Apple today announced that it has acquired classical music streaming service Primephonic, and will be folding it into Apple Music.
Primephonic offers an "outstanding listening experience" with search and browse functionality optimized for classical audio, plus handpicked recommendations and "contextual details on repertoire and recordings."
"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. "Together, we're bringing great new classical features to Apple Music, and in the near future, we'll deliver a dedicated classical experience that will truly be the best in the world."
Apple says that with the Primephonic purchase, Apple Music subscribers will be provided with an improved classical music experience. This will start with Primephonic playlists and audio content, and in the coming months, Apple will offer a dedicated Primephonic experience with improved browsing and search capabilities by composer and repertoire, better classical music metadata, and more.
Primephonic will be taken offline on September 7, and is no longer available for new subscribers. Next year, Apple says it will launch a dedicated classical music app that combines Primephonic's classical user interface with added features.
Current Primephonic subscribers will receive six months of Apple Music access for free with access to hundreds of thousands of classical albums that support Lossless and Spatial Audio.
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Or you might have a favorite violinist and you want to find performances that include them. An app tailored to classical music can include that type of information that is unlikely to be used/needed for mainstream music.
Classical pieces also tend to be much longer and while they can be broken up into smaller parts, such as different movements, the listening style is going to be less shuffle or playlist based, listening to the entire performance is more common.
So while the regular Apple Music app can, of course, include Classical Music, a dedicated separate app can provide a better experience for people who are more into it. Similar to how you might want a separate audio book app, even though you could technically listen to audio books in the Apple Music app too.