Apple Music Classical is expanding to 5 new territories

The news about Apple Music Classical’s expansion comes almost one year after its launch in March 2023. The app has quickly gained popularity among classical music fans. No wonder, as it gives fans access to the world’s most extensive classical music catalog, comprising over 5 million classical recordings.

The Apple Music Classical app has been in development ever since Apple’s 2021 acquisition of the renowned Dutch classical music streaming platform Primephonic. The current app integrates most of Primephonic’s dataset, music, and features, including enhanced search capabilities and browsing, categorized by a composer and repertoire. Additionally, the app features up to 192 kHz/24-bit lossless and hi-resolution audio quality and offers editorial playlists, artist biographies, and guides for plenty of essential work of the most renowned composers.

While many have doubts about the app’s revenue potential, the current expansion might provide some critical insights on this matter. That’s because in the new territories, classical music has held a long and deep cultural tradition.

While Apple Music Classical boasts itself as the world’s largest classical music catalog, it faces some competition, particularly from STAGE+, a high-resolution classical music platform launched by Deutsche Grammophon in 2022.

Apple’s streaming service, however, knows how to beat off competition. In September 2023, Apple made another essential step to rule the world of the classical music genre. It acquired the 50-year-old Swedish classical record label BIS Records, specializing in early and contemporary classical music. BIC Records is now a vital part of Apple Music Classical and Platoon, a UK-based creative services company purchased by Apple in 2018.

Are you a classical music artist looking for a distributor? At iMusician, you can distribute your music to the broadest range of digital streaming platforms and download shops. Additionally, we are one of the few distributors out there that distributes music to platforms specialized in classical music, including IDAGIO, Qobuz, AND Apple Music Classical!