Apple Music will now pay artists up to an extra 10% in royalties for songs that are remastered in Spatial Audio (via 9to5Mac).
Bloomberg first reported about Apple’s plans to introduce Spatial Audio incentives back in December, and the company has now confirmed those plans in addition to the bonus’s extent.
Apple is offering the financial incentive to encourage more artists to adopt Spatial Audio, which allows for a more immersive listening experience when using AirPods and other supported headphones. 9to5Mac adds that this change is set to go into effect when artists begin receiving their January royalties paycheck.
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The report stresses that the royalties bonus isn’t paid out when Apple Music subscribers listen to a track in Spatial Audio. Rather, artists will only have to make their songs available in Spatial Audio to qualify for the 10% bonus. Even if users choose to turn off Spatial Audio, artists will still get paid extra as long as their songs support the surround sound feature.
The maximum bonus is calculated based on the ratio of tracks available in Spatial Audio to those that aren’t, the report adds. If an artist has remastered all of their catalog in Spatial Audio, they will see the maximum 10% royalties bonus even if actual Apple Music plays from subscribers are much less than that.
Over the past two years, Apple reports that over 90% of subscribers have experimented with listening to a song in Spatial Audio, and the overall number of Spatial Audio plays has grown more than threefold in the past two years. The company also says that the number of tracks on Apple Music that support the feature increased by 5000% since 2021, according to the report.
The incentive should further accelerate the adoption of Spatial Audio in Apple Music. The bonus is also designed to award artists for the extra effort and time spent to remaster tracks in Spatial Audio.
