Classical music joins streaming age
The digital revolution in the way we consume recorded music is roaring ahead.
And streaming is rapidly overtaking downloading as the preferred method of accessing music digitally, with revenues up 45 per cent last year.
The major streaming services such as Spotify, Google Play, Apple Music and Deezer are the new kingpins of the music industry and, so far at least, this revolution in the way we listen to music is being shaped by pop. Classical has barely got a look-in.
In a way, this is no surprise: classical music makes up just 3.2 per cent of the streaming market, where the three-minute pop song reigns supreme.
And because pop songs hook themselves so snugly into people’s lives, they work perfectly when bundled into playlists, defined by mood, place, or time of day.
This theming of music in turn helps oil the wheels of another massive digital industry: social media.
More and more people are displaying their musical tastes by sharing playlists, in the way they once artfully arranged favourite books and CDs on their shelves.
So how can classical music find its own home in this brave new digital world?
It is true that the big streaming sites are packed with classical pieces, and not just the ‘‘greatest hits’’.
But the truth is that classical music in the streaming world is like an elderly uncle invited to a party of trendy 30-year-olds: he knows he doesn’t really fit in.
The biggest problem is that classical music doesn’t come in neat little packages called songs, each with a unique name.
It’s bundled into genres, so many pieces have similar names like ‘‘string quartet’’ or ‘‘sonata’’. These are often divided into movements, which often have titles in foreign languages. What’s more, many if not most pieces have been recorded multiple times, sometimes by the same artist.
Streaming sites are ill-equipped to deal with this complexity.
On Spotify, composers such as Beethoven are regularly listed as ‘‘artist’’ and when you search for a particular symphony you get a chaotic jumble of different recordings.
Fortunately, however, there is light on the horizon. This week an exciting new classical music streaming service launches called Grammofy.com. It joins a burgeoning market of streaming services dedicated to classical music, including Arkiv Music (arkivmusic.com) and Classics Online (shop.classicsonline hd.com).
Grammofy very cunningly makes a pact with the sharing culture of pop-dominated websites by offering curated playlists such as ‘‘The beloved and the forlorn’’ and ‘‘The graceful and the grotesque’’.
The playlist has a light-touch introduction, which you can listen to or read, and if you click on Haydn’s symphony you get complete recording details, plus helpful background to the piece itself.
The big fish of the streaming world, like Spotify and Google Play, will never give us that, which is why the arrival of this brave minnow should be welcomed.
Perhaps in time it will go further. Imagine a website that can answer FAQs as you listen, suggest personalised journeys through classical music, let you hear rival versions of the same piece, and lead you to live performances of pieces you like – perhaps even recreate the experience of attending a concert via Virtual Reality.
If digital pioneers such as Grammofy do succeed and develop, they could simultaneously offer listeners pleasure, knowledge and a sense of adventure – which is how classical music should always be enjoyed.