An interview with Billboard has shown how Spatial Audio has evolved on Apple Music, as well as how the streaming platform has responded.
commercial for apple music with spatial sound
Since June 2021, when Apple Music added support for Spatial Audio and Lossless, the company has continued to add new music to its library that take use of these new capabilities. Earlier this year, Apple pledged that all 75 million songs in its repertoire will be made accessible in Lossless, and Schusser believes that the firm has delivered on that commitment.
Despite the fact that all Apple Music songs may be streamed in high-quality, Schusser claimed that Bluetooth and AirPods’ inability to play back the audio continues to be an issue.
According to Schusser, “everyone in the industry was particularly focused on Lossless. Every song in our library is accessible to us as lossless files from the industry, but the difficulty is that none of them will play on any Bluetooth headphones or other wireless connections, and that is by far the most popular method people listen to music these days.
The built-in speakers on Apple Music subscribers’ iPhones, iPads, Macs, and HomePods can play Lossless music. Though Apple’s VP of Worldwide Marketing agreed that most listeners won’t notice Lossless, Schusser said the company was committed to making it available to everyone.
In his opinion, most listeners won’t be able to detect the difference between Lossless and regular music when it’s played, and he also emphasised that while it’s an essential feature for a specific niche, it won’t be available to the general public. As a result, “we went out and said we wanted to create a feature for the general market that works on pretty much every device and where consumers see a difference.”
Schusser believes that Apple Music’s Spatial Audio content offering has expanded significantly since the function began last summer, when it first introduced users to an immersive audio experience. More than half of Apple Music users, according to Schusser, are now listening in Spatial Audio.
Only a handful of songs were accessible in Spatial Audio when Apple Music released the feature last year. The firm then embarked on a sales campaign, reaching out to both artists and producers in an effort to convince them to adopt the new immersive experience.
With more than half of Apple Music subscribers across the world using spatial audio, the company’s CEO adds, “that percentage is actually expanding very, very rapidly.” In spite of the fact that we would want the statistics to be higher, they are far above our expectations.
Even though Apple continues to add more songs to its database that enable Spatial Audio in conjunction with studios, the firm is still working on the quality of the mixing on these tracks.
In contrast to the early days of Dolby Atmos Music, where certain mixes didn’t live up to the quality of the source recordings, Apple is highlighting the necessity of superb mixing here. In addition to listening to all the songs that are submitted to Spatial Audio, Schusser explains, “We attempt to connect with the people who make the cut throughout the selection process,” he continues.
New music can be enjoyed in a more immersive way thanks to Spatial Audio; it’s also helping fans rediscover old favourites, according to Apple Music’s global head of editorial and content, Rachel Newman.
A new method of listening to music is re-engaging fans with artists’ past catalogues, says Apple Music’s global head of editorial and content, Rachel Newman. It’s been a year since Apple Music’s Spatial Audio feature debuted, and the number of streams has increased by 125%.
Schusser’s comments on the limitations of Bluetooth and lossless music were mirrored by a different Apple Music executive in a December interview.
Gary Geaves, Apple’s vp of acoustics, said the company wants “greater bandwidth” than Bluetooth can supply. “I’ll call it a day right now. The more bandwidth we have, the better it is for us “Geaves tacked on.