You can find new music on the Apple Music Discovery Station, which gives you a tailored playlist to suggest new artists and jams you’ve never heard before but should like based on your personal musical tastes.
Personalized recommendations have long been a reason people cite for sticking with Spotify over Apple Music. But you can add the Discovery Station to my list of eight reasons you should make the switch. Apple Music offers personalized music picks, too, and the system works great.
I’ll show you where to find Apple Music’s Discovery Station and how to make the most of it.
Find new music with the Apple Music Discovery Station
With streaming services putting so many songs at our fingertips, and terrestrial radio slipping into utter meaninglessness, it can be difficult to find new music. Spotify made a name for itself with its highly regarded recommendations algorithm, which many listeners love due to its uncanny knack for turning them on to music they never would have heard otherwise.
Well, Apple wants in on the music-recommendation action. The Discovery Station appeared in the Apple Music app last year with no fanfare. To use it and start discovering new music, you do, naturally, need a subscription to Apple Music. (If you don’t currently pay for it, you can sign up here with our affiliate link.)
Table of contents: Find new music with the Apple Music Discovery Station
- Open the Apple Music app
- Scroll down and tap Discovery Station
- Add songs you like to your Apple Music library
1. Open the Apple Music app
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Ready to find new music you’ll like on Apple Music? First, open the Music app, and go to the Home tab if it doesn’t open there. Then, you need to scroll down until you get to the Stations for You section.
2. Scroll down and tap Discovery Station in the Apple Music app
Under Stations for You, next to “[Your name]’s Station,” tap on Discovery Station. It’ll instantly queue up an infinite playlist of music.
Shortly after I first heard about this new feature, I was in the car with my wife. I told her about it and we put the new Discovery Station on. The first song was a miss, but the second track she instantly fell in love with.
I’m a little more picky about how I listen to music, but I gave it a shot nonetheless. The first handful of songs were alternate versions of songs I already have in my library — a side effect of ripping and importing my own music rather than adding it through Apple Music. After that, though, the Discovery Station recommended some good tunes.
3. Add songs you like to your Apple Music library
If you find something you like while using the Discovery Station, you can easily add it to your Apple Music library. Just tap the ⋯ button at the top of the Now Playing screen, then tap Add to Library. If you want to know more about the artist who recorded the song, or the album the track’s from, you can tap Go To Artist or Go To Album.
To improve the Apple Music algorithm over time, tap Love or Suggest Less to play more or less of that type of music. Discovery Station’s recommendations should only get better the more you use this feature.
We originally published this post on how to find new music using the Apple Music Discovery Station on August 31, 2023. We updated the information.
