Yesterday marked the unveiling of ‘Apple Music‘ – pioneering app, streaming service and 24 hour radio which claims to bring ‘the largest and most diverse collection of music on the planet’ directly to your fingertips.

According to Jimmy Iovine, “Online music has become a complicated mess of apps, services and websites” and in the classical music world, this statement could not be more true. Despite the plethora of options available to the tech-savvy listener, how is it that classical music lovers are still struggling to find recordings of their favourite pieces online? In a recent article on The Record, Anastasia Tsioulcas argues that the problem lies with metadata (the information that coexists with every digital music file.)

But what does this actually mean? Well, if you have ever tried to find a specific aria or overture on Spotify for example, you have probably already fallen victim to this complex phenomenon. Who do you select as the artist? The composer? The orchestra? The soloist? The opera company? The conductor? Unlucky for you, the answer is different every time. Just one incorrect search term and you risk eliminating the result you are looking for.

From Grooveshark to Pandora, numerous streaming and downloading websites have appeared on our computer screens over the past decade, but none of them provide such a comprehensive selection of music, the possibilities to connect with artists nor the personalized services which ‘Apple Music’ promises to do. With its Worldwide Debut on 30 June, we will be interested to see whether this new interactive app will put an end to our classical music streaming struggles. If it does, $9.99/month seems like a small price to pay.