2022 was the first year Apple Music offered a spatial audio feature that gives listeners a surround sound experience.
Just over a year after launch, over 80% of the platform’s global subscribers have taken advantage of this feature.
“With Spatial Audio, Apple Music sets a new quality standard for music streaming, giving fans a deeper and more immersive experience than ever before,” Apple said in a Tuesday (January 10) release, adding that Spatial Audio Monthly plays on Audio surged by over 1,000% in 2022.
Apple Music made Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos support free to all subscribers in June 2021.
Spatial Audio allows users to hear three-dimensional audio, making music more multi-dimensional than traditional stereo.
Apple makes live performances readily available on-demand and provides immersive spatial audio after each broadcast. Subscribers can hear live performances on Spatial Audio by artists such as Harry Styles, Lil Durk, Mary J. Blige, Billie Eilish, Luke Combs, Wizkid, Alicia Keys and more.
When Apple announced Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos in 2021, Oliver Schusser, vice president of Apple Music and Beats, said:
“Listening to a song with Dolby Atmos is magical. The music comes from all around you and sounds incredible.”
In 2019, Dolby collaborated with Universal Music Group to develop Dolby Atmos Music, bringing an immersive musical experience to artists and fans around the world. Artists and producers were able to create his three-dimensional soundscapes in an object-based mixing environment.
And in October 2022, Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos will be available in cars for the first time through a partnership with automotive giant Mercedes-Benz.
Sir Lucien Grainge, Chairman and CEO of UMG at the time, said of the partnership: their creative expression”.
Grainge told staff in his New Year’s note this week that developing immersive or spatial audio is part of UMG’s mission to “promote a healthy, sustainable and exciting music ecosystem.”
“Seven years ago, we embarked on a journey to evolve the music-listening experience. can develop new formats that offer a broader creative palette to express themselves. Inside letters.
The UMG boss stressed that spatial audio could be one of the most important developments in decades in the recorded music listening experience.
Grainge said nearly half of UMG’s streaming consumption and 80% of music from the label’s top 50 streaming artists are available in immersive (or Atmos) versions to date.
“Apple Music, Tidal, amazon music— offering music fans, the beneficiaries of immersive audio, this far superior experience. Millions of them around the world. And they simply can’t get enough,” continued Grainge.
Apple has not disclosed the actual number of subscribers who listened to Spatial Audio in 2022, nor does it say what the number of subscribers will be in 2022.
However, although Apple Music has increased subscription prices in the US and UK from $9.99/$9.99 to $10.99 or £10.99 in late 2022, the platform still charges subscribers for spatial or lossless audio. is not charged.
In contrast, Amazon Music also offers songs in HD and Ultra HD via a higher subscription tier called Amazon Music Unlimited. Prime members are $8.99/month and non-Prime members are $9.99/month.
Spotify, meanwhile, has yet to roll out its long-promised Premium tier called Spotify HiFi.
Spotify announced in February 2021 that the new tier would deliver music in CD quality. The company has yet to follow up on that announcement. However, in October 2022, 9to5 mac Spotify is reportedly considering a $19.99 per month platinum plan. This includes features such as lossless audio quality.
A premium subscription is just $9.99/month in the US.
The rollout of high-quality music services on major streaming platforms such as Apple Music, Amazon Music and Spotify could make digital streaming more attractive to listeners and artists. Sound quality for playing music.
Young removed the music from the streaming service in 2015, not because of the income from streaming, but because of what he described as “the worst quality in broadcast history.”
“My music should not be devalued by the worst quality in the history of broadcast or other distribution. is,” Young said in a Facebook post at the time.
“I’ll take another look when the quality returns. Never say never.”
global music business
