that is a great article; thank you for posting. I just downloaded the Apple Music Classical app and took it for a spin and it looks great. By the way, I found out that I could use airplay with my Sonos speakers, so that will be really nice to use Apple Music classical with airplay, and my Sonos speakers.
> On Oct 31, 2023, at 10:18 PM, M. Taylor <markthew...@gmail.com> wrote: > > This is a wonderful article, Richard. > > Thank you ever so much for posting it to the list. > > Mark > > From: viphone@googlegroups.com <viphone@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of > Richard Turner > Sent: Monday, October 30, 2023 9:10 AM > To: viphone@googlegroups.com > Subject: How Apple gave people access to a library full of classical music – > and tried to make it accessible > > Greetings, > The word “Accessible” in the title of this article refers to general > accessibility to the world, not about disability. > > I found this article very informative for any classical music fan. I > stripped out the ads and have the link to the original story at the end. > > How Apple gave people access to a library full of classical music – and tried > to make it accessible > There are 1,243 versions of Vivaldi’s Spring from the Four Seasons alone. > Helping people through that was key to building the new Apple Music Classical > app, senior staff at the venture tell David Phelan > Sunday 29 October 2023 10:30 > > Earlier this year, Apple launched Apple Music Classical as a standalone music > app that comes included in the price of Apple Music. It was an unusual move > for a streaming platform perhaps more associated with Drake and Taylor Swift. > And building it was a major undertaking, given the vast complexity of > classical music libraries and the difficulties in navigating them. > > Apple Music Classical continues to grow. In its latest move, Apple announced > a new partnership between Apple and the London Philharmonic Orchestra with > the release of a live recording of Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust coming on > 3 November. This is just one of the partners Apple Music Classical has. > > From day one, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra was a partner. The content > from that orchestra is extensive, with recordings dating back to 1929. Some > of it is unique to Apple and this exclusive content alone has already been > streamed millions of times. > > Recently, senior staffers at the app talked exclusively to The Independent. > > Apple Music Classical came about because Apple realised that classical > artists and fans were really not being served well by streaming. As part of > its mission to use its engineering knowhow to fix this, it bought > Primephonic, widely recognised as the classical streaming platform that > succeeded where others had failed. It took more than a year of work before > Apple was happy with what it had created and its release to a highly positive > response. > > Now, classical music lovers don’t have to clamber past Justin Bieber and > Taylor Swift to get to Bach and Rachmaninoff. > > Classical music provides challenges other kinds of music don’t, or at least > not to the same extent. Instead of playing an album, artist or track, > classical lovers have favourite composers, orchestras, soloists and so on. > The search parameters are mind-boggling. Apple is well-equipped, with more > classical music than anywhere else on the planet, and Primephonic’s brilliant > data metrics were a starting point from which Apple’s engineers and expertise > transformed the experience. Want to listen to Vivaldi’s Spring from the Four > Seasons? Apple has 1,243 versions for you to choose from. If that sounds > overwhelming, Apple has a solution: careful navigation with sophisticated > search. > > Just as Apple Fitness+ has a mantra that everybody is welcome, no matter > their fitness level or knowledge, Apple Music Classical is designed for > seasoned devotees and newcomers alike. “If you didn’t know much about the > world of classical, Apple Music Classical offers a structure so you can get > into it. It’s centuries of music, right, so where do you start? It gives you > an opportunity to get some perspective on it, explains Mariana Pimenta, who > works in operations at Apple Music Classical, saying: “We don’t expect > everybody who downloads it to be a professional musician, and we want > everyone to experience classical music. Our goal is to bring as many people > as possible to this service.” > > Marina Boiko is an editor. She goes on, “The story of classical is a great > place to start and we’ve made sure there’s enough beginner-friendly content, > such as playlists of periods or genres.” > > Not all traditional classical listeners will be especially tech-savvy, but > that may not be a problem, as Guy Jones, global head of classical editorial, > explains. “Lots of classical fans are new not just to technology but to > streaming. The whole point of this product is to bring classical to > streaming. It’s the musical genre that wasn’t really being streamed because > the experience was previously so bad. The technical side of things may be > less of a problem, especially as Apple’s guidelines around human interface > design are baked into our product, but the challenge is more in explaining > that streaming opens up opportunity and accessibility. > > “When I was first getting into classical music, I had to buy CDs. I had to > choose carefully what CD I wanted to buy each month. The ability now to just > pick a random composer and ask, ‘Do I like this composer?’ That ability to > let you dip your toe in the water, I think that’s the real power of something > like Apple Music Classical, and not just for beginners, for the experts too.” > > The absence of the Primephonic app while Apple Music Classical was being > developed was down to getting it right, Carlos Anez Gomez, from the metadata > team, says. “It took us time, but it paid off because we needed to take care > with every single point and I think we managed to do it, both in human terms > and the algorithms: we made a great balance between computer work and human > work. Where Primephonic had a relatively small catalogue, Apple Music > Classical has a huge number of albums, for example.” > > The London Philharmonic Orchestra perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.3 > with soloist Stephen Hough and Shostakovich Symphony No.10, conducted by > Principal Guest Conductor Karina Canellakis > (Mark Allan) > > Boiko adds, “No one knows everything that has ever been recorded in the > history of classical music. And in that sense, we put a lot of emphasis on > the discovery element, especially when it comes to the underrepresented > composers.” > > Each work has its own place, called the work page in Apple Music Classical, > where you can find all the recordings, so it’s easy to compare different > versions. Primephonic’s unique data continues to be essential. “The > structured metadata, that’s the uniqueness of it,” Boiko says. “It makes it > easy to find things even if you don’t know what you want. That structure, > it’s what classical music apps needed and didn’t have. There are many ways > not to get lost because you can search by ensemble, by orchestra or even by > instrument.” > > The work page is important, then. As Gomez says, “People discovering music > can check this work page and say, ‘Aha, there is a new piece by a certain > composer and I have a work page which will give me all the information that I > need.’ I discover music every day going through this.” > > Another key element is the playlist. Boiko goes on, “Playlists are structured > in different ways. So, genre playlists are the best way for you to start > listening to classical music. The story of classical is a narrated cycle, > that guides you through all the centuries of music. > > “Then there are more specific playlists. You can listen to duets and trios > and quartets or quintets and then it gives you an overview of all this > chamber music and maybe something that you wouldn’t necessarily find on other > platforms.” > > Jones explains the importance of the human touch. “I don’t think it’s widely > known that at Apple it’s human curators behind the playlists. The assumption > is that it’s all algorithms now. But for classical that’s a particularly > important point, because it’s such a huge genre. People talk about classical > like it’s one block and it’s really a thousand years of music from pretty > much every country in the world. Our job is breaking classical into smaller > chunks, to give people the agency to discover what they like, and to go down > their own rabbit holes and feel more confident exploring.” > > How does Apple Music Classical find a way to appeal to everyone? Jones > explains, “It’s a really hard thing to do, to cover that broad spectrum. It’s > a constant tightrope walk because you have very knowledgeable people with > clear ideas about what they think the genre is as well as trying to please > newcomers. We strike that balance in terms of our editorial strategy by being > as authentic and genuine as possible and conveying our passion for classical. > For those hardcore classical nerds a big part of the product is the browse > and the search as much as it is the editorial, I think for the newcomers, > they use the editorial a lot more if they don’t know what to search for.” > > As it grows, there’s a lot more for Apple to do, and the team are working on > changes and improvements. Here’s a last word from each of them about why the > app matters. Gomez says, “People will discover that along with any classical > library that they can have their access quickly to any recording they have.” > > As Boiko says, “It’s a lot of music. I think there’s not one person that > wouldn’t find something they would love here.” > > Boiko has a different take on the importance of Apple Music Classical: “Maybe > the listeners will have emotional responses to it. And at the end of the day > music is there to make our lives better. It definitely enriches our lives.” > > Finally, Jones comments, “The thing about human curation is we are ultimately > making a human decision. And so, for instance, if you choose a recommended > recording for Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, you’re instantly upsetting everyone > who has a strong opinion about their favourite. That’s what comes with the > human aspect: this is our opinion, our recommendation, but you have the other > recordings there to explore if you want them.” > > Full article with ads: > https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/apple-music-classical-new-feature-iphone-ios-b2437303.html > > Richard, USA. > “Reality is the leading cause of stress for those who are in touch with it.” > -- Jane Wagner from The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe > > My web site: https://www.turner42.com > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if > you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or > moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: > mailto:mk...@ucla.edu. 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