Apple users get new ways to find music venues, tours

Apple has launched a pair of complementary features for its Maps and Music apps to provide music lovers with expanded information on concert venues and live performances, the Cupertino company announced Tuesday, May 16.

The Apple Music Guides feature, added to Apple Maps, will include a guidebook-style listing of more than 40 performance venues in more than 10 major cities worldwide. San Francisco is among the first cities to be added to the list, along with Chicago, New York, Paris, London, Tokyo and Mexico City.

On Apple Music, meanwhile, a new Set Lists feature will provide details about tour dates and set lists of popular artists. The initial rollout promises tour information on such artists as Sam Smith, Blackpink, Peso Pluma and Blink-182.

Both features will allow users to launch the concert discovery module recently added to Shazam, the songidentifying app owned by Apple.

The company’s Music Guides, curated by editors from across the globe, promise to encompass a wide range of genres, including classical, pop, techno and more. They will include lists of venues under such headings as “Where to Dance All Night in London,” “Explore Chicago’s Alternative Scene” and “Explore Sydney’s Colorful Queer Spaces,” as well as a collection of California’s classical venues that includes Davies Symphony Hall and the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco.

The move comes on the heels of the introduction of Apple Music Classical, the company’s new streaming service tailored to classical music listeners. That app addresses the problems of organizing the distinctively broad and fluid categories that are specific to classical music, making it an awkward fit for most music software conceived on the model of pop music.

Apple New features have been added to Apple’s Maps and Music apps to help users track live performances.