Apple Music Renames 'The A-List: Alternative' Playlist to 'ALT CTRL' and Updates 'Essentials' With Cover Art Shot on iPhone

Friday August 2, 2019 8:06 AM PDT by Mitchel Broussard
Apple Music today released a new playlist called "ALT CTRL," which is a rebranded version of its previous "The A-List: Alternative" playlist. This list of songs includes alternative bands and is currently headlined by HAIM's new single, "Summer Girl" (via Billboard).


ALT CTRL's playlist art will showcase a new artist each week, starting with HAIM. The playlist includes artists like Twenty One Pilots, The Black Keys, Dominic Fike, Lana Del Rey, and Vampire Weekend.
"Alternative is more an attitude than a sound -- music that colors just a bit outside the lines. ALT CTRL, formerly known as The A-List: Alternative, is where you'll find the best of those new left-of-center tunes."
Apple has slowly been rebranding its "The A-List" playlists, which now also includes "The A-List: Hip-Hop" changing to "Rap Life" in July and "The A-List: Dance" changing to "danceXL" in March. Other playlists still categorized as "The A-List" include genres like Pop, Country, R&B, Christian, Classical, Bollywood, African, K-Pop, Telugu, Khaleeji, Mandopop, J-Pop, Russian Hip-Hop, and more.


Amid the ongoing rebranding of its A-List playlists, Apple has also updated a few "Essentials" playlists with new Shot on iPhone cover art. Artists include Lizzo; Travis Scott; Kacey Musgraves; Tyler, The Creator; Tierra Whack; IDLES; Leon Bridges; Skrillex; and CHAI.


Each playlist showcases an image of the artist shot on an iPhone on their tour, and some artist's profile images have also been updated with similar Shot on iPhone iconography, including Lizzo and Kacey Musgraves. Apple has highlighted a few artists in a similar fashion with its "Shot on iPhone on Tour" video series, including artists like Florence Welch and FKA Twigs.


‌Apple Music‌ has continued to grow over the years, and in June the streaming music service was reported to have just over 60 million paid subscribers. Earlier this week Spotify reported on its own paid subscriber count, which broke 108 million globally in Q2 2019.

Tag: Apple Music Guide
24 comments

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now i see it
16 weeks ago
all I see is
Control-Alt-Delete
Rating: 14 Votes
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dumastudetto
16 weeks ago
I renamed my Hard Rock playlist earlier to Rock. I felt it was a more honest representation of the works contained within it.
Rating: 5 Votes
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ocanalix
16 weeks ago
For independent artists and small labels having their songs added to Apple's "The A-List: Alternative" felt like an achievement – a meaningful chart/list of sorts. "ALT CNRL" honestly just sounds like some user-made playlist on Spotify. I'm feeling this change will have a negative effect on music press directing toward Apple Music. It's not a big deal, and it's super subtle, but honestly it makes a difference.
Rating: 4 Votes
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Mactendo
16 weeks ago
It should be named OPTION CTRL
Rating: 3 Votes
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jona2125
16 weeks ago

alt key has existed on the Mac since .... (don't really know, but for a very long time)



They started being labeled in the 90's and wasn't always consistent on what devices included it, it was just to allow simplicity when users transition between MacOS and Windows. They did remove the labeling from the latest keyboards however.

Mainly the comment was a joke that they would be adding a new key that would perform like the ALT key does which would be nice to have.
Rating: 2 Votes
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jona2125
16 weeks ago
Alt key coming to Mac 2020? Finally I can get MacOS to stop asking me "what key is this"
Rating: 1 Votes
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cuwickliffe
16 weeks ago
While renaming playlists may help with some of their appeal, I find changing the consistent naming of these will push these playlists out of focus and make them look like all the others ... it's difficult enough to find decent quality playlists and filter out genres you don't care about based on names and descriptions Apple Music presently uses.
Rating: 1 Votes
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lunarworks
16 weeks ago

Alt key coming to Mac 2020? Finally I can get MacOS to stop asking me "what key is this"

Rating: 1 Votes
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smirking
16 weeks ago
The irony here is that there technically is no "ALT" key on Apple keyboards. I guess CMD-CTRL sends the wrong message.
Rating: 1 Votes
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hagar
16 weeks ago
No link to the playlist in the article. I assume because that’s technically not possible. Apple Music often feels like a closed container. Joined playlists, sharing stuff, a social media aspect, links, push notifications, third party curators (which are no longer listed).... the service is ok, but there’s still so much missing.
Rating: 1 Votes
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