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GarageBand can now upload songs straight to Apple Music Connect

GarageBand can now upload songs straight to Apple Music Connect

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Apple is trying to make it easier for artists to go from creating a song to getting it in front of fans. It updated GarageBand this week to allow for tracks to be published from the app into Apple Music's Connect section, a social area that allows artists to post news, photos, and songs.

Getting on Connect still requires jumping through hoops

It's an interesting update, but it's not entirely clear how useful this will be. Musicians have to have a Connect account before they can publish into it, and having a Connect account still requires jumping through the hoops needed to get your music in iTunes. It's certainly doable for small artists, but it's not nearly as easy as throwing music up on Bandcamp or SoundCloud — two platforms that have proven to be excellent starting points for emerging artists. They're also much more shareable.

Nonetheless, Apple is very much trying to take back the crown for digital music, and part of that is appealing to small artists — or at least claiming to. More than likely, it'll be those small artists who are working in GarageBand (and are in the clear to publish whatever they'd like online). GarageBand is also far from a professional app, so this update is very much aimed at very small artists. Still, the update makes for a nice convenience. It's also potentially important for Apple, as it'd really like to get artists using Connect — if they don't, it's yet another social flop for Apple.

In addition to the Connect integration, Apple is also expanding the type of sounds GarageBand is geared toward. The update adds a huge library loops and synth patches for EDM and hip-hop, which is probably more along the lines of what people are making on their computers anyway. Force Touch control is also added in this latest update for people using new MacBooks.