Apple Music is increasing the money it pays to artists for their music in Spatial Audio. This means musicians will get up to 10% more money when people listen to their songs in Spatial Audio on Apple Music. This change starts this month.
Spatial Audio is a feature that makes music sound more immersive. Apple Music sent a message to the companies that work with them, saying that songs in Spatial Audio will now get higher payments. This is a way for Apple Music to appreciate better-quality music and make sure artists get paid for the effort they put into making music in Spatial.
Apple Music mentioned that this change is not just about paying more for good quality, but also about recognizing the time and money artists spend on creating music in Spatial Audio. They’ve noticed that many popular artists around the world are using Spatial Audio, and 80% of the top songs on Apple Music in the past year are available in Spatial.
Even if Apple Music subscribers don’t necessarily listen to music in Spatial Audio, artists will still get the extra money if their music is available in this format. The bonus is calculated based on the proportion of Spatial Audio plays to non-Spatial Audio plays.
Apple Music shared that more than 90% of their listeners have tried Spatial Audio, and the number of plays for songs in Spatial Audio has tripled in the last two years. There has been a huge increase in the number of songs available in Spatial Audio, with a growth of almost 5,000% since the feature was launched.
This move by Apple Music is seen by some as a way to encourage people to buy Apple devices because they support Spatial Audio. Other companies like Amazon also offer Spatial Audio in their music streaming service. Spotify, a competitor to Apple Music, currently doesn’t have Spatial Audio but is rumored to be working on a premium subscription with better music quality and advanced features.