The short version: Apple Music doesn't have a playlist called Release Radar. New Music Mix is its closest equivalent for personalized new-release recommendations. Favorite artists for release notifications; use a separate tracker if you want an automatically updated playlist based on chosen artists and labels.
New Music Mix is Apple Music's personalized discovery playlist, refreshed every Friday with music from artists Apple thinks you'll like. A Friday refresh doesn't mean it's a complete list of releases from that day, or from the artists you've favorited.
The confusing bit is that Apple spreads the job across several features. Three of them have "New Music" somewhere in the name. They're answering different questions.
The closest Apple Music Release Radar equivalent
Start with the job you want done:
| What you want | Where to start | What you're getting |
|---|---|---|
| A personalized selection of recent music | New Music Mix | A selection refreshed every Friday |
| Songs you haven't played before | Discovery Station | An endless station built from your listening history |
| Apple's editorial picks | New Music Daily | One public playlist, the same for everyone |
| Alerts from particular artists | Artist favorites and New Music notifications | A notification, not a listening queue |
| New releases from chosen artists and labels, in one playlist | A release tracker such as Tracknack | A playlist that updates itself from your follows |
I'd start with the first row before installing anything. If a weekly skim does the job, you've already got it. If you're trying to keep up with every EP from a handful of labels, the last row is closer to the brief.
Where is New Music Mix?
Start in Apple Music's Home tab and look for your personalized mixes. Older guides call this tab Listen Now and place the mixes under Made for You; the section labels can vary by app version and platform.
Save anything you want to keep to your library or a separate playlist before Friday, because the mix gets replaced, not appended. Treat it as a queue to skim, then open the full release when a track catches you.
That last step is easy to skip. A good track from an EP is a reason to hear the EP. Letting a weekly playlist choose your one encounter with a record is a strange restriction to put on your listening.
For the rest of Apple's discovery features, I've covered how to find new music on Apple Music separately. This post is about the weekly-release setup.
Release Radar has limits too
Spotify's version isn't an exhaustive feed either. Release Radar pulls from followed artists, artists you listen to, and others Spotify thinks you'll like. Each listener gets one song per artist per week.
There's a less obvious rule that matters for DJs: Spotify includes remixes, but only if the artist you follow is billed as a main or featured artist on the track. A remixer credit alone doesn't count. Following someone because you love their remixes doesn't mean Release Radar will surface that work.
So the useful comparison isn't "Apple misses things and Spotify catches everything." Both playlists select. Neither should be your only record of what's come out. I've written up the Release Radar rules in more detail if you want the full list.
Discovery Station and New Music Daily
Discovery Station is the closer answer when someone asks about an Apple Music version of Discover Weekly. Apple uses your listening history and taste profile to recommend music you haven't played before. Apple's own iPhone guide puts it under Home, then Stations for You.
"Haven't heard" and "just released" are different filters. A record from years ago can be a great discovery this afternoon. It still won't tell you what your favorite artist released on Friday.
New Music Daily is Apple's editorial playlist. Use it to hear what the editors are pushing. Its public tracklist isn't a report on the artists you've favorited, and the similar name doesn't make it another version of New Music Mix.
Favorite the artist, then think about the label
To get alerts from an artist on iPhone or iPad:
- Open the artist's page in Apple Music and tap the Favorite star.
- Go to Settings → Notifications → Music and enable Allow Notifications.
- Open Music Notification Settings and turn on New Music.
The same toggle sits behind your profile picture inside the Music app, and Apple documents the steps for Android too.
Worth setting up. Some users on r/AppleMusic report missing alerts after favoriting artists and enabling notifications; others in the same discussion say they receive them. Those reports don't establish how often alerts fail. I'd check the artist's page when a release matters to me instead of treating silence as proof that nothing came out.
An alert and a maintained playlist also solve different problems. One tells you something happened. The other leaves you something to play.
Artist follows also have a specific scope. Burial's self-titled debut is on Hyperdub. His two-track Dreamfear / Boy Sent From Above EP came out on XL Recordings in 2024. A watchlist built around Burial should follow him across labels. A watchlist built around Hyperdub should also bring you artists who aren't Burial.
That's why I treat label tracking as its own choice. You're subscribing to someone's selection of records, including names you wouldn't have searched for yet.
Credits add another route. Four Tet, credited as Kieran Hebden, edited and arranged the 16 tracks on Madlib's Sound Ancestors from hundreds of recordings Madlib sent him over two years. Looking only for releases billed to Four Tet would give you no reason to open that Madlib album. If those connections are how you dig, following producers and songwriters deserves a place in your setup.
Give the releases somewhere to land
I built Tracknack for the part that keeps turning into admin: checking artists and labels, finding their new releases, and collecting something to listen to. You choose the follows, and Tracknack keeps a playlist on Apple Music or Spotify updated and can email you when it changes. Credits let it catch work that isn't billed under the main artist name.
That still depends on the credits available to Tracknack and whether the music is available on your streaming service. A missing credit can hide a connection, and a playlist can't include a record that isn't in the service's catalog. Treat it as a way to reduce the checking, not a guarantee of every release.
The setup is short. Connect Apple Music, pick the artists you want to track, then add labels whose releases you already buy or save. Keep the list small enough that you'll actually listen to what arrives.
I'd keep a separate playlist for records worth returning to. Skim New Music Mix for suggestions, check the release queue for your follows, and move the keepers across. Give Discovery Station the commute when you feel like wandering. Friday doesn't need to become a second inbox.
Common questions
Does Apple Music have a Release Radar?
No. Release Radar is a Spotify playlist. Apple Music's closest equivalent for personalized new-release recommendations is New Music Mix, refreshed every Friday. Both playlists select music rather than provide a complete release log. For an Apple Music playlist based on chosen artists and labels, a third-party release tracker is another option.
Where is New Music Mix on Apple Music?
Start in Apple Music's Home tab and look for personalized mixes. Older versions use the name Listen Now and the Made for You section; labels can vary by app version and platform. New Music Mix refreshes every Friday, so save tracks you want to keep to your library or another playlist.
Can I get personalized new releases on Apple Music?
Yes. New Music Mix offers personalized music recommendations every Friday. Favorite an artist and enable New Music notifications to receive release alerts. For an automatically updated Apple Music playlist based on chosen artists and labels, a release tracker such as Tracknack can collect releases it finds, subject to available metadata and catalog coverage.
Sources and notes
Sources reviewed on September 7, 2026. Apple Music's layout varies by app version and platform. Apple's recommendation example documents the Friday refresh.
- Apple Developer: Get Multiple Recommendations - the example response names New Music Mix and describes recommendations from artists you might like, refreshed every Friday
- Apple Support: Find new music with Apple Music on iPhone - Discovery Station under Home, then Stations for You, and the in-app notification toggle
- Apple Support: How to add and find favorites in Apple Music - favoriting artists and New Music notification settings on iPhone, iPad, and Android
- r/AppleMusic: Is there a way to get notified when an artist you like drops new music? - anecdotal reports of both missed and received alerts, not a measurement of reliability
- Spotify for Artists: Getting music on Release Radar - selection sources, the one-song-per-artist limit, and remixer eligibility
- Apple Music: New Music Daily - the editorial playlist
- Hyperdub: Burial and XL Recordings: Dreamfear / Boy Sent From Above - the two label examples
- Madlib Invazion: Sound Ancestors - Kieran Hebden's role on the 16-track album
