Matteo Riva/Flickr

On Monday, April 26th, Apple Music launched a new venture called City Charts. It ranks the top 25 songs in over 100 cities worldwide. As well all know the only way Apple has tracked viewership of songs is through plays. This new feature will combine signs that show local popularity while taking still plays into consideration.

But honestly who’s listening to Apple Music? Since the inception of streaming music began, Apple has always felt a step behind. I still remember the days when iTunes dominated the way everyone bought and sold music. It honestly revolutionized how the music industry operates. This latest move does have the ability though to shine a light for local artists to get noticed and expand their fanbase.

Granville St. Vancouver – Dave L/Flickr

City Charts have more than 25 locations based in North America, including Los Angeles, Vancouver, Atlanta, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver, and San Juan, Puerto Rico to state a few. What does this mean for Vancouver you may ask? Well, Apple is going to create playlists revolving around select cities where fans can add their favorite City Chart, download them, and eventually share them with friends.

Through the browser and search pages, Apple Music users can access City charts while also having the ability to ask Siri to play your local chart. Have you ever wondered what music dominates certain areas? That will now be answered through this new venture by Apple. For new and upcoming artists in Vancouver and across the world now, they now have the ability to get their songs on one of these playlists. This may have the ability for everyone to showcase their music with a much larger audience.

Mark Yuen/Flickr

Now it shouldn’t be long till Spotify and other music streaming giants jump on board, but for Apple, the once-dominant music platform, they may have just started a very interesting social experiment. You may think in the southern states of America, country music may dominate, but what if it was rap? Or maybe in Vancouver indie rock may take the cake, but what if it was heavy metal?

City Charts by Apple Music will allow musicians, fans, and culture to play a part in what music we listen to. I for one will be waiting to see what music dominates Vancouver’s airwaves.