In an interview with Billboard, Oliver Schusser, Apple's vice president of Apple Music and Beats, says that half of Apple Music users are listening in Spatial Audio.
This is welcome news for those investing in creating new content and getting legacy material remixed in Spatial Audio.
He says of Spatial Audio;
“Apple Music only had a few thousand songs available in Spatial Audio when it launched the feature last year, and the company went on a journey to sell artists and producers — along with listeners — on the new immersive experience.
"We now have more than half of our worldwide Apple Music subscriber base listening in spatial audio and that number is actually growing really, really fast," says Schusser. "We would like the numbers to be higher, but they are definitely exceeding our expectations."
Schusser is keen that the move to Spatial Audio isn’t compromised by poor quality content.
“For Apple's part, the company is emphasizing the importance of quality mixing here — compared to the early days of Dolby Atmos Music, when some mixes didn't live up to the quality of the original recordings. "We listen to every song that comes in Spatial Audio to us and we try to engage with people who make the cut during the process."
Apple also recognise that Spatial Audio has the possibility to attract listeners of older content and not just new music.
"We're seeing huge uptick in artists' back catalog off the basis of them re-engaging their fans with a new way of listening to the music," says Rachel Newman, Apple Music's global head of editorial and content. Streams of Spatial Audio tracks on Apple Music editorial playlists have grown by 125% since the feature launched last summer.”
In an equally encourage comment, Schusser also spoke about the creation of Lossless audio. He seems to suggest in the article that while Lossless is optimal, the limitations are the convenience of the devices users like to listen with.
"Everyone in the industry was really focused on Lossless, we have every song in our catalog available in Lossless to us delivered by the industry, but the challenge is it doesn't play on any headphone in the world over Bluetooth or any wireless connection, and that is by a country mile the number one way how people consume music these days."
It is encouraging to see Apple’s commitment to Spatial Audio and Lossless formats even in the face of consumers choosing convenience over quality.