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Apple Acquires Classical Music Service Primephonic, Will Launch Dedicated Classical Music App

Apple's Upper Mgmt has (detailed) Insight into what's doing well in their "curated" iOS App Store, that NO ONE ELSE has.

As such, I suspect this will receive alot more Govt Scrutiny than Apple has received in the past (when acquiring companies).

Could also be The Catalyst for New Law (that would "somewhat" level the playing field):

I'm in favor of New Law that would require Apple to disclose per-Category Revenue Numbers for (at least) the iOS App Store here in the States, & require them to do so at the end of each work week.

Also, that the per-week per-Category Reports should include what percentage was generated by the Top 10 Apps in each category, as well as what percentage of apps in each category generated NO revenue.

So, three columns of data per Category, reported by Apple every week.
 
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one more said:
Next year, Apple says it will launch a dedicated classical music app that combines Primephonic's classical user interface with added features.

What’s the point of that, I wonder? Will they have a different database from the main Apple Music? If so, why? 🤷🏻‍♂️
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My guess is it will integrate the existing catalogue of classical music from Apple Music into the new app, in addition to the existing music. It will also contain better metadata it says, which is a pretty lacking feature right now with organization of classical music.
 
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Love the idea. But come on? Another poorly created Apple App, that just about does what is needed and is never given any tender love after the keynote.
 
This will come handy as background music while checking out the bugs in Monterrey.
 
This makes my day. Great move by Apple, and I can’t wait to see what comes of it.

(Suggestion to Apple: Let us use this and Apple Music on third-party hardware, e.g., Bluesound!)
 
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This is great news, if it actually improves the metadata. To take advantage of it, I'm hoping they add an advanced search interface where we can specify composer, name of piece, performer, etc., do strict phrase searches, turn off auto correct (which has the annoying habit of replacing the correct spelling of a classical performer with some pop performer whose name is similar), etc. I'm not holding my breath, but anything would be better than what they have now.
 
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LeadingHeat said:
My guess is it will integrate the existing catalogue of classical music from Apple Music into the new app, in addition to the existing music. It will also contain better metadata it says, which is a pretty lacking feature right now with organization of classical music.
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That's exactly right. Classical music requires a deeper level of metadata and controlled language that fit into a combined vertical and horizontal structure in order to be able to search and browse repertoire effectively. In the past, I always thought Apple didn't really care about us classical listeners (the simplistic structure of iTunes is evidence). If they do this right, it could be fantastic news.
 
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Ok, if this is an improvement for "hey Siri, play Classical Music" like "play Hip Hop" I do consider it as an improvement.

I do consider it as usable, if it is possible to play that particular record of that particular orchestra with that particular conductor.

But - regarding Apple Music, replacing my scratched original record from 19xx with the best possible quality record in HiRes Audio from 20xx - I need to hear the results first.
 
one more said:
Next year, Apple says it will launch a dedicated classical music app that combines Primephonic's classical user interface with added features.

What’s the point of that, I wonder? Will they have a different database from the main Apple Music? If so, why? 🤷🏻‍♂️
Click to expand...
Listening to classical music is a very different experience than listening to modern music. Not in that one is better than the other, but the way the music is made is different. A Jay-Z song is a Jay-Z song, absent maybe a few covers, the artist and the song are tightly coupled. With classical music (which actually covers about 7 periods going back 1500 years until the present) the same composition can be performed by a wide variety of orchestras, ensembles, etc. I might prefer Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture as performed by the London Phillharmonic in 1995, where as you might prefer the same but the 2007 performance, or the New York Philharmonic instead. Some of the criteria for searching and sorting doesn’t map as well to the ones used more mainstream music.
Or you might have a favorite violinist and you want to find performances that include them. An app tailored to classical music can include that type of information that is unlikely to be used/needed for mainstream music.
Classical pieces also tend to be much longer and while they can be broken up into smaller parts, such as different movements, the listening style is going to be less shuffle or playlist based, listening to the entire performance is more common.

So while the regular Apple Music app can, of course, include Classical Music, a dedicated separate app can provide a better experience for people who are more into it. Similar to how you might want a separate audio book app, even though you could technically listen to audio books in the Apple Music app too.
 
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szw-mapple fan said:
I’m happy about the improvement to the classical search and browsing but I don’t really want a separate app just for classical.
Click to expand...

can you imagine listening to classical music and out of nowhere (c)rap music starts playing after due to poor algorithm suggestion?
 
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now i see it said:
wouldn't legislative bodies consider this acquisition as yet another anti-competitive purchase?
Facebook — WhatsApp, etc
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Are you really comparing this tiny acquisition to Facebook buying WhatsApp for $19 billion or just playing devil's advocate? Truly anti-competitive purchases are large scale acquisitions that affect billions of users and many huge companies. Besides, there is still many other classical streaming services available for customers to use so the anti-competitive case is very weak.
 
Cool - I like classical, but I've never heard of Primephonic (I just listen to terrestrial radio stations, over the Web). This might be a reason to sign up with Apple Music.
 
Their quality is excellent but I hardly listen to it because they don't have a CarPlay app. I was going to cancel next month.
 
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