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Sweet! Classical music has lagged behind in playlist, search, and suggestion quality with most major streaming services.
One reason is that currently distributors have to jump through hoops to get classical music on Apple Music. Pop music is required to provide the usual info you'd expect (artist, album name, publisher, date). But for classical music, Apple wants a myriad of additional details that the publisher/distributor needs to fill in, and many don't want to go through all that effort for the small classical audience that Apple Music has. Most other music streaming services don't require that level of detail for uploading classical music to their services.
 
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Just when you thought '**** you Apple Inc!'… they come up with something truely special.
 
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Just when you thought '**** you Apple Inc!'… they come up with something truely special.
We have not seen the final product yet. There is potential to make classical fans happy but equal potential to disappoint.
 
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WOW! You mean I WON'T have to scroll through row after row of cover art of all the latest releases from the Rap Stars, the Country Claque and The Botched Lobotomy Girls to get to the ONE box in Browse marked "Classical" that contains umpteen centuries worth of the best music ever made? You mean I WON'T have to look at Lorde's butt crack again?
 
You’d think they could fix this finally…
 

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A separate app seems pointless. Will we eventually have to switch between standalone apps for each genre? 🤦🏻‍♂️
 
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The sorting and organisation of classical music in the existing Apple universe can be extremely irritating. Most classical music consists of a number of grouped tracks ... and shuffling the order of a symphony makes no sense at all.

Or grouped "songs," as Apple generically refers to everything.
 
Glad to see Apple is recognizing the 1700s (classical music), but they should also get into renaissance music, medieval music, modernist music, postmodern and contemporary art music, the romantic era, baroque, expressionism and so on.

Or is Apple actually grouping ars nova with minimalism in a "classical" category? As if rap, punk and grunge are all "pop"?
 
The sorting and organisation of classical music in the existing Apple universe can be extremely irritating. Most classical music consists of a number of grouped tracks ... and shuffling the order of a symphony makes no sense at all.
I would like to go one step further: Shuffling the order of a symphony shows, the creator of the shuffle does not understand anything (just minus 100000 points) about classical music...
 
A separate app seems pointless. Will we eventually have to switch between standalone apps for each genre? 🤦🏻‍♂️
Why have a dedicated Podcasts app when you could just put it in the Music app? They're all just audio files, right?

The difference between organizing, browsing, and listening to classical music and "regular" music is almost as big as the difference between organizing, browsing, and listening to albums and songs versus podcasts and podcast episodes. It really is not just "a different genre"
 
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One reason is that currently distributors have to jump through hoops to get classical music on Apple Music. Pop music is required to provide the usual info you'd expect (artist, album name, publisher, date). But for classical music, Apple wants a myriad of additional details that the publisher/distributor needs to fill in, and many don't want to go through all that effort for the small classical audience that Apple Music has. Most other music streaming services don't require that level of detail for uploading classical music to their services.
You could fill a gap in the market and be astonished about the size of the potential market of a decent product in this sector. But it requires a lot of knowledge and hard work...
... algorithms wont do it. You need people to do that who love that music.
 
You’d think they could fix this finally…
Oh, exactly. Now imagine what it was like on this:

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A separate app seems pointless. Will we eventually have to switch between standalone apps for each genre? 🤦🏻‍♂️

I don't think it's a bad idea. The use case for searching for a classical work is just plain different -- so different that twenty years of trying a one-size-fits-all app has completely failed the classical audience.

Also, for the curious, here's Apple's official guide on how to tag music tracks.

 
Glad to see Apple is recognizing the 1700s (classical music), but they should also get into renaissance music, medieval music, modernist music, postmodern and contemporary art music, the romantic era, baroque, expressionism and so on.

Or is Apple actually grouping ars nova with minimalism in a "classical" category? As if rap, punk and grunge are all "pop"?
It seems like few give a damn these days for the terminology of the periods and lump it all together which I am certain is what they will do with this. Some people don't even know what Baroque is. Still it will be funny to see 11th century vocal music listed as classical.

True fans of classical will never be fully appeased by streaming services, there will never be the same breadth of releases as are on CD or vinyl. Any more ways to listen however are still appreciated. Most of us, not the gatekeepers but most of us, just want as many people to enjoy the music as possible in the limited time we have in the world...
 
Why have a dedicated Podcasts app when you could just put it in the Music app? They're all just audio files, right?

The difference between organizing, browsing, and listening to classical music and "regular" music is almost as big as the difference between organizing, browsing, and listening to albums and songs versus podcasts and podcast episodes. It really is not just "a different genre"

Care to elaborate on why that's the case? Honest curiosity btw.
 
Oh, exactly. Now imagine what it was like on this:

View attachment 1825340


I don't think it's a bad idea. The use case for searching for a classical work is just plain different -- so different that twenty years of trying a one-size-fits-all app has completely failed the classical audience.

Also, for the curious, here's Apple's official guide on how to tag music tracks.

... I did not know that guide, but stopped reading at "A composer writes music for instruments to play".
I do own a lot of classical music in my local library, strictly categorized in "Albums" containing one Opera, Symphony etc. This is the only way it works.
 
Glad to see Apple is recognizing the 1700s (classical music), but they should also get into renaissance music, medieval music, modernist music, postmodern and contemporary art music, the romantic era, baroque, expressionism and so on.

Or is Apple actually grouping ars nova with minimalism in a "classical" category? As if rap, punk and grunge are all "pop"?
Do not waste your time waiting for it. Just do it on your own. Get the records, you love, store and categorize them locally and enjoy your music.
 
I routinely listen to Gregorian chants, hopefully we'll get some on this service.
Indeed, while I tend to be more partial to later Middle Ages and Renaissance music there are some excellent chants that are mostly unknown today. There needs to be a bit of everything for this service to be really great, not just post-Baroque music. Early music has many treasures.
 
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... I did not know that guide, but stopped reading at "A composer writes music for instruments to play".
I do own a lot of classical music in my local library, strictly categorized in "Albums" containing one Opera, Symphony etc. This is the only way it works.
That's how I do it too. And then make sure the various sorting fields are set so that Leonard Bernstein doesn't show up under "L".
 
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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? 🤷🏻‍♂️
Because the people who are serious about Classical music don't want to get bombarded by splash screens and notifications about the new Megan Thee Stallion single.
 
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