November 9, 2010
iTunes 10: Ping
In early September, the newest version of iTunes 10 launched along with a new social media music feature called “Ping” that has been described as Facebook meets Twitter for music. Ping allows iTunes users to follow artists or friends to find out what they are listening to. Users are able to customize song and album charts, news feeds, and thousands of concert listings.
iTunes has reached some very impressive numbers as the most used music source in the world; more than 11.7 billion songs have been downloaded through iTunes, 450 million TV episodes and 100 million movies have been sold through Apple’s music software, while 35 million books have been downloaded through the iBooks store. With these numbers steadily growing Ping has also been flourishing for the past two months with already millions of users. The shocker is that there are only 2,000 artists available through the entire social media outlet. Why is that?
It is noticeable that big acts have been prevalent throughout the site but there is a lack in smaller indie bands do to the unclear method of getting their name on the site. Due to a vigorous quality control process iTunes abides by that every artists page belongs to the actual artists or a representative. The scrutinizing process can be a long one for artists while waiting for approval. Apple has recently published a guide for bands to help with the sign up process to get more bands on the site, this will in turn increase the amount of artists fans can interact with to virtually grow the site. Another helpful ploy in the works is linking Ping to Facebook which would certainly increase the number of fans and also encourage those to use the site.
As the amount of artists grows, the more users will be able to connect with their favorite bands and learn about new ones. This could be a great opportunity for smaller bands to get noticed and recognized throughout the iTunes community. Have you been following your favorite artists lately?
