An incredible thing has happened in digital audio. Before we get into that, I want to talk about a little audio history. The CD was the first digital medium available to consumers, and I remember when it came out. Little did I know what a profound effect on music listening it would have on the world. While it is still hotly debated among lovers of vinyl records, the listening experience is dramatically different between LPs and CD’s. The former provides an indescribable, comforting feel to the sound, and the latter provides an incredibly clean presentation (which is now accepted as normal) and a 96dB dynamic range – two attributes that at the time were only possible to experience in a studio using a tape machine, which could produce a far higher quality master than either a record or a CD.
Fast forward about 15 years, and CD’s started being shared on Limewire and Napster as mp3s. Then, Apple came out with the iPod and pioneered the first commercial digital audio distribution system. While this was happening, radio stations were also ditching their LPs and CDs and beginning to use the same, highly compressed mp3s for their broadcasts. Over the next decade, we all got used to hearing more music more easily than ever, and with less sonic quality than we had in the past.
Streaming music services became ubiquitous and mp3 quality became cemented as the standard.
For some people, this has been a constant, decades long, slow burn bummer, as we love high quality audio. Obviously, we’re not going to go back in time, and the wonderful rich analog sound that has been mostly forgotten will never be experienced by most people, and that is simply the reality. But, the good news is that the technology is finally catching up to where the digital distribution systems can provide better than highly compressed mp3 files, and not just the forty year old “CD Quality” sound which is marketed as some kind of unrivalled standard. No, now the streaming music services are able to let consumers hear what we hear in the studio: a 144dB digital dynamic resolution at higher sample rates than CD. That is, 24-bit audio, at sample rates of 48, 96, and 192. Numbers and stats are hard to translate into what sound sounds like and feels like, but the bottom line is that that for me working on client’s masters, it has always been a real let-down to downsample the master to CD Quality 44.1kHz/16-bit. Everything changes and sounds pale in comparison. So this new development is huge for people like me, it has been 30 years in the coming!
Well, here we are in September 2021 and Tonehaus is officially an Apple Digital Masters approved mastering house! That means when you upload your album to CDBaby, DistroKid, TuneCore or other digital distribution hub, we can also provide you with a set of high resolution masters directly for all of them, including iTunes.
On August 30, 2021, both Apple and Primephonic issued statements that they were joining forces. Primephonic says “Three years ago, Primephonic was launched to create a better future for classical music by addressing the challenges and complexities of the genre for the streaming era. We felt compelled to develop a streaming service that truly gets classical right—so that’s what we did over the last 3 years. But to fully achieve the next phase of our mission, we need to bring our classical streaming expertise to millions of listeners worldwide.”
The Apple press release reads: “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.”
Personally, I have been slightly to very unsatisfied with Apple/iTunes and streaming in general over the years. Please allow me to elaborate; as a lover of sound, it should be no surprise that it is hard to be get excited about listening to highly compressed mp3s that miss all of the detail. As a classical music listener, I know I’m not the only one finding the limited metadata frustrating.
In any case, in the past I’ve subscribed to both the Tidal HiFi and Spotify Premium. Bottom line is that as a mastering engineer, it always hurts to hear the beautiful masters downsampled to “CD Quality” 44.1kHz/16bit, but it is a disappointment that we endure over and over. Part of the job. Streaming will never be as good as listening to hi-resolution master files, but at least with the newer options we as consumers are getting the ability to hear higher bit depth resolutions, even if the streams are using AAC compression, and the bit depth makes the biggest difference in the listening experience. The fact that you now have the option to get your music out there in 24 bit and higher sample rates like 48kHz and 96kHz is a very big deal, and we highly recommend taking advantage of as high of resolution you can for your distribution.
Dear Primephonic user,
Three years ago, Primephonic was launched to create a better future for classical music by addressing the challenges and complexities of the genre for the streaming era. We felt compelled to develop a streaming service that truly gets classical right—so that’s what we did over the last 3 years. But to fully achieve the next phase of our mission, we need to bring our classical streaming expertise to millions of listeners worldwide
As a classical-only startup, we can not reach the majority of global classical listeners, especially those that listen to many other music genres as well. We therefore concluded that in order to achieve our mission, we need to partner with a leading streaming service that encompasses all music genres and also shares our love for classical music. Today, we are therefore thrilled to share a great step forward in our mission – Primephonic is joining Apple Music!
The Primephonic service has been taken offline. We are working on an amazing new classical music experience from Apple for early next year.
In the interim, please check your email for more details about your 6 month free trial on Apple Music, your refund and more.
Yours,
The Primephonic Team
Apple acquires classical music streaming service Primephonic
The renowned classical music experience is coming to Apple Music
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA AND LONDON 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.
“We love and have a deep respect for classical music, and Primephonic has become a fan favorite for classical enthusiasts,” said Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats. “Together, we’re bringing great new classical features to Apple Music, and in the near future, we’ll deliver a dedicated classical experience that will truly be the best in the world.”
“Bringing the best of Primephonic to Apple Music subscribers is a tremendous development for the classical music industry,” said Thomas Steffens, Primephonic’s co-founder and CEO. “Artists love the Primephonic service and what we’ve done in classical, and now we have the ability to join with Apple to deliver the absolute best experience to millions of listeners. We get to bring classical music to the mainstream and connect a new generation of musicians with the next generation of audience.”
“Primephonic was founded to ensure that classical music will stay relevant for future generations,” said Gordon P. Getty, a major shareholder of Primephonic. “Primephonic and Apple together can realize that mission and take classical to a worldwide audience.”
Primephonic is no longer available for new subscribers and will be taken offline beginning September 7. Apple Music plans to launch a dedicated classical music app next year combining Primephonic’s classical user interface that fans have grown to love with more added features. In the meantime, current Primephonic subscribers will receive six months of Apple Music for free, providing access to hundreds of thousands of classical albums, all in Lossless and high-resolution audio, as well as hundreds of classical albums in Apple Music’s Spatial Audio, with new albums added regularly.