I believe that digital media offers many opportunities for the classical music industry to reach out to new audiences, interact better with those who are interested in their music, and ultimately find new customers.

Here are three aspects that need to be addressed by the classical music industry:

1. Develop a better infrastructure for the digital distribution of classical music. Right now 99% of classical music online sales are done via channels which were originally created for pop music. While programs and websites such as itunes or rhapsody work well for those types of music they fail entirely for classical music formats. The main reason for this is that the databases that drive the search and browse functions are not useful for classical music tracks. The third movement of a Mozart sonata should not be listed as: song title = “Allegro”; it should be considered a subset of the work title “Symphony in G-Minor, K 550.”” (See my rant on rhapsody for more information). If the classical music industry will continue to make use of the distribution channels of pop music it will fail to connect with its customer base. If customers can’t find what they want to buy/consume you will not make any money.
2. Drop mp3 and other lossy algorithms and sell lossless music files such as wav or aiff. If you think that sound, character, and atmosphere are important aspects of your classical music recordings (and – oh yes – they are!) why would you provide your customers with a file format that cuts out exactly those frequencies that are essential for character and atmosphere? If mp3 kills your sound, kill mp3 (and other lossy formats).
3. Make Hifi-Internet equipment easy to use. No classical music lover (with the exception of a few geeks) will have their computer hooked up to a top-notch hifi system. Instead of delivering classical music to your customers’ computers you will have to deliver to and sell it on their hifi system.
4. Build intelligent home hifi systems, portals, and music players that suggest new pieces, deliver background information and – most importantly – alert customers of concerts in their area that they might like to attend. Ultimately this is where the classical music industry will make most of its revenue: the life performance.