Download Providers Eye Classical Music

[Chaszz]

I read a story in a print newspaper (remember them?) the other day which said that roughly only 5 percent of downloaded music is classical, but Apple I-Tunes and the other companies which provide legal downloads are seeking to change that. They are working on solutions to classical's formidable download technical problems, which include greater length of movements, scores of versions of the same work, and the large amount of data that must be saved in the title area (name, composer, conductor, orchestra, year, etc.). But the surprise of this article for me was that the industry thinks that classical downloads will eventually account for 25% of their business. This seems like good news. How it squares with the increasing marginalization of classical that we've all discussed many times, I don't know. Kind of has me confused, but in an optimistic way.

Chaszz

[This message has been edited by Chaszz (edited 04-04-2005).]