Since its release, more than half of Apple Music subscribers are listening to Spatial Audio, executives revealed. The company told Billboard that the ‘majority’ of its subscribers have tried out the new format, and listeners have grown by 50% since September 2021.
Apple says Spatial Audio listeners are up 50% since September
Apple launched Spatial Audio for Apple Music in June 2021, after it was announced at WWDC. In an article from Billboard, Apple Music executives shared statistics and discussed how Spatial Audio has been exceeding expectations.
“We now have more than half of our worldwide Apple Music subscriber base listening in spatial audio and that number is actually growing really, really fast,” says Oliver Schusser, VP of Apple Music and Beats. “We would like the numbers to be higher, but they are definitely exceeding our expectations.”
According to the report, record labels that remaster in Spatial Audio have been seeing larger increases in the number of listens. The Weeknd’s 2016 album “Starboy” in Spatial Audio led to an increase of 20% in first-time listeners. Post Malone and Taylor Swift saw a 40% and 50% increase in new listeners after releasing some of their catalog in Spatial Audio.
“We’re seeing huge uptick in artists’ back catalog off the basis of them re-engaging their fans with a new way of listening to the music,” Rachel Newman, Apple Music’s global head of editorial and content, told Billboard. “Part of the key has just been making sure that [Spatial Audio is] highly accessible for all kinds of artists at all different levels.”
Spatial Audio has become a big differentiator between Apple Music and its competitors more than its other streaming option, Lossless. Every song in the streaming service’s library is now available in Lossless but Spatial Audio helps attract audiophiles to the service.
“[The] challenge is it doesn’t play on any headphone in the world over Bluetooth or any wireless connection,” Schusser said, “and that is by a country mile the number one way how people consume music these days.”
“We now have more than half of our worldwide Apple Music subscriber base listening in spatial audio and that number is actually growing really, really fast,” he adds. “We would like the numbers to be higher, but they are definitely exceeding our expectations.”
Learn how to enable Apple Music Dolby Atmos Spatial Audio on iPhone here.
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