Apple has been silently working on customizing artwork for their Apple Music playlists. The report was published by The Verge which stated about the company’s plans to redesign the music artworks to give a better representation and some personality. In an interview with The Verge, Rachel Newman Apple’s global director of editorial give his reviews:
“The artwork is meant to connect more directly with the communities and the culture for which they were intended. In many ways, it’s a visual representation of the music that you will find inside that playlist”
Earlier the Apple Music Playlist had a really simple and uniform artwork but did not stand out. While Apple is not currently a record label but this move shows that they are serious about the music. Last summer season the Apple Music surpassed Spotify in North America in the number of subscribers. So this might be an effort to get better recognition than Spotify worldwide.
Apple is working with every artist from the designer of the iconic AC/DC logo to the person who designed the art for Migos’ chart-topping album Culture to make it happen. They have released a couple of hundreds already which you can experience, there is still a huge lot left which will gradually be updated this year.
Gerard Huerta, a huge name in the industry who created the iconic AC/DC logo and made the new artwork for Classic Metal and The Riff is also working with the company. He discussed the project in an email to The Verge.
“The inspiration was really stepping back to a time when I created these old pieces. They come out of drawing, not typefaces or fonts,” Huerta said. “You look at what is unique to the letterforms presented and just begin moving the pencil around. As always in logo design, you want to create a lock-up that is unique in its form and has a feel for the emotion you are trying to get across. I will have to say I referenced my old work.”
Stole “Moab” Stojmenov, the creator behind Migos’ album Culture, offered similar comments. He worked on the Hip Hop Hits playlist artwork.
“Giving a shape and an image to music is never an easy process,” he told The Verge. “My style and my creative process have been always characterized by a significant presence of symbology and very powerful images, in addition to a very minimal and simple design. I think this project was somehow a bit different, but it also gave me the chance to create a real manifesto of my style.”
Several other big names in the industry are also working on this project like Carlos Perez — who directed the video for “Despacito,” which earned 1 billion views on YouTube in fewer than 100 days. Apple is aiming for something big in the music industry and is using artwork to make an impact.
We all know streaming services like Netflix and Spotify are the main platform today for all the content creators. The content is what matters the most but this can be a good marketing strategy to get more subscribers by offering them as high value as possible and enhancing their user experience.