primephonic: classical music in the digital age

Recommendations

Info

primephonic the chronicles From physical CD to Napster filesharing and from iTunes to purposebuilt classical streaming platforms with richer metadata and room for discovery, the classical music industry has evolved beyond what any industry maverick could have foreseen. The ability of technology to change how we listen to music has had a gamechanging effect which has accelerated considerably from the turn of the millennium up to the present day. primephonic editor Rachel Deloughry had the opportunity to speak to PETE DOWNTON, Deputy CEO of 7digital about this exciting era. of streaming 36
tech insights i. an unprecedented timeline guess I saw the tail end of what had become I the CD boom that had driven growth in the recorded music industry. To provide a little bit of context, I joined Warner Music Group initially in 1996 and worked in the physical business in the UK company. To give you a sense of what that meant in practical terms: when I joined Warner Music, there were five major record labels. Between us, we employed upwards of 40,000 staff around the world, managing principally the physical distribution of music. Of course classical music was a meaningful part of that activity. And so, there was a transition in 1999 when peer-to-peer first emerged as a major consideration for the music industry. With Napster, one saw that the industry had, to a degree, anticipated the shift to digital. But it tried to make digital in the image of physical, by offering the same kind of products in the same kind of way but on an internet retail basis. I always refer to that period in recorded music as ‘the abbreviated grieving process’. We began with denial, we experienced anger, which resulted in us suing pretty much everybody! And then in 2003 we reached acceptance with the launch of iTunes. Having worked at Warner as part of the team that helped bring iTunes to the market, it had become apparent from the previous year or so that the industry needed help: it needed help to organise itself and to make this transition, because the old rules didn’t really apply any more. We were struggling to organise ourselves and our own assets, let alone determining and dictating the way music should be distributed. So we were really fortunate that around the same time that this was taking place, we were at the forefront of the discussions leading up to the launch of iTunes. At Warner, Roger Ames, our global chairman and CEO, was the first senior executive from the recorded music industry to engage with Steve Jobs and the team at Apple. And so we saw up close the transition that the industry needed to make. However when iTunes launched, it was regarded in the technology industry as the last roll of the dice for Apple. Apple was a business that was completely dwarfed by the big internet and mobile players of the time, by companies like Nokia and others who were worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Apple was a relatively niche player in that marketplace. So, one of the things that really enabled Warner to have a disproportionate impact was seeing the transformation of an idea as simple as iTunes, and watching the reality of that idea play out in the marketplace. I remember vividly on the second full day of iTunes sales in North America, receiving a phone call from the North 37
Page 1: for life on an epic scale printed i
Page 4 and 5: table of contents from the editor..
Page 6 and 7: primephonic Editor Rachel Deloughry
Page 8: primephonic Can Philip Glass really
Page 11 and 12: portrait a teacher in New York simp
Page 13 and 14: title goes here and resting for eve
Page 15 and 16: Welcome to Brooklyn. Powered by tha
Page 17 and 18: work in classical music. There are
Page 19 and 20: LOFTOPERA NATIONAL SAWDUST BARGEMUS
Page 21 and 22: portrait maria callas the voice Fra
Page 23 and 24: portrait voice, often startling in
Page 25 and 26: title goes here recording studio pl
Page 27 and 28: tech insights JEAN-MARIE GEIJSEN In
Page 29 and 30: SUBSCRIBE title goes here 1 YEAR SU
Page 31 and 32: Joost had a prime example about how
Page 33 and 34: point of view ‘we should still be
Page 35: title goes here Our artists put all
Page 39 and 40: tech insights better job than most
Page 41 and 42: tech insights ‘it’s being made
Page 43 and 44: tech insights ‘so context is ever
Page 45 and 46: tech insights the streaming user ex
Page 47 and 48: community of the company. In 2015 s
Page 49 and 50: title goes here The energy and emot
Page 51 and 52: title goes here c. 495BC The connec
Page 53 and 54: title goes here ‘i greatly prefer
Page 55 and 56: title goes here music & architectur
Page 57 and 58: catalogue 57
Page 59 and 60: instruments brilliant simplicity to
Page 61 and 62: instruments never truly caught on w
Page 63 and 64: eviews what the critics say JESSICA
Page 65 and 66: eviews Macbeth - is still evident,
Page 67 and 68: HISTO title goes here RIC AL Day by
Page 69 and 70: 1992 CLASSIC FM WAS LAUNCHED 7 Sept
Page 71 and 72: ANYTIME. ANYWHERE. ANY DEVICE! GET

primephonic: classical music in the digital age

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?