Apple is known to acquire companies from time to time, and sometimes some of those acquisitions are big enough to warrant a press release from Apple itself. Today marks one of those days. The company has sent out a press release officially announcing that it has acquired a new music streaming service, which will only bolster the catalog of Apple Music itself.
Apple has officially announced today that it has acquired the classical music streaming service known as Primephonic. For those of you who might not have hard of this particular service, it’s focused primarily on –you guessed it– classical music. The streaming service features a built-in search function, so you can find what you’re looking for in a much faster way. But, Primephonic also offers up a great listening experience, too. Apple bills it as “premium-quality audio” in its official announcement today. The service also leverages handpicked recommendations from experts, as well as a variety of contextual details on the music you’re listening to.
With the acquisition, Apple is looking to improve the classical musical experience within Apple Music. That will starts with playlists built from Primephonic’s recommendations, as well as “exclusive audio content.” And, in the months ahead, Apple says that fans of classical music will get an even better experience overall, with better browsing and search capabilities for Apple Music Classical. Better metadata, improved search and browse functionality, and even more.
Per today’s announcement:
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.
The co-founder and CEO of Primephonic, Thomas Steffens, also weighed in on the acquisition news:
Bringing the best of Primephonic to Apple Music subscribers is a tremendous development for the classical music industry. 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.
Now, for a bit of the bad news for folks who simply liked using Primephonic: the service will no longer be accepting new subscribers, and the service itself will shut down on September 7, 2021. After that, Primephonic will essentially exist within Apple Music. Apple says that current Primephonic subscribers will get six months of Apple Music for free.
What’s sort of wild is Apple’s announcement also includes the fact the company is going to release a dedicated classical music app sometime next year. This will build upon all of the features and elements of Primephonic, but in a new, dedicated app that will coexist alongside the standard Apple Music app. That new app will utilize the “classic user interface” from the Primephonic app, but also bring in new features and elements as well.
So, big news on the classical music front!