
Image: Apple Music.
In last Monday’s (7/22) Digital Music News, Dylan Smith writes, “Now operating in most nations around the globe, Apple Music Classical is continuing its aggressive build-out with the launch of an ‘Apple Classical Top 100’ chart. The standalone classical music app … is available to Apple Music subscribers at no additional cost … The Apple Classical Top 100 will factor for streams on Classical and Apple Music proper, iTunes downloads as well as song sales, and Shazam tags. Given the market presence of Classical and Apple Music, it’ll be worth closely monitoring the weekly chart’s progress towards potentially becoming the definitive measure of classical projects’ commercial prominence. It’s unclear exactly how many listeners use Classical (and the overarching Apple Music …) but the service has quietly finalized several high-profile partnerships … Per OperaWire, that includes tie-ups with the Aspen Music Festival, Switzerland’s Verbier Festival, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic…. Apple Music Classical isn’t alone in attempting to establish itself as classical’s streaming home. Last year, Universal Music Group scooped up Hyperion Records and … made the British classical label’s catalog available to stream for the first time…. Universal Music’s Deutsche Grammophon operates a standalone classical service of its own.”