{"id":33504,"date":"2021-09-01T15:23:24","date_gmt":"2021-09-01T19:23:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=33504"},"modified":"2021-10-20T16:42:32","modified_gmt":"2021-10-20T20:42:32","slug":"apple-acquires-primephonic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2021\/09\/01\/apple-acquires-primephonic\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple Acquires Primephonic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Juli Clover<\/a> (Hacker News<\/a>):<\/p>\n

Apple today announced<\/a> that it has acquired classical music streaming service Primephonic, and will be folding it into Apple Music.<\/p>

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.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Andy Ihnatko<\/a>:<\/p>\n

I’m very pleased and optimistic about Apple’s acquisition of Primephonic. Classical music is idiosyncratic and absolutely requires a bespoke streaming experience. Apple acquires the whole catalog and promises a custom app and experience for classical.<\/p>

Mainstream platforms are usually disappointing. “We’ve loads<\/em> of opera…we’ve got ‘Nessun Dorma’ by the Three Tenors and<\/em> that little girl from ‘America’s Got Talent’! Here’s some 70s soft-rock that our algorithm thinks people who search for opera would rather listen to…”<\/p>

Well, maybe not that<\/em> bad. But many of the greats record for labels that don’t have streaming distribution, or aren’t even given a chance to record at all. And much of the best stuff ever recorded is locked up on an opera company’s servers with no plans for distribution.<\/p>

So it’s a big opportunity for Apple to seriously move the needle. Not just to provide better search and playback tools (which are sorely needed) but to do things like help change a legendary 2009 performance from a thing that fans have heard about to a thing that fans can hear.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n