Apple Music reportedly will pay artists 10% more for tracks that use Spatial Audio, which offers a surround sound-like experience without requiring additional speakers.
Theoretically, more music that offers Spatial Audio should persuade more consumers to buy Apple products that support the feature.
Spatial Audio is brilliant … and pays better
The technology used by Spatial Audio subtly modifies songs so that it seems to come from all around the listener — and even from above. It makes your music “feel like you’re inside of it,” Apple says.
There are already many tracks in Apple Music with the tech — check out Apple’s “Made for Spatial Audio” playlist. And the audio format likely will become more widespread now that Apple will pay artists and record labels more for it.
A notice from Apple on Monday says that in January royalty payments, “pro-rata shares for Spatial Available plays will be calculated using a factor of 1.1 while Non-Spatial Available plays will continue to use a factor of 1,” reports Music Business Worldwide.
This confirms a leak from December that indicated Apple planned to offer financial incentives for songs using the tech.
Get the necessary tech
A wide variety of Apple devices support Spatial Audio, including AirPods Pro (all versions), AirPods Max, AirPods 3 (but not earlier models), Beats Fit Pro and Beats Studio Pro.
Also on the list are the built-in speakers on iPhone 7 models and later plus all recent iPad models, including Pro and Air. Any MacBook with Apple silicon supports Spatial Audio, too.
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 25 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh SE/30 (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer.
That’s because he’s a “tablet first” type of guy. Rather than use a Macbook, he connects a keyboard case to the iPad. And instead of a desktop Mac, he connects his tablet to a 27-inch display and full-size keyboard. (So don’t try to tell him that everyone has to use a Mac to be productive.)
Before coming to Cult of Mac, Ed wrote for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
