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Apple Planned to Launch a Classical Music App in 2022, But Time is Running Out

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In August 2021, Apple announced it had acquired classical music service Primephonic. At the time, Apple said it planned to launch a dedicated classical music app this year, but time is starting to run out if the company wishes to follow through with the plans on time.

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"Apple Music plans to launch a dedicated classical music app next year combining Primephonic's classical user interface that fans have grown to love with more added features," said an Apple Newsroom press release shared last year. Apple has not publicly addressed the plans since and did not respond to our requests for comment over the past month.

The app would serve as a replacement for Primephonic, providing users with a destination for streaming classical music from the likes of Beethoven and Mozart.

Primephonic's website originally said it was "working on an amazing new classical music experience from Apple for early next year," but the "early next year" wording was changed to "next year" on March 9, 2022, just one day after Apple held an event to introduce the Mac Studio, Studio Display, fifth-generation iPad Air, and third-generation iPhone SE.

Primephonic's service shut down in September 2021, with subscribers at the time receiving six months of access to Apple Music for free. That means Primephonic subscribers were able to listen to Apple Music through February, suggesting that Apple might have planned to announce the classical music app at its March event this year, but wasn't ready to.

In February, a code-level reference to "Open in Apple Classical" was discovered in a beta version of the Apple Music app for Android. Then, in May, similar references to "Open in Apple Classical" and "A Shortcut to Apple Classical" were uncovered in the iOS 15.5 beta. These references were never made visible to the public, but it could reveal that Apple is or at least was planning to name the app Apple Classical instead of Apple Music Classical.

Even more references to the classical music app were discovered in an XML file on Apple's servers in late September as backend preparations continued. It's unclear if the app would be built into iOS or released separately on the App Store.

Apple said it would incorporate the best features of Primephonic, including "better browsing and search capabilities by composer and by repertoire" and "detailed displays of classical music metadata," and it's possible that the company simply needs more time to finish working on the task. Primephonic also operated with a unique pay-per-second-listened model instead of a pay-per-play model like Apple Music, so perhaps Apple is still trying to figure out a payout model that it finds suitable for the Apple Classical app.

At this point, the fate of Apple Classical is unclear. Apple could end up launching the app in the next week or two and meet its deadline after all, or the launch might be pushed back to 2023. A lesser possibility is that Apple decides not to release a classical music app and instead moves to incorporate more classical features into the Apple Music app in future iOS 16 or iOS 17 versions. In any case, Apple is staying quiet about its plans right now.

Article Link: Apple Planned to Launch a Classical Music App in 2022, But Time is Running Out
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/12/11/where-is-the-apple-classical-app/
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I listen to a lot of classical music but don’t understand the need of a separate app for that. I prefer to have everything at the same place. Can someone enlighten me on the benefits of primephonic and how it could improve the experience to have a separate app? Genuinely curious here

Edit: Thank you all for your answers! I'm still not convinced by the relevance of a separate app, but I can see more why it is something requested by many other people
 
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Apple Vapor Music :)

I don't prefer to have separate music apps, I'd rather they simply improve the Music app, but if they're not going to do that, I'd rather classical music be kept separate. I'm not sure why it's so difficult to improve the Music app though. I for sure thought there were going to be improvements to it this year, especially when the rumor of a "ground up" overhaul came out, but the Music app has hardly changed at all since it was created out of iTunes.
 
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fwmireault said:
I listen to a lot of classical music but don’t understand the need of a separate app for that. I prefer to have everything at the same place. Can someone enlighten me on the benefits of primephonic and how it could improve the experience to have a separate app? Genuinely curious here
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While one app would seem more convenient, the current music app is a mess. And while I continue to be an Apple Music subscriber, I do miss Spotify for its better app and music discovery. AM keeps shoving crap in my face that I don’t want to listen to and never suggests new music in the genres I like. Search is also too difficult. Organizing classical music is already more challenging, so it would probably be better served with a dedicated app.
 
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MacRumors said:
In August 2021, Apple announced it had acquired classical music service Primephonic. At the time, Apple said it planned to launch a dedicated classical music app this year, but time is starting to run out if the company wishes to fulfill this promise
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It's entirely possible that a classical music service might be part of the next beta cycle. (example iOS/iPadOS 16.3 and MacOS 13.2 betas)

If that is the case by the end of next week you should see that first beta arrive by Dec 16th. It would be 2nd week of January the second beta shows up.
 
ThisBougieLife said:
Apple Vapor Music :)

I don't prefer to have separate music apps, I'd rather they simply improve the Music app, but if they're not going to do that, I'd rather classical music be kept separate. I'm not sure why it's so difficult to improve the Music app though. I for sure thought there were going to be improvements to it this year, especially when the rumor of a "ground up" overhaul came out, but the Music app has hardly changed at all since it was created out of iTunes.
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Bruh they need to bring back the iOS 6 Music app design.
 
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philcourage said:
Time is running out for the Apple Silicon transition too. They don't care. And that's fine, but why make deadlines if you are not going to do anything in time? Just say "whenever we feel like it" and call it a day.
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There is no deadline or promise anywhere than in silly article headlines like this one.

If I say I am planning to work on my roof this year, that is not a promise nor is there any deadline of Dec 31st. It is a statement of intent. Nothing more.

Personally I find a statement of “we are planning to do this within the next year” more useful than “we may or may not do anything with this, you will just have to wait and see”. Which seems to be how Apple usually plays things.
 
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philcourage said:
Time is running out for the Apple Silicon transition too. They don't care. And that's fine, but why make deadlines if you are not going to do anything in time? Just say "whenever we feel like it" and call it a day.
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Because like most they hoped supply chains would recover more quickly than they have. Things like the higher end Mini and the Mac Pro use parts that are still pretty readily available and produced domestically - moving those to Apple Silicon, especially the massive chip that the Mac Pro will require, will simply strain TSMC even more.
 
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Apple Music metadata is a mess for classical. There is no concept of splitting up composers or artists if multiple are used for a single song. Half the time the composer is set to the artist tag. Music discovery would be completely broken without some major work.
 
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Listening to Daniel Barenboim on Qobuz as I type this.

Based on file quality, selection and ease of use it's replaced Spotify and Apple Music for me.

If Apple offers something in the classical space I'll take a look, but the bar to switching has become pretty high.
 
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munpip214 said:
Apple Music metadata is a mess for classical. There is no concept of splitting up composers or artists if multiple are used for a single song. Half the time the composer is set to the artist tag. Music discovery would be completely broken without some major work.
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Whoever designed Apple Music must have worked for SirusXM. It's like they treat Classical as one station and its stuck amongst many pop/country/blues/jazz stations. They need to be split up in some manner, as most pop/country/blues/jazz are usually shorter duration content, and classical is longer duration content. From a royalty perspective it's hard to compare the two because one can be based on short tracks played, and the other by some length of minutes.
 
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