New audio wellness experience puts a twist on well-known songs, combining science and sound for focus.
Apple and UMG tune into wellness
Apple Music has teamed up with Universal Music Group (UMG) to launch Sound Therapy, a new “wellness collection” of science-backed tracks designed to help listeners focus, relax, and sleep.
The initiative blends the familiarity of popular songs from UMG’s catalogue, with added auditory beats and sound waves. Partnering with Sollos, UMG’s audio-wellness technology division, their experts have reimagined popular tracks from artists like Imagine Dragons, Katy Perry, Kacey Musgraves and many more. The result? A fresh listening experience built on scientific research that enhances sound waves, psychoacoustics, and cognitive science, while staying true to each artist’s original vision.
“Now, with Sound Therapy, we’re proud to work alongside UMG and Sollos to bring a new listening experience to Apple Music – one that’s grounded in artistry, shaped by innovation, and designed to support wellness.”
Rachel Newman, Apple Music’s Co-head
Three Sound Therapy playlists
Sound Therapy is divided into three themed playlists, each tailored for a specific purpose:
Focus
This blends tracks with white noise (described as “whoosh-like” sounds) which mask distracting sounds- helping you stay present. Combined with gamma wave beats, this helps achieve optimal levels of focus, cognitive performance, and concentration.
Relaxation
These songs feature theta wave enhancements that help create a calming environment to help you unwind.
Sleep
Songs in this playlist incorporate pink noise and delta wave beats, like ocean waves or rainfall sounds, to help encourage better and deeper sleep.
Apple’s wider mood-based strategy
Sound Therapy is the latest addition to Apple Music’s growing range of mood-driven content. It follows the success of Apple Music Chill radio and personalized mood playlists, which has seen “incredible engagement”. Apple also introduced an Ambient Music feature in a recent iOS update, which quickly lets users access mood-based playlists from your Control Center.
This move also echoes Apple’s wider commitment to health and lifestyle offerings available through Apple Watch, HealthKit, and Apple Fitness+. UMG sees the project as a way to explore new ways to offer wellness benefits for its users.
“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.”
Michael Nash, UMG’s Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Officer
