TechAudioApple wants you to forget Hi-Res: it’s using incentives to push Spatial AudioApple offers much higher royalty payments to artists releasing music in Spatial Audio – even if nobody listens to itWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
TechAudioApple wants you to forget Hi-Res: it’s using incentives to push Spatial AudioApple offers much higher royalty payments to artists releasing music in Spatial Audio – even if nobody listens to itWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Apple offers much higher royalty payments to artists releasing music in Spatial Audio – even if nobody listens to it
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Apple)
(Image credit: Apple)
As we reported last month,Applereally, really, really wants musicians to release tracks in Spatial Audio: it’s giving those tracks extra weighting in search results to make them more visibility, and it hinted at increased royalty payments too. That hint is now a promise: Apple will now pay 10% higher royalties to tracks released in Spatial Audio, irrespective of how many people actually listen to them.
Apple says that the higher royalty rates reflect the additional work involved in mixing for immersive audio, and that they’re also a reward for delivering higher quality content. And of course, it just happens to help Apple sell more hardware, and to encourage listeners to go for Apple Music rather than rivals such as Spotify whose support for the format is more limited.
Is Spatial Audio the format of the future?
It’s certainly fun when it’s done well and coupled with Apple Lossless. Instead of traditional stereo, where you have just left and right audio channels, Spatial Audio is a 3D format that makes it sound like the music is all around you – and with head tracking in theAirPodsPro 2, moving your head makes different parts of the music more prominent. It’s particularly good on more subtle music where it can sound like you’re right there in the room with the artist.
Apple’s goal here is to massively increase the number of Spatial Audio tracks on Apple Music, and in turn sell more Spatial Audio hardware:AirPods Pro,AirPods Maxandsecond generation HomePods. Apple’s own music production app, Logic Pro X, has spatial audio support for artists and producers too.
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