Apple just bought a whole music label to grow its Apple Music Classical app

Apple Music Classical
(Image credit: Tammy Rogers/ iMore)

Apple has agreed to buy a new music label, with plans to roll it into the Apple Music Classical library. It'll also be added to Apple's in-house music label, Platoon.

That's according to the label itself, anyway. While Apple is yet to confirm the acquisition, BIS Records announced the move on X, the social network previously known as Twitter.

BIS Records is known for its range of classical music and recently celebrated its 50th birthday.

A half-century celebration

The record label also shared news of the buyout on its website, with founder Robert von Bahr saying that he is "immensely proud of what our small team of people has accomplished during this half-century."

"We thought long and hard on how to maintain and build upon our prestigious history and looked for a partner who would further our mission, as well as an increased global platform to bring classical music to new audiences all over the world," the note reads. "Apple, with its own storied history of innovation and love of music, is the ideal home to usher in the next era of classical and has shown true commitment towards building a future in which classical music and technology work in harmony. It is my vision and my sincerest dream that we are all a part of this future."

The note ends by saying that BIS will become part of Apple Music Classical and Platoon, but there is predictably no word on how much money changed hands to make the deal happen.

Apple routinely buys companies for talent and technology and in this case, to add a collection of music to a relatively new streaming option. Apple Music Classical launched earlier this year on iOS followed by Android, and offers a dedicated listening experience for those who enjoy classical music.

It's unclear when or indeed if Apple will confirm the buyout.

Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.