Skip to main content

Concert overload? Apple Music’s new feature can help you choose

The Apple Music screen on the Apple iPhone 16 Plus.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

It’s a good time to have ears because there’s a lot of amazing music coming out all the time. Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter are churning out catchy earworms left and right. Old favorites like Linkin Park and Breaking Benjamin are making comebacks. If you’ve already had to choose between concerts this year, it was probably a tough choice — but Apple Music is introducing a new feature that might help you make your decision.

Apple Music will soon have a tool that musicians can use to create specific playlists based on the setlists of their current shows. If several concerts are happening at the same time, you’ll be able to look at the setlist and see what songs are being performed. If one artist is playing your favorite album and the other isn’t, well, it’s an easy choice.

Recommended Videos

And the even cooler part? If you link your account with Bandsintown, it will automatically sync upcoming show dates in your area. You’ll be able to see almost all of the concerts at a glance for the bands that opt-in.

Apple Music pricing September 2024.
Bryan M. Wolfe / Digital Trends

The setlist feature follows updates from earlier in the year, like the Apple Music Replay feature and new cover art templates, and even implements crossfade between songs. The music streaming service gets better with every update, and it’s even convinced a few diehard Spotify users to give it a shot.

The setlist feature is a great value proposition if you’re working with a limited budget, but it can also act as something of a spoiler. After all, if you know every song Fall Out Boy is going to play, you won’t be as surprised and happy to hear some old throwbacks.

Patrick Hearn
Patrick Hearn writes about smart home technology like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, smart light bulbs, and more. If it's a…
I’m saving for Apple’s game-changing 2027 products and you should, too
Apple Watch Series 7 sitting on top of an iPhone 13 Pro.

Apple makes terrific hardware, and serves an astoundingly refined software to go with it. The company, unfortunately, also follows a strategy where it repeats the same fundamental design and innovation stack for years. 

In a nutshell, you get to see a remarkably new hardware from Apple once or twice in a decade.  The year 2027 is shaping up to be one such year, and it seems buyers will be spoiled for choice with the sheer diversity of upgraded products in two years from now. 

Read more
3 things I want to see from the new Apple Health at WWDC 2025
A screen showing Apple Health info page

We’re entering a fairly crucial part of the year for Apple. Yes, it’s not the iPhone launch season, which is arguably still the most important part, but it is WWDC time, and it is a first look at the future of Apple’s ecosystem. 

With WWDC 2025 a month away, we haven’t heard much about what Apple has planned, but we know that the event will focus heavily on AI. There may be new hardware in the AirTag 2, but we will learn more about the future of Siri. It’s been a year since the new Siri was announced, but Apple has already confirmed that the features will take another year to roll out.

Read more
Spotify’s new Snooze feature lets you take a break from overplayed songs
An iPhone sitting on a bedside table with the Discover Weekly playlist on its screen.

Spotify is known for its best-in-class recommendations algorithm, but it also has a ton of features to keep users in control of their music. Yesterday, the company announced a couple of new buttons and settings that will make it even easier to keep your playlists as you want them -- including a new Snooze feature that gives you a 30-day break from songs you've been hearing too much.

As good as Spotify's algorithm is, we've all noticed those songs that get played three times in one day and keep popping back up for the rest of the week. With the new Snooze feature, Premium users can choose to take a break from songs they hear too often for a whole 30 days. During that time, it won't appear anywhere in your recommendations -- and with any luck, you'll be happy to hear it again when the 30 days are up. If not, you can just snooze it again.

Read more