Apple has significantly expanded its Apple Music subscription service to include thousands of high-quality music videos. The company has positioned Apple Music as the premier destination for music videos, securing exclusives from top artists like Beck and A Tribe Called Quest.
Apple is clearly committed to music videos, with the potential to challenge YouTube and VEVO as the go-to platform. Drawing from years of hands-on experience with streaming services, here's a practical guide to accessing music videos, building your own "Music TV" channels, and maximizing your Apple Music experience.
You can stream Apple Music's video catalog across compatible devices, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Macs, Windows PCs via iTunes, and the Android app.
To get started, navigate to the Glance tab and select the Music Videos section. You'll see new releases and exclusives at the top, followed by curated playlists, artist spotlights, and genre recommendations.
Apple Music handles videos just like audio tracks: add them to your library, download for offline viewing with the cloud download icon, and include them in playlists. How to get started with Apple Music playlists In this article, we explore how to create, populate, share, discover, and master Apple Music playlists. Read more.
While Apple Music's discovery features have room for improvement, music videos follow suit—no personalized suggestions appear in the For You tab based on my testing. You'll need to explore manually, though listening habits do influence some recommendations.
From extensive use across platforms, here are proven strategies to find videos matching your tastes. These work best on iTunes for Mac or Windows (how to make iTunes usable again), but apply everywhere:
Using these discovery methods, curate a personalized video library. The best way to enjoy it? Create a dedicated playlist—your custom music TV channel.
Create a new playlist, add videos, hit Shuffle, and play. Add on-the-fly or spend time browsing favorites. To avoid repetition (e.g., endless Kendrick Lamar), shuffle shared playlists after adding them to your library—use Cmd/Ctrl + Click for bulk selection.
Elevate it with a fun name and custom artwork. 3 Free Ways to Create a Logo Fast with Zero Effort If you lack design skills, free online tools make it simple. Read more. Finally, publish to your profile via Publish to profile and search for sharing.
While innovative, the service has quirks. On iTunes (Mac/Windows), videos sometimes fail to add to the specified playlist from right-click menus—a bug I've consistently encountered. Pausing briefly between adds resolves it, though Apple should fix this.
On Apple TV, press Menu to access song info, progress, and controls without pausing—swipe to skip tracks seamlessly.
Videos demand more storage and data than audio; plan accordingly for offline downloads or cellular streaming.
AirPlay users: iTunes skips video output to speakers, playing audio only. Disconnect for full video playback on your screen. The best AirPlay speakers you can buy right now More info.
Not for everyone, but videos add vibrant visuals for parties. Icons like OK Go and Radiohead elevate the format, from artistic masterpieces to live legends like A-ha's Take On Me.
Included at no extra cost with Apple Music, they offer ad-free, skippable playback—ideal for living rooms, especially on Apple TV.
Non-intrusive integration lets you opt in without disruption.
Apps, interfaces, and cross-device playback need refinement for seamless video support. A "Radio" mode for videos would automate Music TV—hopefully coming soon.
The catalog is solid but trails YouTube/VEVO in depth, especially for niche artists. Future growth should balance exclusives with backfills.
Older videos suffer compression artifacts and SD quality, unlike crisp new releases. Apple TV skips song announcements; swipe for info (track name only).
iTunes remains clunky for videos, tied to its outdated framework. A standalone Apple Music app or web version would transform it.
YouTube dominates due to vast choice, but Apple excels in curation. Enhanced automated discovery could rival traditional MTV. From MTV to YouTube: A Brief History of Music Videos Music videos evolved from elaborate films to personal clips. Read more.
Apple Music subscribers: Dive into the vault—especially with Apple TV—for endless enjoyment.
