Apple Music Spatial Audio” src=”https://www.billboard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Apple-Music-Spatial-Audio-billboard-1548.jpg?w=1024″ srcset=”https://www.billboard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Apple-Music-Spatial-Audio-billboard-1548.jpg 1548w, https://www.billboard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Apple-Music-Spatial-Audio-billboard-1548.jpg?resize=300,198 300w, https://www.billboard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Apple-Music-Spatial-Audio-billboard-1548.jpg?resize=942,623 942w” sizes=”(min-width: 87.5rem) 1000px, (min-width: 78.75rem) 681px, (min-width: 48rem) 450px, (max-width: 48rem) 100vw”>
Courtesy of Apple
Since introducing Spatial Audio in June 2021, Apple Music has been pushing labels and artists to rework their music in this immersive format. Now, the platform is offering a financial incentive in the form of higher royalties.
In a letter sent by Apple Music to its partners on Monday (January 22) and obtained by Billboard, the streamer revealed that beginning with month-end royalty payments in January, music available in Spatial Audio, which supports Dolby Atmos, will receive up to a 10% higher royalty rate than content not available in the format.
“Prorated fees for available spatial streams will be calculated using a factor of 1.1, while available non-spatial streams will continue to use a factor of 1,” the letter reads. “This change is not only intended to reward higher quality content, but also to ensure that artists are compensated for the time and investment they put into mixing in the spatial space.”
The letter provides an update on the adoption of the format by artists and users, including a claim that over 90% of Apple Music listeners have experienced the format and that “streams of music available in Spatial Audio have more than tripled over the past two years.” It further states that the number of songs available in the format has increased by nearly 5,000% since launch and more than doubled in the past year alone. The company further claims that over 80% of the songs that have appeared on the platform’s Global Daily Top 100 in the past year are available in Spatial Audio.
Apparently to deter bad actors, the letter includes a mention of Apple Music’s “zero-tolerance policy against misleading or manipulative content,” noting that the service has a “quality control process that includes flagging content that is not delivered in accordance with Apple Music’s Spatial Audio quality standards and specifications.”
Spatial Audio officially launched on June 7, 2021. The format, which delivers an immersive sound experience in users’ headphones, is being offered at no additional cost to Apple Music users, ostensibly to accelerate adoption. As part of this effort, Spatial Audio tracks also enjoy enhanced visibility on the app’s homepage, ranking higher than even new music releases. Early adopters of the format include Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, The Weeknd, Billie Eilish, J. Cole, and Post Malone.
In a June 2021 interview with Billboard, Eddy’s signalApple’s senior vice president of Internet software and services, admitted that encouraging artists to mix their tracks for Spatial Audio would be a challenge given the time, labor and financial investment required.
“It’s not just a simple ‘take the file you have in stereo, process it through a software application and get the Dolby Atmos sound,’” Cue said at the time. “This requires a sound engineer and the artist to sit down and listen, and really make the right decisions and know what the right thing to do is. It’s a time-consuming process, but it’s worth it.”
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