After the acquisition of music service Primephonic in 2021, many expected Apple to announce a platform dedicated to classical streaming. It will arrive a little later than expected, on March 28, and will be called Apple Music Classical.
Songs will be streamed in up to 192kHz/24-bit lossless hi-res and, according to Apple, thousands of spatial audio recordings will be available. Like Primephonic, the new app will offer deep and accurate classical metadata and it will be possible to search “by composer, work, conductor or even catalog number, and find specific recordings instantly”.
In addition, Apple Music Classical will offer hundreds of editorially curated playlists, thousands of exclusive albums, in-depth composer bios, in-depth guides to many key works, intuitive navigation, and more. The Cupertino-based company is collaborating with leading figures in the classical music scene and with some of the most prestigious institutions in the world to offer audiences new content at launch and beyond. And there will also be new exclusive illustrations, including high-resolution digital portraits of many great composers, commissioned from a diverse group of artists and artists.
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At first, Apple Music Classical will be exclusive to iOS, but an Android version is “coming soon,” according to Apple’s press release. The regular Apple Music service is already cross-platform, so it makes sense that Classical follows the same path. It will support iOS 15.4 and newer, but there is no word on iPad and Mac compatibility.
Apple Music subscribers will be able to download and use the app at no additional cost. It is already possible to pre-order the app on the App Store; the app will be automatically installed at launch for users with automatic updates turned on in settings.
Choosing to make an app specifically for classical music fans could help differentiate Apple Music as the company continues to try to undermine Spotify’s lead in the subscription music industry. Just yesterday Spotify announced a completely redesigned interface that takes inspiration from TikTok and other social applications.
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