I later found out that you cannot remove your profile photo, even upon request. Nor can I replace it with something other than my face.
Can’t say I’m a fan of that policy, for privacy reasons.
It also seems wrong for artistic reasons. Unsurprisingly Daft Punk seems to be an exception to this rule. I guess they were lucky enough to start the anonymous artist thing and become famous before Apple decided you're not allowed to do that on their platform.
And what about music projects that aren't necessarily a concrete band but a revolving crew of people that could come and go at any time? It seems simple and limiting to act like all music should have one or more human faces attached to it.
I can't see Apple getting away with similar rules to passport photos or police mug shots.