Apple unveiled the next phase of music streaming at its annual developers conference. The company said that it is now rolling out lossless music and an all-new ‘Spatial Audio’ feature for music. The company is portraying it as something that will change the music industry and the music listening experience.
“First there was mono, then stereo, and now there’s Spatial Audio. Spatial is an immersive experience with sound moving around you in different directions,” says Apple Music’s co-head of Artist Relations and radio host Zane Lowe. “We have only had that kind of experience before in cinema. Have you ever wondered how that would work with music? I have.”
Spatial Audio works with AirPods
The new Spatial Audio works with Apple’s current generation AirPods without requiring any new additional hardware. Zane explains how simple the feature is yet a complete game changing technology. The new ‘Spatial Audio’ feature offers a third dimension to music whereas right now there are only two stereo channels. It plays music as parts that are flowing from behind and around the listener.
“How are artists going to use this? How is Lil Baby going to use this? How are Olivia Rodrigo or Peggy Gou going to use this? How is Frank Ocean going to use this?,” writes Zane in an article published by Apple. “Are they going to start creating music with the idea of a three-dimensional environment, as opposed to this two-channel environment?”
Spatial Audio will bring an all-new 3D music listening experience to music streamers. The music industry continues to be innovative with multichannel recording, electric guitars, synthesisers, mics, and more. The iPod also played a major role in making music digital – it increased the revenue generated from music by a good enough margin and the industry saw an increase in music sales through iTunes.
Spatial Audio is now rolling out to Apple Music subscribers.
