Primephonic Will Be Shut Down September 7 After Apple Acquisition ⇥ apple.com
Apple today announced it has acquired Primephonic, the renowned classical music streaming service that offers an outstanding listening experience with search and browse functionality optimized for classical, premium-quality audio, handpicked expert recommendations, and extensive contextual details on repertoire and recordings.
With the addition of Primephonic, Apple Music subscribers will get a significantly improved classical music experience beginning with Primephonic playlists and exclusive audio content. In the coming months, Apple Music Classical fans will get a dedicated experience with the best features of Primephonic, including better browsing and search capabilities by composer and by repertoire, detailed displays of classical music metadata, plus new features and benefits.
Existing Primephonic users have been given only a week’s notice of the service’s impeding shuttering. But this sure is an interesting development. All major streaming services suck at classical music. I would like to see one of them crack this nut and, if it happens to be the service I subscribe to, even better.
I can’t imagine why Apple would build a standalone classical music app unless they were planning to charge extra for it (on top of usual Apple Music subscription). Primephonic on its own now is $8 or $15.
Perhaps, but Apple added lossless streaming free of charge even though Tidal charges an extra $10 per month. I think it is more likely that classical music needs a completely different presentation. Works and movements and composers are not displayed very well in any of Apple’s current music apps.