Apple Music Introduces ‘Sound Therapy’ to Help You Focus and Relax
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Alongside a collection of new accessibility features for iOS 19 et al, Apple also announced a new partnership with Universal Music Group today on a new audio wellness initiative for Apple Music.
Dubbed Sound Therapy, the collaboration goes beyond just providing a collection of soothing mood music. Apple and UMG are partnering to leverage the latter’s catalog of global superstars and turn some of the most familiar and popular hits into “an innovative audio wellness collection designed to help listeners attain clearer focus, deeper relaxation, and better sleep.”
Sound Therapy features extended, instrumental, and reimagined versions of popular tracks from acclaimed artists such as Imagine Dragons, Katy Perry, Kacey Musgraves, Ludovico Einaudi, AURORA, Jhené Aiko, Chelsea Cutler, and Jeremy Zucker, providing a premium listening experience.
However, they’re also taking it a step further than merely turning popular songs into elevator music. Sollos, a team of producers, scientists, and audio engineers who came out of UMG’s London offices to become the group behind Sound Therapy, have applied cognitive scientific research and psychoacoustics to blend songs with sound waves that are intentionally and meticulously crafted to help listeners relax or focus.
Given Apple’s leadership at the intersection of health and technology, the launch of Sound Therapy represents an important validation of our innovative, science-led Sollos initiative. We look forward to working closely with the team at Apple to expand the ways that music can be harnessed to improve the wellness benefits for its users.”
Michael Nash, UMG’s executive vice president and chief digital officer
For example, gamma waves and white noise may be applied to songs by groups like Imagine Dragons to help with focus, while delta waves and pink noise in a dreamy version of Katy Perry’s Double Rainbow could help listeners sleep better.
Along those lines, Sound Therapy includes three distinct categories, with curated playlists on Apple Music for each:
- Focus improves concentration by “tapping into the power of gamma auditory beats to help listeners get in the mindset to achieve optimum focus” while using white noise to mask out distracting sounds.
- Relax utilizes theta auditory beats to help you unwind and relax.
- Sleep infuses delta auditory beats or pink noise with natural sounds, such as rainfall and ocean waves, to encourage deeper sleep.
For each playlist, Apple notes that “To get the most out of your listening experience, it’s recommended that you listen for at least 20 minutes in a quiet environment or with headphones.”
To be clear, while the music blends special sound waves and popular songs, you won’t find specific artists or hits by name in any of these playlists. Instead, the melodies are woven into the fabric of broader musical works by the Sollos team — but done in a way that would only be possible with UMG’s rights to use the music.
Apple has long been committed to enabling its customers to lead healthier, more active lives through offerings like Apple Watch, HealthKit, and Apple Fitness+. The company will work closely with Sollos and UMG to further establish scientific evidence supporting music and audio for improved wellbeing, and finding inclusive ways to bring these benefits to people around the world.
Apple
Sound Therapy joins the Apple Music Chill radio station, which arrived recently to provide a steady stream of soothing sounds that listeners can rely on throughout the day: “a continuous flow of chill highlights across genres, interspersed with mindful moments meant to remind listeners to make the time to find center and calm.”
