Better late than never: Apple Music comes with Sessions. This is a direct counterpart to Spotify Sessions, which have been around for years. Both Sessions initiatives come down to the same thing: well-known artists make a live recording (consisting of three songs) that can only be heard on that streaming service. Only Apple Music has something special up its sleeve: spatial audio.
Spatial audio
Spatial audio is spatial audio, where the sound sounds more spatial. This makes the listener feel even more as if you are there, which of course offers considerable added value, especially in the case of a live recording. In addition, Apple also has videos, something Spotify has never really been good at. For example, you can’t watch video clips that belong to songs on Spotify, which you can with Apple Music. With Spotify you only get to see a small part.
As far as we’re concerned, the first artists are some special choices. They are two country artists, who are especially good in the United States. Carrie Underwood is even more famous outside the US with her Before He Cheats, but Tenille Townes is slightly less famous in the rest of the world. On the other hand, it’s a good way to introduce Sessions: this Apple Studio is located in Nashville, the heart of country music. However, there are more around the world.
In addition, Apple has made a smart choice by having artists also do a cover. In doing so, it competes with yet another music initiative, namely BBC Live Lounge. In this case we hear Ozzy Osbourne’s “Mama, I’m Coming Home” by Underwood and Etta James’s “At Last” by Townes. Now these are somewhat older songs, but covers always do very well in a modern jacket.
Apple Music Sessions
The next two artists are also known: Ingrid Andress and Ronnie Dunn. These are also artists within the country genre. Hopefully other genres will be added soon to broaden this new feature. Apple says it intends to, but it doesn’t seem to have caught the world’s Drakes or Harry Styles for a session yet.
Still, it’s worth checking out the country artists’ Sessions. Spatial audio is very special to hear (not for nothing Netflix added it recently). Spatial audio has been ‘ingrained’ in Apple gadgets for some time, such as AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, the Beats Fit Pro and third-gen AirPods. Spatial audio on Netflix: this is the difference New AirPods Pro also function as fitness tracker Lossless audio in Apple Music: 2 Apple products get an update Surprise: Apple announces new AirPods Max headphones Streaming causes major inequality in music industry
