Music can change the world. That’s what Ludwig van Beethoven, the legendary German composer and pianist, would have said. What we probably need to add in the fine print is that music as a language has to have a local flavor, something that music streaming platforms try to tick off. Some do it better. Among the global players that include Spotify and Amazon Music, none do localization as well as Apple Music. Along with the rollout of Lossless Audio and Dolby Atmos a few weeks ago, The Up Next Local Artist program has also been strengthened. This is because Apple data suggests that in India the most popular music genres are Bollywood, Pop, Hip Hop / Rap, Indian Pop, and Dance. The deployment of Lossless Audio brings a serious advantage over Spotify and Amazon Music, the latter having an HD subscription in some countries but not in India.

It was in May of this year that Apple extended the Up Next artist program to other countries, and India was joined by the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, South Africa. South, France, Germany, Latin American countries, Russia, Japan and Greater China in the program. The idea is to promote new and emerging artists every month, where an artist from each country will be added to this program. Overall, the artists are selected by an editorial team. For India, Prabh Deep has now joined KRSNA and Mali as the latest participant in The Up Next program. This follows earlier versions of the City Charts playlists, which are updated daily and currently include three Indian cities: Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. There are also curated playlists on the platform for 8 Indian languages: Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali and Marathi.

“Being part of campaigns like ‘Up Next Local’ puts us on the same footing as some of the world’s greatest artists. It allowed me to expand my creative network as well as my audience and helped me grow as an artist, ”Prabh Deep said in a statement. “When you’re an artist going against the grain, it’s important that platforms like Apple Music provide support opportunities so that we continue to push the boundaries,” he adds. Prabh Deep music will be available with Dolby Atmos on Apple Music. Prabh Deep’s latest album, Tabia, is also available for streaming lossless music.

Indian artist connect is nothing new. In 2019, Indian rapper DIVINE was interviewed by Ebro Darden, who is the Global Head of Hip-Hop on Beats 1 Radio. The radio station on Apple Music has an audience in over 110 countries. “From being the first Indian artist to shoot a music video on an iPhone to being flown to Beats 1 studios in Los Angeles to be interviewed by Ebro Darden himself, Apple has been very supportive of me and my music,” said declared DIVINE in a press release. Rap artist Raja Kumari hosted a special radio show “The New India”, featuring the best of Indian hip-hop on Apple music and interviewed Nucleya and Raftaar, at the time. In addition, artists such as Prateek Kuhad, Armaan Malik, and Peter Cat Recording Company have been featured on Apple Music One radio shows and on global playlists.

Apple has previously said that more than 20 million tracks are available in lossless audio quality, with the entire catalog of 75 million tracks being available in lossless version by the end of this year. In India, Apple Music subscriptions start at Rs 49 per month for the Student plan (which also includes Apple TV +), Rs 99 per month for the individual Apple Music plan, and Rs 149 per month for the Apple Music Family plan. You will need to enable Dolby Atmos in your Apple Music settings. For lossless audio, you can choose from multiple streaming options for each network you can connect to (Wi-Fi or cellular). For example, for Wi-Fi streaming, the options are High quality (AAC 256 kbps), Lossless (ALAC up to 24 bit / 48 kHz), and High resolution lossless (ALAC up to 24 bit / 192 kHz) . Lossless Audio and Dolby Atmos are now available to all Apple Music subscribers on Apple iPhone, Apple iPad, Mac, Apple TV and Android phones.

Read all the latest news, breaking news and coronavirus news here