2022年听过Apple Music 空间音频的用户超过80%
白菜君按
本文译自Music Business Worldwide 2023年1月12日的文章，原标题为 Over 80% of Apple Music subscribers listened to Spatial Audio in 2022，原文附在文末，或者点击『阅读原文』前往网站阅读
2022年初，公告牌也曾发布了一篇回顾过去的半年时间空间Apple Music 空间音频发展情况的报道 （公告牌：Apple Music的空间音频战略正在收获回报）可参照阅读
2022年是苹果音乐提供空间音频（Spatial Audio）功能的第一个整年，该功能为听众提供了沉浸式聆听体验。
在推出后的短短一年多时间里，该平台的全球用户中有超过80%的人享受到了这一功能。
"通过空间音频，苹果音乐为音乐流媒体设立了一个新的质量标准，为歌迷们提供了比以往更加深入、更沉浸的体验，"苹果公司在周二（1月10日）的一份新闻稿中透露，空间音频的每月播放量在2022年飙升了1000%以上。
Apple Music 在2021年6月推出了支持杜比全景声的空间音频，对所有订户免费。
空间音频能让用户聆听三维音频效果，使音乐聆听体验相对于传统的立体声更加多维化。
每次演唱会直播结束后，苹果公司都会即时提供沉浸式的空间音频格式的点播。订户们可以用空间音频格式收听Harry Styles、Lil Durk、Mary J. Blige、Billie Eilish、Luke Combs、Wizkid和Alicia Keys等艺术家的现场表演。
早在2021年，当苹果推出杜比全景声格式的空间音频时，Apple Music和Beats副总裁Oliver Schusser 就表示，"Apple Music 在音质方面取得了有史以来最大的进步。"
"用Dolby Atmos听歌的感觉就像有什么魔法。音乐从你的四周袭来环绕着，太难以置信了"。
杜比实验室在2019年与环球音乐集团合作开发了Dolby Atmos Music 杜比全景声音乐，为全球艺术家和歌迷带来了沉浸式的音乐体验。该技术可以让艺术家和制作人在一个基于对象（Object Based）的混音环境中创造三维的声景（Soundscape）。
2022年10月，籍由与汽车巨头梅赛德斯-奔驰的合作，杜比全景声的空间音频首次出现在汽车上。
UMG主席兼首席执行官Lucian Grainge爵士当时表示，这个联盟标志着 "与我们在杜比的合作伙伴多年来共同开发杜比全景声音乐格式的顶峰，因此我们可以为我们的艺术家提供更多样性的创意表达"。
Grainge在本周的新年贺词中告诉员工，开发沉浸式或空间音频是UMG "促进健康、可持续和令人兴奋的音乐生态系统 "使命的一部分。
"七年前，我们开始了改进音乐听觉体验的旅程。我们向杜比公司提出了一个建议：如果我们两家公司合作，我们可以开发一种新的格式，将听众包围在一个360度的沉浸式环境中，为艺术家提供一个更广泛的创意调色板来表达自己，"Grainge在一封内部信中说。
UMG的老板强调，空间音频可能是几十年来音乐录制聆听体验中最重要的发展之一。
Grainge指出，到目前为止，UMG近一半的流媒体消费和该公司前50名流媒体艺术家的80%的音乐都有沉浸式（Atmos）版本。
"许多平台--包括Apple Music、Tidal和Amazon Music - 都在为沉浸式音频的另外一个受益群体提供这种超级卓越的体验：乐迷们。"Grainge继续说。
苹果没有透露2022年收听空间音频的实际用户数量，也没有提到2022年的用户数量。
但是，虽然Apple Music 在2022年底将其在美国和英国的订阅价格从9.99美元/9.99英镑提高到10.99美元或10.99英镑，但该平台仍然没有针对空间音频或无损音频向用户收取额外费用。
相比之下，Amazon Music 也在通过名为Amazon Music Unlimited 的更高订阅级别提供HD 和Ultta HD 级别的歌曲，Prime会员每月8.99美元，非Prime客户每月9.99美元。
与此同时，Spotify仍未推出其承诺已久的名为Spotify HiFi的高级服务，该服务已经酝酿了近两年时间。
Spotify在2021年2月表示，新服务将提供CD质量的音乐。该公司仍未就这一消息采取后续行动。但在2022年10月，9to5 Mac报道说，Spotify正在考虑每月19.99美元的白金计划，其中将包括无损音频质量和其他功能。
在美国，高级订阅费用每月只有9.99美元。
在Apple Music、Amazon Music 和Spotify等主要流媒体平台上推出高质量的音乐服务，可以使数字流媒体对听众和艺术家更有吸引力，因为有些人 - 比如歌手/作曲家 Neil Young - 就曾批评流媒体服务没有提供播放音乐的最佳音质。
Neil Young 在2015年将他的音乐从流媒体服务中撤下，并非是因为流媒体的收益，而是因为他所说的 "广播史上最差的质量 the worst quality in the history of broadcasting"。
"我不需要我的音乐的价值因为广播史上最差的质量或任何其他形式的传播受到损害。我不觉得允许用这样的方式把我的歌曲卖给歌迷是对的。这对我的音乐很不好，"他在当时的Facebook帖子中这样说。
"等到质量恢复时，我会再看看。永远不要说 "永不"。
（但是Neil Young老师却在Apple Music上了几张杜比全景声专辑 - 白菜君按）
Over 80% of Apple Music subscribers listened to Spatial Audio in 2022
Spatial Audio lets users listen to three-dimensional audio, making music more multidimensional versus traditional stereo.Apple has made live performances immediately available on demand in immersive Spatial Audio following each broadcast. Subscribers can listen to live performances by artists like Harry Styles, Lil Durk, Mary J. Blige, Billie Eilish, Luke Combs, Wizkid, and Alicia Keys on Spatial Audio.Back in 2021 when Apple launched Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos, Vice President of Apple Music and Beats Oliver Schusser, said: “Apple Music is making its biggest advancement ever in sound quality.”“Listening to a song in Dolby Atmos is like magic. The music comes from all around you and sounds incredible.”Dolby developed Dolby Atmos Music with Universal Music Group in 2019 to bring immersive music experience to artists and fans globally. It allowed artists and producers to create three-dimensional soundscapes in an object-based mixing envionment.And in October 2022, Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos became available in cars for the first time via a partnership with automotive giant Mercedes-Benz.Sir Lucian Grainge, Chairman and CEO of UMG, at the time said the alliance marks, “the culmination of years of working together with our partners at Dolby to develop the Dolby Atmos Music format so we can provide our artists with an even wider palette for their creative expression”.
Grainge told staff in a New Year note this week that developing immersive or spatial audio is part of UMG’s mission “to promote a healthy, sustainable and exciting music ecosystem.”“Seven years ago, we embarked on a journey to evolve the music listening experience. We approached Dolby with a proposal: if our two companies worked together, we could develop a new format that envelops the listener into a 360-degree immersive environment that provides artists with a broader creative palette on which to express themselves,” Grainge said in an internal letter.The UMG boss stressed that spatial audio could be one of the most important developments in the recorded music listening experience in decades.Grainge noted that nearly half of UMG’s streaming consumption and 80% the label’s top-50 streaming artists’ music are available in immersive (or Atmos) versions to date.“Many platforms—including Apple Music, Tidal and Amazon Music—are offering this far superior experience to the other beneficiaries of immersive audio: music fans. Millions and millions of them around the world. And they simply can’t get enough,” Grainge continued.
Apple did not disclose the actual number of subscribers that listened to Spatial Audio in 2022, nor did it mention the number of subscribers in 2022.But while Apple Music in late 2022 raised its subscription price in the US and UK from $9.99 / £9.99 to $10.99 or £10.99, the platform still doesn’t charge subscribers an extra fee for Spatial Audio or Lossless Audio.In contrast, Amazon Music is also offering songs in HD and Ultra HD via a higher subscription tier called Amazon Music Unlimited at $8.99 per month from Prime members and $9.99 per month for non-Prime customers.Meanwhile, Spotify still has yet to roll out its long-promised Premium tier called Spotify HiFi, which has been in the works for nearly two years now.Spotify said in February 2021 that the new tier will deliver music in CD-quality. The company still has yet to follow up on that announcement. But in October 2022, 9to5 Mac reported that Spotify is reading a Platinum plan at $19.99 a month, which will include lossless audio quality, among other features.A Premium subscription only costs $9.99 a month in the US.The rollout of high-quality music services on major streaming platforms like Apple Music, Amazon Music and Spotify could make digital streaming more appealing to listeners and artists alike as some — like singer/songwriter Neil Young — have criticized streaming services for not offering the best sound quality for playing music.Young in 2015 pulled his music from streaming services not because of the income from streaming, but because of what he describes as “the worst quality in the history of broadcasting.”“I don’t need my music to be devalued by the worst quality in the history of broadcasting or any other form of distribution. I don’t feel right allowing this to be sold to my fans. It’s bad for my music,” Young said in a Facebook post at the time.“When the quality is back, I’ll give it another look. Never say never.”
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