Apple failed to launch a classical music listening service in 2022. In August 2021, Apple announced the acquisition of Primephonic, a classical music service. At the time, Apple said it planned to release a dedicated classical music app in 2022, but the year ended without the service launching.
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“Apple Music plans to launch a dedicated classical music app next year that integrates the classic Primephonic user interface that fans have come to love with additional features,” Apple Newsroom said in a 2021 press release. Apple hasn’t publicly released any plans for the service since then, and it’s not clear if it will launch the app in 2023.
Primephonic closed in September 2021 and subscribers got six months of free access to Apple Music. If it ever launches, the Apple Classical app will serve as a replacement for Primephonic, providing users with online listening to classical music from composers like Beethoven and Mozart.
Hidden references to the Apple Classical app were discovered last year in the beta version of the Apple Music app for Android and in the beta version of iOS 15.5. More traces of the app were found in an XML file on Apple’s servers last year.
Apple has said it will keep Primephonic’s best features, including “better browsing and searching by composer and repertoire” and “detailed classical music metadata displays,” and the company may just need more time to work on it. Primephonic has also compensated artists and other rights holders with a unique pay-per-second listening model instead of a pay-per-play model like Apple Music, so it’s possible that Apple is still trying to find a suitable payout model for the Apple Classical app.
At this point, it’s unclear if the Apple Classical app will be released in 2023 or if the company has abandoned plans to launch the app.