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Music Apple

Apple To Acquire Major Classical Music Labels BIS Records (macrumors.com) 26

Posted by BeauHD from the service-bolstering-moves dept.
Apple will acquire the major Swedish classical music record label BIS Records, intending to fold it into Apple Music Classical and Platoon. MacRumors reports: BIS Records was founded in 1973 by Robert von Bahr. The label focuses on a range of classical music, with particular focus on works that are not well represented by existing recordings. It is an award-winning name in the world of classical music, acclaimed for its vast catalog and impressive audio quality. The label celebrates its 50th anniversary this week. The company announced its impending acquisition by Apple earlier today.

BIS is set to become a part of Apple Music Classical and the Apple-owned label Platoon. Apple acquired Platoon, a London-based A&R startup focused on discovering rising music artists, in 2018. In 2021, Apple announced that it had purchased the classical music streaming service Primephonic and would be folding it into Apple Music via a new app dedicated to the genre. Apple released the Apple Music Classical app in March. The app offers a simpler interface for interacting with classical music specifically. Unlike the main Apple Music app, Apple Music Classical allows users to search by composer, work, conductor, catalog number, and more. Users can get more detailed information from editorial notes and descriptions.
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Apple To Acquire Major Classical Music Labels BIS Records More

Apple To Acquire Major Classical Music Labels BIS Records

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  • Typical (Score:1, Troll)

    by KlomDark ( 6370 )
    Apple goes next to the tree and takes a bis
    • Oh did I anger the little fruit dweebs who haven't moved on from their junior high experience? Waaaahhh. Apple takes the bis is funny if you pull the stick out of your ass.

  • ... for anyone who enjoys classical music

    • While I'm not sure this is good news, I'm also not sure it's bad news.

      Apple Classical is tremendous. The "Story of Classical" podcast is tremendous. I would highly recommend both.

      • It's bad news if they plan to take BIS to Apple devices only, or if they plan to change the editorial contents of BIS. It's okay news if Apple just seek to expand their catalogue into the classicals or offer special deals to Apple users.

        • Apple Music Classical is currently available for iOS and Android.

          • That's still very limitative. DG is available in 12 platforms (including Apple Music and itunes), UMG is available in the platforms and physical media; (I bought a physical SACD from BIS this summer.)

            • While Deutsche Grammophon is a world wide player, this is a company that specialises on classical music that nobody else cares about. So I would think this music will become visible to many more people than before, even if it is Apple only.

              Visible to every single Apple user is much more visibility than visible to every user worldwide who manages to find an obscure little Swedish music label.

              Now maybe Apple isn't doing that out of the goodness of their heart but to make profit. But it is possible that s
      • Apple Music doesnâ(TM)t support music that I ripped from CDs. Like I have a 6 CD set with early works of Richard Strauss. Doesnâ(TM)t know it. James Kibbieâ(TM)s complete Bach organ works (free and legal download). Doesnâ(TM)t know it. And so on.

    • News (Score:3)

      by JBMcB ( 73720 )

      Because... BIS is such a massive player in the classical music business? They release a lot of music, but it's small fraction of what Naxos or UMG (Deutsche Grammofon, Virgin, etc...) releases every year. I guess you could argue it's bad news if you like Scandinavian classical music...

  • Apple moving into classical production? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by david.emery ( 127135 ) on Tuesday September 05, 2023 @04:57PM (#63825984)

    BIS has a reputation for technically excellent recordings. This likely puts Apple into the classical content production business, the same way that Apple TV+ put them into the video content production business.

    (That being said, I have no interest in any streaming platform. I'm perfectly happy with my existing CD collection, that doesn't cost me -anything- to stream through the house, or play back on my phone. And no one can "claw back" or "cancel" my CDs.)

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mfearby ( 1653 )

      I've got about 2000 CDs of classical music and recently subscribed to Spotify Premium for the convenience. It's nice to know I still have the CDs, which I've ripped to MP3 and copied to some USB sticks to play in the car. There's a few titles not on Spotify but there's plenty of alternative recordings. I've run out of shelf space anyway, so continuing to acquire more CDs isn't feasible. The Apple offering didn't look as compelling as Spotify, which I'm sure will catch up and add more features (they've close

      • How did you rip your CDs and in particular what did you use as a metadata source? That's the big problem I've had since Day 1 with iTunes. The metadata schema was not well thought-through for classical (or anything else album-oriented), and the result was terrible inconsistency in metadata organization and content.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by mfearby ( 1653 )

          My ripped collection is in a somewhat messy state because of the lack of easy solutions that I find acceptable. Since joining Spotify Premium recently, I'm in the process of selling off some of the least-listened-to CDs on my overflowing shelf. Ain't nobody got time to fuss over ID3 tags and file names anymore :-D

  • Pepperidge Farm remembers (Score:4, Informative)

    by Powercntrl ( 458442 ) on Tuesday September 05, 2023 @04:59PM (#63825990) Homepage

    Remember when Apple made an agreement with The Beatles that they wouldn't become a record label?

    In case anyone is wondering, nope, there won't be any more lawsuits over that. Apple ended up settling with Apple Corps by buying the rights to "Apple" from them for some undisclosed (but rumored to be $500 million) amount, and then licensing the name back to them only for Beatles-related uses.

    Still, it's ironic to see the computer company that insisted it wouldn't become a record label, become a record label.

    • Nobody will want to watch video on an iPod.
      Nobody will need native apps on an iPhone.
      Nobody will need a stylus.
      &c

    • Remember that glorious time when tech companies did not try to control all aspect of our media consumption? It was nice.

      Microsoft / NBC combining to form MSNBC in 1996 may be the first major crossing of that Rubicon. In retrospect, it was a great idea, but a decade or two too early.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by JBMcB ( 73720 )

      Remember when Apple made an agreement with The Beatles that they wouldn't become a record label?

      And then Apple Corps, their music label, sued Apple because their computers could make bleeps and bloops?

  • I want to say how sad this makes me, but I think I've grown numb to the constant consolidation of media, of ideas, of companies, of money, of thought, of everything. I look forward to the day the last giant conglomeration swallows the remaining conglomeration level companies and we just have to pay a nice, convenient monthly fee, government mandated of course, to the One True Media Company for our "entertainment," which will also cover the news, both local and national, and our access to all communication o

    • Please check your record collection and tell me how many records from BIS you own. And then come back.
  • It's totally not my bag

  • The state of the classical app is lamentable, especially for the product of such a large and profitable corporation. Bugs go unanswered (and unrepaired), interfaces lack obvious improvements, and important metadata remains unsearchable.

    I wil say this is mostly pathetic, rather than completely pathetic, because classical (and jazz) music fans know how awful the current state of the art is on streaming platforms.

    A properly tagged MP3 library from 2002 is in most ways better than Apple's offering. Here's hop

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