Once, when I was a child, my father brought home a quadraphonic hi-fi system.
It was this new format that would take over from stereo, but it never really took off. It’s amazing that we didn’t really have a big change in the audio like we had in the video, so I waited a long time for Spatial Audio.
Sometimes new technologies are gimmicks.
But it’s not like that at all. This allows you to be in the room with the musicians who are actually playing there.
The first person to show me Spatial Audio was Adam Levine from Maroon 5.
He called me and said, “I’m going to send you something that I want you to listen to. It’s a real game changer for music and it’s hard to imagine going back. I think we’re going to see Spatial Audio everywhere. It’s never happened before that there’s been new technology where most of the gear you already own – iPhone, iPad, AirPods – already works.
We really didn’t have this technology in mind three or four years ago.
For the past two years, we have done it, because we thought
it was a real opportunity. Few people can tell the difference with Lossless Audio, but listen to the same song in Spatial Audio and everyone can tell which one is better.
There are millions of songs to convert to Spatial Audio.
But it’s not just about taking your song, processing it through software, and outputting Spatial Audio. In fact, you have to work on everything and remix everything… but if you’re a musician and you haven’t heard this, the first time you do it, you’ll be amazed. And then you’ll know it’s a no-brainer.
I love Justin Bieber.
If you looked at my playlists, you’d be like, “Why would he listen to that?” – but he has an incredible talent. But I also love Bruce Springsteen and The Weeknd, and one of the cool things about Apple Music and before iTunes is that you’re exposed to all the music. I don’t remember my parents listening to the music I listened to… but I listen to music that my kids like and they listen to music that I like, because it’s so accessible.
Music and Apple go back a long way.
It dates back to the days of Apple II when Steve [Jobs] always talked about how music had changed his life. He was a huge Dylan fan and a huge Beatles fan, and listening to music shaped his life. It was an important element when he founded Apple and it started with MIDI, providing tools for creating music; and we continued down this path to iTunes.
Voice memos are a huge hit with musicians.
Sure, you have Logic Pro and GarageBand, but with Voice Memos, you think of a lyric and record it right to your phone. We have always tried to create technology so that musicians can create and listeners can listen.
I’ve been with Apple for 32 years.
When I started, the company was in the heyday of desktop publishing. It was going very well, then it went very badly for a long time and we got lost. I was lucky enough to meet Steve when he came back and it’s been amazing ever since.
Steve Jobs had a wish.
He wanted Apple to be what it was when he was there a hundred years from now. He always talked about it and I’m really proud that the culture is something that we have kept. We have taken the products to incredible levels and I think he would be proud and amazed. I look at the products we’re creating today, and more importantly, I get a glimpse of the products we’re creating for the future, and I wake up every day just as excited to be here as I was 30 years ago. .
Eddy Cue is senior vice president, Software and Internet Services at Apple. Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos and Lossless Audio are available on Apple Music, from £9.99/month.
