Rich Fiscus
23 Oct 2007 11:32
Although there's much debate over the effect of music downloads on popular music sales, a much more interesting trend may be emerging which is specific to music that's not so popular. Although not in any danger of selling millions of copies or climbing the popular music charts, classical music has silently increased in popularity in the age of downloadable music.
According to Chris Bell, Director of Worldwide Product and Music Marketing for iTunes, the increased interest in classical music and other relatively fringe musical styles appears to be the product of the online marketplace where it's easy to listen to samples of different musical styles. He also says that classical music in particular sells better online than in traditional retail operations, although he won't go into details about the exact figures.
Besides the ease of finding and previewing music on the internet, some non-traditional classical music purchases certainly come as a result of internet anonymity. Without having to go to a brick and mortar store, inhibitions about asking meaningful questions and embarassment, either from not knowing the first thing about classical works or from being seen perusing a store's classical selection become non-factors.
Instead of non-commercial piracy on P2P networks, perhaps what the music industry should be worried about is an increasingly level playing field, where less successful artists and music can actually gain market share because of the internet's global reach.
Source: New Yorker