In what appears to be a move to expand Apple Music, Cupertino-based tech giant Apple has acquired Primephonic, an Amsterdam-based premium classical music streaming service.
Consequently, Primephonic will be taken offline on September 7. Meanwhile, current Primephonic subscribers will receive six months of Apple Music for free, providing access to hundreds of thousands of classical albums.
“We love and have a deep respect for classical music, and Primephonic has become a fan favorite for classical enthusiasts,” said Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats.
Apple has acquired more than 100 companies over the last six years. Notable music company acquisitions include Beats for $3B in 2014 and Shazam for $400M in 2017.
Dedicated classical music app
With the addition of Primephonic, Apple Music subscribers will get an improved classical music experience beginning with Primephonic playlists and exclusive audio content.
Apple Music also plans to launch a dedicated classical music app next year combining Primephonic’s classical user interface.
“Bringing the best of Primephonic to Apple Music subscribers is a tremendous development for the classical music industry,” said Thomas Steffens, Primephonic’s co-founder, and CEO.
“Artists love the Primephonic service and what we’ve done in classical, and now we have the ability to join with Apple to deliver the absolute best experience to millions of listeners. We get to bring classical music to the mainstream and connect a new generation of musicians with the next generation of audience,” he added.
In the upcoming months, Apple Music Classical fans will get dedicated features including search capabilities by composer and by repertoire and detailed displays of classical music metadata.
“Primephonic was founded to ensure that classical music will stay relevant for future generations,” said Gordon P. Getty, a major shareholder of Primephonic. “Primephonic and Apple together can realize that mission and take classical to a worldwide audience.”
Primephonic
Founded by Veronica Neo in 2014, Primephonic was a direct response to the urgent challenges and opportunities existing within the classical music industry.
With the platform, the Dutch company sought to reinvent the digital classical music experience and reignite a global passion for the genre.
Spatial and Lossless Audio
A couple of months back, Apple added Spatial Audio with support for Dolby Atmos in Apple Music to bring industry-leading sound quality to subscribers. Apple also introduced Lossless Audio and Music subscribers can now listen to more than 75 million songs in Lossless Audio.
Just like FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec), Apple uses its proprietary ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) to preserve every single bit of the original audio file. To start listening to Lossless Audio, subscribers using the latest version of Apple Music can turn it on in Settings > Music > Audio Quality.