Apple buys Primephonic classical music streaming app

The acquisition comes ahead of Apple’s plan to launch a classical music app next year, which will combine Primephonic’s user interface with more added features. Listeners will also get better features including improved browsing and search capabilities by composer and repertoire, classical music metadata, among other features and benefits.

The new app will be integrated with Apple Music, offering its subscribers an enhanced classical music experience, starting with Primephonic playlists and exclusive audio content.

Primephonic is no longer available for new subscribers and will be made redundant on 7 September, and subscribers will get six months of Apple Music for free.

“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,” Primephonic said. “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.”

Primephonic co-founder and CEO Thomas Steffens said: “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.”

The deal grows Apple Music’s library of more than 75 million songs and bolsters its classical music content. It also adds to Apple Music’s growing list of music platform acquisitions. In 2014, Apple bought streaming music service and headphone maker Beats, followed by audio identification tool Shazam in 2017 and artist discovery platform Platoon in 2018.

Primephonic was launched three years ago to enhance classical music in the music streaming ecosystem by addressing the challenges and complexities of the genre. The genre has also received less attention with a decline in listeners around the world in recent years. In South Africa, classical music radio station Classic FM 102.7 was recently relegated to a lower-audience evening slot after the station rebranded to Hot 1027 on 1 July.