand Logo immediately above the layer named Place Brand Logo Just Above This Layer. Save the file, and then close it.
Return to your Banner Art Photoshop file to see your Brand Logo laid-out on top of the Banner Art in a circular crop.
The two pieces of artwork should work well together. Don’t use redundant elements, such as using the same background colors. Ensure the edges of the Brand Logo are easily identifiable.
When the layout is complete, turn off the layers for Green Safe Area and Preview Final Brand Logo Here.
Export your Banner Art artwork out as a PNG with no transparency. Deliver the final PSD and the PNG to Apple.
Brand Logo
The Brand Logo is used to represent your brand identity across Apple Music. It may be surfaced on its own, or placed over the top of Banner Art, which is a separate deliverable. The logo may be cropped into a square or circle. To ensure your logo displays correctly in all scenarios, refer to the circular safe area in the downloadable PSD template.
Brand Logo Specifications
Size: 1080 x 1080 pixels
Resolution: 72 dpi minimum
File Format: RGB PNG with no alpha support
Guidelines for Brand Logos
Use only a single, main graphic element.
Use a simple, single color background.
If your logo consists of a graphic element and typography, use the graphic element only. The full brand name is displayed in the user interface.
Don’t use excessive visual effects such as glows, shadows, etc.
Don’t include secondary text/taglines, ™ or ® symbols.
Don’t crop edges of important elements, or place them outside of the safe areas.
Don’t use the Apple logo, or any of its affiliated services or products in your artwork.
Brand Logo PSD Template
PSD Template
Download and use the Photoshop template to design your Brand Logo art.
Safe Areas. This layer group contains the Horizontal Safe Area and Vertical Safe Area to guide the sizing of your logo.
Circle Mask Preview. This is used to view your Brand Logo in a potential circular crop.
Your Brand Logo Artwork Here. This layer group should contain your logo.
Single Color - Brand Logo Background. This layer is the background color required to accompany your logo. This may be any single color, but don’t use any gradients or visual effects.
Using the Template and Delivering Your Files
Add your logo to the template in the layer folder Your Brand Logo Artwork Here.
Your logo should be as large as possible, but entirely within either the blue Horizontal Safe Area or the green Vertical Safe Area, whichever one it reaches first.
Using the layer Single Color - Brand Logo Background, select a fitting color for the background of your logo. Double-click the layer thumbnail to choose a new color from the color picker.
Use the Circle Mask Preview layer to see your logo cropped into a circular mask.
When the design is complete, turn off both the layer groups for Safe Areas and Circle Mask Preview.
Export your Brand Logo artwork out as a PNG with no transparency. Deliver the final PSD and the PNG to Apple.
Playlist Best Practices
Requirements
Minimum Requirements
Must manage an Apple Music Curator profile from Playlist Creator on the web. You are not able to manage your profile from Apple Music on MacOS or Apple Music on iOS.
Users can only be managed with Playlist Creator on the web.
Ideation and Creation of Playlists
Maintain at least five playlists and one dynamic playlist, i.e. Top 25 Songs of the Week.
Playlist length: 15-50 songs.
Each playlist needs a single theme that pulls the songs together.
Pick playlist themes that feel authentic to your brand and voice.
Stay away from playlists that are relevant for a short time. Your playlists should be evergreen.
Think of each playlist as a listening experience, not just a list of songs.
Lead with a breakout hit or a big song to grab the listener’s attention.
If your playlist is dynamic, be consistent with updates (update every Friday for example).
Give us notice about upcoming events or editorial pieces so we can maximize their impact within Apple Music.
Title Tips
Don’t type titles in all caps.
Don’t use “Mix” in titles — these are playlists.
Titles should not exceed 30 characters.
Don’t put your name or other artist names in the title. Your profile lets the listener know who you are.
Titles should grab people's attention and be intuitive at a glance. They should clearly communicate what the playlist contains.
Series titles should be formatted as follows:
“Vol. 1” e.g. “Best of Thrash Metal, Vol. 1”
Make titles and descriptions last forever:
Correct:
Dance All Day
Incorrect:
Favorite Dance Hits of Week 32
Description Tips
All text should be written in complete sentences.
Don’t use all caps, ampersands, or exclamation points.
Genre names should not be capitalized, unless they’re in titles.
Don’t include artist names.
Descriptions should not exceed 65 characters.
Dates: Use April 1, not April 1st.
Years: Use full years every time, for example 1987, not ’87.
Decades: On first mention use 19XX or 20XX and from then on simply XXs. For example, 1990's on first use and ‘90s from then on is acceptable. Also, use ‘00s, not 00’s.
Apple Music Franchises
Expert curation is at the heart of Apple Music, and our editors obsess over crafting playlists that help guide listener discovery. In order to keep our branded playlists consistent for our members, please do not duplicate the name or concept of the Apple Music editor franchises listed below.
Behind the Boards: [Artist]. This playlist focuses on the producers; its songs are all produced by the same individual. For example, “Behind the Boards: Dr. Dre” features songs Dre produced for N.W.A, Snoop Dog, Eminem, and others.
Guest List: [Artist]. A playlist of songs that focuses on the collaborations of a central featured artist. For example, “Guest List: Kanye West” features “Run This Town” (by Jay Z), “Forever” (by Drake), and “E.T.” (by Katy Perry) — all featuring Kanye West.
[Artist] Influences. A playlist of songs that influenced an artist.
Inspired by [Artist]. Songs by an artist that have been influenced by another artist, album, or song.
[Artist] Essentials. These playlists give a comprehensive overview of a single artist—designed to best exemplify and articulate who an artist is and what listeners love about them. These work both as an introduction for newcomers and a great listening experience for established fans.
[Artist] Next Steps. This playlist is curated to take listeners beyond the Essentials. These tracks offer a deeper exploration of an artist's sound.
[Artist] Deep Cuts. Going beyond an artists Essentials and Next Steps, Deep Cuts shines a light on the deepest corners of an artist's catalog. This is a collection is likely to include key B-sides and rarities that may be unfamiliar to many fans.
Songbook: [Artist]. This playlists emphasizes an artist's songwriting legacy beyond their own work. For example, “Songbook: The Dream” features songs he wrote for Rihanna, Beyoncé, and Justin Bieber.
In the Mix: [Artist]. A playlist of songs that are all remixed by one artist. For example, “In the Mix: DFA and James Murphy” features remixes of M.I.A., Gorillaz, and Le Tigre by DFA and James Murphy.
Family Tree: [Artist]. A playlist of songs by solo artists that were in a band together. For example, “Family Tree: Roxy Music” features songs by Bryan Ferry, Brian Eno, and other band members.
If You Like… [Artist] Anchored by a particular genre or musical movement, this playlist offers next steps for discovery, for example If You Like… Lana Del Rey.
The Evolution of: [Genre]. Songs that help to shape the progression of a genre or cultural movement, for example The Evolution of Black Music, and The Evolution of Brazilian Music.
[Artist] Remixed. Songs by one artist remixed by others.
Partners in Rhyme: [Artist] & [Artist]. Compilation of songs featuring two prominent hip-hop MCs.
[Artist] Live. The best and most memorable live concert recordings by an artist.
[Artist] Love Songs. Romantic songs and ballads by an artist.
Apple Music Activities and Moods
Apple Music has created playlists around the below activities and moods. It can be useful to build playlists around these themes.
Chill
Decades
Focus
Motivation
Party
Romance
Sad
Weekend
Workout
Marketing Your Playlists
To help you reach more listeners, you can embed playlists on your website and in articles. Use Apple Music Marketing Tools to easily create embeddable streaming players that provide thirty second song previews, and a direct link to listen to the full playlist in Apple Music.
To generate a playlist embed code for your playlist:
Go to the Library page in Apple Music and select a playlist from your Managed Playlists.
Click the blue ellipsis […] at the top-right, select Share Playlist, then select Copy Link. This will copy the link to the playlist to your clipboard.
Click Manage Users. If you manage more than one curator profile, you can switch between profiles from the menu in the upper-right corner.
Click the (+) icon and enter the new user’s name and Apple ID.
Click Invite User to send them an invitation to join the curator profile.
Accepting Your Invitation
If you have been invited to be a user of a curator profile in Playlist Creator, you will receive an email inviting you to access the page.
Click the Accept Invitation link in your email to accept, and sign in to Playlist Creator using your Apple ID. If you do not have an Apple ID, or you would like to register the email address that received your invite as an Apple ID, you can create one.
If you were invited to access a curator profile but have not received the invitation email, check the junk or spam folder in your email inbox. For additional assistance, the Admin of the curator profile that invited you can contact us.
Click Manage Users. If you manage more than one curator profile, you can switch between profiles from the menu in the upper-right corner.
Click the trashcan icon next to the user you want to remove and click Delete. You may also use the magnifying glass to search for the user you’d like to delete.
Managing Playlists in Playlist Creator
Follow these steps to manage your playlists in Playlist Creator.
Click Add Artwork to choose custom cover art. Note: You must own the rights to any uploaded photo. If you don’t have any cover art, we’ll automatically generate it. For more information on art guidelines, see Cover Art.
You can either add individual songs from Apple Music to your playlist, or import an existing Apple Music Playlist. To add individual songs:
Use the search bar on the left find and add songs to your playlist from Apple Music.
Click the (+) icon next to the song you want to add to your playlist.
Remove any song from your playlist by clicking the trashcan icon.
To import an Apple Music playlist:
Click the ellipsis in the upper-right corner and select Import Playlist from Apple Music. To find the link to an Apple Music playlist, go to the playlist you want to use in Apple Music (this may be an Apple Music playlist, or a personal playlist in your Library). Click the ellipsis, select Share, then select Copy Link.
Enter the Apple Music link for the playlist you want to import and click Import.
The tracks from your Apple Music playlist will now appear in your curator playlist.
Click Save at any point during the playlist creation process to save your progress.
To publish your playlist to Apple Music, set the visibility toggle to Publish. If you no longer want a playlist visible on your Apple Music profile, set the visibility toggle to Unpublish.
Edit a playlist at any time by selecting the playlist from the Published or Unpublished section and clicking Edit Playlist. Be sure to save your changes.
Reordering Published Playlists
To update the order of your published playlists as they appear in Apple Music:
Click the ellipsis menu that appears on right side of the Published Playlists section.
Click Reorder.
Reorder your playlists by dragging and dropping the playlists in the order you wish to have them appear. You can also click the Sort By menu to order your playlists alphabetically, by Date Published, Date Modified, or Date Created.
Click Apply Changes.
Deleting Playlists
When you delete a playlist from your curator profile, there is no way to reverse this action. Additionally, any user that has already subscribed to the playlist will continue to see the playlist in their Library.
To delete a playlist:
Sign in to Playlist Creator. If you manage more than one curator profile, you can switch between profiles from the menu in the upper-right corner.
Select your playlist from the list of Published or Unpublished playlists.
At the bottom-right corner of the selected playlist, click the red ellipsis.
