Apple Music executives say that more than half of users use the service with Spatial Audio enabled. Spatial audio, announced by Apple at WWDC in June 2021, brings a more immersive sound to Apple Music. Now, Apple executives have been sharing selected stats and talking about how spatial audio is being appreciated by listeners.
Apple also said that those albums/singles that were reset using spatial audio technology saw a significant increase in listeners. “The Weeknd” re-released 2016’s 2016 album “Starboy” with spatial audio and saw a 20% increase in listeners in its first eight weeks.
Billie Eilish’s When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go saw the same increase. Post Malone’s Hollywood’s Bleeding saw a 40 percent increase in listening, while Taylor Swift’s Lover saw a 50 percent increase.
The growth isn’t limited to relatively new music either, Apple said. The Beatles’ Here Comes the Sun saw a 50% increase in first-time listeners. 40% of those listeners then went on to play more music from the band.
Rachel Newman, Apple Music’s global editor and head of content, told reporters: “We’ve seen a huge growth in the back catalog of artists as they re-engage with a new way of listening to music. Their fans. “Part of the key is making sure [spatial audio] is highly accessible to artists of all levels.”
Apple sees spatial audio as a differentiator between Apple Music and its competitors, and more so than lossless music. There’s now a lossless version of every song in the Apple Music library, but that’s bound to be positive, said Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats.