More Apple Music Classical references spotted in iOS beta

As Apple's self-imposed deadline to launch Apple Music Classical nears, more mentions have been found in the latest iOS beta.

Following Apple's acquisition — and closing down — of classical music service Primephonic, references to the service were spotted in Android beta software, and betas of iOS 15.15.

Now a Twitter user has shown screenshots from the latest iOS beta that include Apple Music Classical references.

Looks like Apple is setting up Apple Music Classical in the backend now pic.twitter.com/LoWW6mHQLT
— Aaron (@aaronp613) September 28, 2022

There are few details to be gleaned from the code fragments, but they appear to be chiefly related to a classical music subscription. Nonetheless, it's the presence of any such code that is significant as it at least implies that Apple is readying the inclusion of Apple Music Classical within iOS.

When Apple bought the Primephonic company, it promised some details about the service, but specifically said that it would be launched by the end of 2022. That launch will also be of a separate Apple Music Classical app, which is to be based on the old Primephonic app.

Primephonic subscribers are to get six months of Apple Music for free. Within the classical app, Apple has said that browsing and searching for classical music will be improved.

12 Comments

lkrupp 10521 comments · 19 Years

About 2 years ago

I’m probably an outlier but I listen almost exclusively to ‘classical’ music and always have since I was a teenager. I never got into rock during the 60s but instead listened to Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Ravel, and the rest. If Apple is going to start a classical music service, even if it will cost extra, I’m there.

decoderring 56 comments · 13 Years

I’m pretty big into classical music myself and am super-excited about this.

I listen to enough other genres to use and enjoy Apple Music, and of course I hope this service is included with AM. But if it costs a bit more to add it to the bundle I currently pay for, I’ll be happy to do so as well.

DAalseth 3033 comments · 6 Years

I subscribe to allclassical dot org and it’s quite good. But I’m curious what Apple can bring to the table.

iyfcalvin 80 comments · 16 Years

Personally, I love classical music as well as rock, oldies and more (no country).

Now retired, I worked for the major record companies. One of the company’s I worked for owned more than 50% of the world’s classical. You’d easily know the label names.

I’m excited for an Apple Classical product. However, As one of those lovers of classical, and even though I’ve been exposed to a huge amount on the top labels, as a casual listener, I’m still pretty ignorant on how to find the music I like. In my opinion, there will be a huge amount of people like myself who enjoys classical, listens to their fave classical radio stations, but if they personally have to go find their faves, it’s a major chore and a huge learning curve. I’m not denying there’s a core of classical music aficionados that would likely thrive on this new Apple service, they’re just not a massive group and on top of that, a lot of classical music fans (baby boomers) are dying off and if you’re in the know, classical music just has very few fans in the Gen X, Gen Y and Z generations.

iyfcalvin said:

Personally, I love classical music as well as rock, oldies and more (no country).
Now retired, I worked for the major record companies. One of the company’s I worked for owned more than 50% of the world’s classical. You’d easily know the label names.
I’m excited for an Apple Classical product. However, As one of those lovers of classical, and even though I’ve been exposed to a huge amount on the top labels, as a casual listener, I’m still pretty ignorant on how to find the music I like. In my opinion, there will be a huge amount of people like myself who enjoys classical, listens to their fave classical radio stations, but if they personally have to go find their faves, it’s a major chore and a huge learning curve. I’m not denying there’s a core of classical music aficionados that would likely thrive on this new Apple service, they’re just not a massive group and on top of that, a lot of classical music fans (baby boomers) are dying off and if you’re in the know, classical music just has very few fans in the Gen X, Gen Y and Z generations.

Let’s be fair though, we all listened to rock when we were in our teens and twenties. I like to think that classical is something you grow into, so Gen X, Y, and Z, are not a lost cause.

That said classical is very different from other music. If you want to listen to Girl’s Just Wanna Have Fun, or Smoke on the Water, (yes I know I’m dating myself) there is really only one performance of it, one artist who did the version everyone knows. If you tell Siri to “Play The River” it would I expect grab the Springsteen album. On the other hand if you want to hear the Brandenburg Concertos, well there are hundreds of recordings and everyone has their personal favourite. Want to listen to La Boheme? The Met Version, or La Scala? Or maybe the version done in a studio by a group of singers just to make a perfect recording? Or maybe the Angel Records Highlights version that leaves out all of that annoying chatter between the arias? In this it shares a similarity with some Jazz, where dozens of people have recorded the standards.

So yes, finding a recording of Die Walkure is hard, (and if you find the one directed by Otto Klemperer my condolences). It’s hard to find the good ones in Classical. Much harder than in other genre. I suspect that’s why Apple is starting a separate service just for it. Regular AppleMusic just didn’t work. My hope is that this will allow more people, and younger people, to discover Classical.