It's only true as long as the content owner play with it.
The day the content owner stop wanting to license their catalog, the platforms die. The majors let themselves go into that trap because they failed at finding a viable digital model and the streaming platform showed them a way to keep making some money. Show them a better model that works and they will follow the money.
In 2017, the classical music market was shrinking but still worth half a billion a year with 50% of that still being physical sales. I'm still convinced there was a market to capture.
For classical, streaming is not an option: most content on streaming services are old (albeit often great) records from the past coming from the majors catalog (which they don't care much about). That's 4 or 5 catalog. All the independents rejected the model because they can't make any money there.
Streaming is the death of the classical recording industry. Simply. There is no money in streaming. The sad part is that the average classical music consumer has generally a lot of disposable income available but no way to spend it on a good modern product, in a way that support that industry.
I don't know much about it, but it's probably true of Jazz too.
What are your thoughts on apps like the Berlin Phil's Digital Concert Hall, or DG's Stage+? Those are streaming services at a more premium price, with smaller catalogs, but featuring new works and newly recorded works and generally high quality recordings.
As an end consumer of classical music, a streaming app like this one or the two I named make discoverability much easier in a way that is very appealing compared to direct sales. Even if there is a smaller total library available to me, I am much more easily able to explore that library and build my tastes. I think ideally, I would want an app that allows me to explore the streaming catalog of classical music in a discoverable, personalizable way, but that offers a way to buy these direct sale-exclusive recordings you're talking about once I'm confident about what I might enjoy. My Berlin Phil membership completely changed my understanding of classical, because it was so easy to just give something a try and the performances are so well-curated, often with a spoken introduction for context.
I'm a big jazz fan, and I know that Blue Note for instance seems to have done very well selling a lot of physical media with their vinyl series, including newly recorded albums. I've probably heard as much recently recorded jazz music on vinyl as on digital - and now that I think of it, there's a discoverability element there: if Blue Note bothers to press it to wax, it's probably pretty good. Most of the newly composed jazz I hear is performed live, though, and that seems to be the best way for most performers in the genre to make some income from it.
> What are your thoughts on apps like the Berlin Phil's Digital Concert Hall, or DG's Stage+?
I can't comment too much on their content as I haven't tried any of them. You make want to check them out though.
But commercially, it's mostly about 2 of the most recognizable names in the classical industry leveraging their notoriety. It's good for them but it won't really help the industry thrive again. The Berliner Philharmoniker or DG would be the last ones to struggle, premium subscription service or not.
I don't think a service will make a dent in the industry woes unless it becomes an industry standard. That's why my target business model was Steam and video games and not any music service.
I wonder if a key element is direct connections with fans. My 13-yo daughter is obsessed with classical music and her favourite performers seem to have strong YouTube presences.
Outside the classical world, if you look at a site like Bandcamp, that idea seems core. The business model also seems exactly like what you are talking about, both for performers and for the site. I see a lot of very obscure, niche electronic stuff that is supported by hundreds of people. That may only be thousands of dollars, not tens of thousands. However, it’s an economy. And compare earning $10 for the sale of a single album to the number of streams you need to earn that much revenue. We are talking orders of magnitude difference.
I have long wanted to build a combination of: Bandcamp, GitHub, and Steam for musicians.
Basically, a platform for musicians to produce music (and associated videos, artworks, etc), managing their assets securely, sharing and collaborating; then engagement with fans, promotion, merch, and touring support; and finally a simple platform for sales (streaming, downloads, and physical good) where the store takes a reasonable fee, but the bulk of the revenue goes to the creator.
I was kinda hoping Bandcamp would evolve in this direction, but I think that's not likely now.
> Streaming is the death of the classical recording industry.
Apple seems to disagree, so I guess we'll see. It clear that the best days are behind us, at any rate.
Bottom line: you might have been right that there was still a market to capture in 2017, but YC was also right to see that it was a shrinking market, not exactly the sort of thing in which they're most interested. It's hard to imagine a world in which the market for classical music is bigger today than it was in 2017, regardless of how well you--or anyone else--executed.
I have a Spotify Premium account and stream a lot of classical. Some of the things I've discovered that are different about that experience than other genres of music:
1/ It's hit or miss whether the major labels will put all their content on streaming platforms. Sure, you can find the most popular classic recordings, but more obscure stuff isn't there.
2/ A lot of classical music is still listened to on CD format, and some of the streaming stuff is clearly CD quality audio.
3/ I also scrobble all my music via Lastfm. But the problem with doing that with classical as opposed to pop formats is that so often the album art just isn't there. Apparently the company that sources the album art doesn't care about classical music.
The day the content owner stop wanting to license their catalog, the platforms die. The majors let themselves go into that trap because they failed at finding a viable digital model and the streaming platform showed them a way to keep making some money. Show them a better model that works and they will follow the money.
In 2017, the classical music market was shrinking but still worth half a billion a year with 50% of that still being physical sales. I'm still convinced there was a market to capture.
For classical, streaming is not an option: most content on streaming services are old (albeit often great) records from the past coming from the majors catalog (which they don't care much about). That's 4 or 5 catalog. All the independents rejected the model because they can't make any money there.
Streaming is the death of the classical recording industry. Simply. There is no money in streaming. The sad part is that the average classical music consumer has generally a lot of disposable income available but no way to spend it on a good modern product, in a way that support that industry.
I don't know much about it, but it's probably true of Jazz too.