Apple Music to Incentivize Artists to Make Songs Available in Spatial Audio
Apple will begin encouraging artists and record labels to adopt Spatial Audio with royalty incentives, Bloomberg reports.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg says that Apple will prioritize streams of songs mixed in Dolby Atmos technology in its streaming calculations starting next year. The change will result in higher royalty payments for artists and labels that adopt and expand the technology in their catalogs. Listeners do not have to listen to the Spatial Audio version of a song for artists to be eligible for the added benefits, with the availability of tracks in Dolby Atmos being sufficient. The new Apple Music policy is yet to be publicly announced.
Apple Music introduced Spatial Audio support in 2021, using Dolby Atmos technology to ostensibly replicate an in-person music experience with sound coming from various directions around the listener when using compatible audio hardware. In February 2022, Apple announced that over half of the service's subscribers used the feature. Amazon Music similarly provides Dolby Atmos audio at no additional cost, but Spotify has yet to adopt the format.
Popular Stories
Starting today, the seven new Apple products that were announced last week are available at Apple Stores and beginning to arrive to customers.
The colorful MacBook Neo and all of the other new products are on display at most Apple Store locations around the world starting today. Apple Stores have inventory of the new products for both walk-in customers and Apple Store pickup, but...
Apple is continuing to test the iOS 26.4 beta, and the latest update is now available for developers and public beta testers. As testing goes on, there are fewer new features in each beta, but today’s release adds new emoji characters and a few other changes.
New Emoji
Apple added new emoji characters, including trombone, treasure chest, distorted face, hairy creature, fight cloud, orca,...
Apple today announced that it will celebrate the company's 50th anniversary over the coming weeks, but it has yet to reveal any specific plans.
Apple was founded on April 1, 1976, so the company will turn 50 on April 1, 2026.
"While Apple is known for looking forward, this milestone offers a special moment to reflect on the journey that has brought the company here, to celebrate the...