A new era of classical music on the web

Anne Midgette of the New York Times chronicles the life and death of several pioneering classical music websites and discusses the present state of classical music on the web. She concludes that "classical music is thriving on the Internet. It is just that ... it is not thriving in the form people in the 1990's or early 2000's expected it to take."

In particular, digitised classical music sells! It is estimated that classical music accounts for 12% of iTunes sales, compared to a 3-4 market share in album sales. Billboard magazine reports that the downloading of digital albums rose by 94% in 2005, compared with a 15% decline in album sales.

Perhaps sensing the rise of an alternative channel for selling classical music, the usually conservative Gramophone magazine has added a new column on downloading since mid-2005.

Classical labels are, not surprisingly, experimenting with ways to sell their albums through downloading (e.g. Chandos).

Naxos, the budget label, is also offering its music library as web radio channels for subscription.

Deutsche Grammophon has just signed a deal with the New York Philharmonic, allowing listeners to download live recordings by the orchestra. Other similar deals may offer webcast as well.