There’s no shortage of music-focused apps on the App Store, but one that’s long stood out among my favorites is MusicHarbor. Now, as part of a big version 5.0 update, the app supports a feature that Apple Music should have added years ago: news integration. Here’s why I think Apple News integration would be a perfect addition to not only the Music app but also TV, Books, and more.
MusicHarbor shows how seamlessly news could fit into Apple Music and more
John Voorhees writes at MacStories:
My favorite new section of MusicHarbor is News, which pulls articles about the artists you follow from a dozen sources. It’s an excellent set of publications that includes chorus.fm, NPR Music, Pitchfork, and others. If there are any feeds among those listed that you don’t like, though, you can turn individual publications off, so they won’t appear in the app.
Apple Music should absolutely follow MusicHarbor’s example.
Reading news about your favorite artists makes a ton of sense inside the Music app, especially if it’s tastefully done by Apple.
For example, I wouldn’t want news about artists I don’t care about to clog up my Music app.
But relevant stories? Absolutely.
From MusicHarbor’s release notes: “you’ll only see updates from the artists you follow.”
Apple could easily add a section to every artist page in Apple Music where stories from Apple News are populated. The best, most relevant stories for your favorite artists could also be integrated into the Home tab.
The company already offers Apple News integration like this in two apps—Stocks and Weather—so bringing something similar to Music likely wouldn’t be a huge resource lift.
And why stop there? I’d love to see relevant Apple News articles surfaced not only in Music, but also the Apple TV app and more.
Integrating Apple News can boost user retention and attention
One of the biggest struggles streaming services face is the constant battle for users’ attention.
Apps like Netflix and Disney+ want to be sticky, meaning they keep you coming back over and over.
If every show and movie in the Apple TV app highlighted quality articles from Apple News about that content, that would be a great reason to keep users opening the app more often.
The same principle applies not just to TV, and Music, but Apple Books and Apple Podcasts too.
Apple has a powerful tool in Apple News that would be, I’d guess, not too challenging to integrate with its media apps. Why hasn’t it done so?
Would you want Apple News articles in Apple’s media apps? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments.
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