Many classical music lovers are musicians themselves and have an ear for precision. For this reason, it can be a little irritating when you can’t put your finger on it, but you know your favorite sonata just sounds better live.
While streaming is a great way to make classical music accessible, it’s definitely a challenge to find quality options that don’t dull down the classical music experience. Unfortunately, there are only a few places to stream high quality classical music on the internet.
Thankfully, Apple is taking on the challenge of bringing high quality classical music to the mainstream.
Apple Acquires Primephonic
In 2019, Midia Research released a study touting classical music as the next big streaming genre. In North America, research indicates that streaming counted for $ 89 million of $ 146 million, or 60% worth of revenue.
With this in mind, it's no wonder that Apple acquired Primephonic, a listening app known for its core focus on classical music. Launched in 2014 with a strong existing fan base, its acquisition sent shockwaves throughout the classical music listening community.
Primephonic is renowned for its exclusive audio content, refined browsing features, search capabilities, and detailed metadata.
While at first glance, it may appear that the acquisition was made with the intent to only integrate Primephonic's best features into Apple Music, you're in for a surprise. Apple is actually taking its commitment to classical music seriously by launching a standalone app too.
Apple Plans to Launch a Standalone Classical Music App
In 2022, Apple Music will release a standalone classical music app that will combine the Primephonic penchant for quality curation with its high quality streaming options.
One of the key features from the acquisition that we hope Apple Music will adapt is the Primephonic curated listening experience. With AppStories+, Primephonic combines music, podcasts, and written content like articles.
Aside from this, classical music artists can hope for better pay with the acquisition. Primephone reportedly spends 60% of its net revenue into a payment pot for its various artists and right holders.
While users of Primephonic will not be able to use the current app after September 7, they will get both a pro-rated refund and a code for six months of Apple Music for free.
Making Classical Music Accessible
In many ways, Primephonic fills in several gaps in Apple Music’s existing listening experiences. With its acquisition, we can expect not only improvements in the catalog, but also in the quality of its overall curation.
In fact, with Apple’s blessing, Primephonic will no doubt reach its initial mission of sharing classical music to the world. If done right, it’s a win-win situation for everyone, especially classical music lovers.