Apple is hoping to incentivize more artists and labels to use spatial audio on Apple Music. Bloomberg reports that Apple will start “offering incentives to artists and record labels to produce music” using spatial audio and Dolby Atmos technology.
The report says that Apple will “give added weighting to streams of songs” that are mixed in Dolby Atmos. The specific details here are somewhat unclear, but Bloomberg speculates that “added weighting” could mean “higher royalty payments for artists who are first to embrace” Dolby Atmos and spatial audio formats.
The overarching idea, however, is that Apple wants to encourage artists and labels not only to record new music in Dolby Atmos, but also update older tracks with Atmos mixing.
Listeners wouldn’t necessarily have to play the Atmos version of a song for artists to benefit. It only matters that the song is offered in that format. The new policy will encourage artists and labels to record and mix music with Atmos — including older tracks.
Mixing music in Atmos is broadly affordable, according to the people, making it worthwhile for established artists and labels to participate in the hope of seeing a boost in royalties.
The change hasn’t been officially announced by Apple yet, but the news will likely be shared soon with Apple Music artists. Apple Music first added spatial audio support with Dolby Atmos alongside lossless audio playback in 2021.
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