Apple Music will be paying 10% higher royalties to artists who produce better quality work that can be made available in Spatial Audio.
The higher payments will be linked to the release of music on the streaming service's more immersive Spatial Audio. In its Monday announcement, Apple Music said that as technologies continue to evolve to allow artists everywhere to make higher-quality content, it is the company's belief that they should be paid more for such work.
Apple Music said that that change will be implemented starting with January's month-end royalty payments. It added that the songs that are available in Spatial Audio will now receive 10% higher royalties compared to other tracks.
Furthermore, listeners do not necessarily have to listen to the Spatial version of the tracks for the songs to receive greater royalties, they just simply need to be available in Spatial as well.
The company's announcement added that the change is not only meant to reward higher quality content but also works to ensure that artists are being compensated for their work in Spatial, as per the Rolling Stone.
Spatial Audio was created through technology from Dolby Atmos and has been available on Apple Music since 2021. When it was launched, Apple billed the new audio experience as a revolution in music listening and a similar sort of leap that occurred when stereo replaced mono as the standard format.
At its peak, Spatial Audio is a highly immersive experience akin to surround sound but critics and other listeners argue that in some cases, the differences can be less noticeable or underwhelming.
Despite the changes to royalties, it remains unclear how many songs and artists will be affected by the development. Apple did not provide a specific figure in its announcement for how many songs are available in Spatial Audio on the platform. However, it noted that the number has grown 5,000% since its launch.
In the last year alone, that number has since doubled and the new financial incentives will only work to help accelerate the adoption of Spatial Audio in the Apple Music catalog even further, according to 9to5Mac.
Incentivizing Higher Quality Work
The higher royalties also come as on Monday, Apple said that it has a "zero-tolerance policy" against deceptive or manipulative content. The company added that this would also apply to Spatial Audio content.
The company noted that its teams have already implemented "a quality control process that includes flagging content that is not delivered in accordance with Apple Music's Spatial Audio specifications and standards of quality.
It was suggested in December last year that one of the reasons behind Apple Music's decision to incentivize artists and labels to produce music in Spatial Audio is to encourage consumers to purchase Apple hardware.
Various Apple devices, including iPhone, AirPods, Homepods, Macbooks, and others come with support for Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio. Among other music streaming businesses, it is also included with Amazon Music Unlimited.
The latter said that it has a growing catalog of Spatial Audio songs mastered in Dolby Atmos and 360 Reality Audio from some of the biggest artists worldwide, said Music Business Worldwide.
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