In the past decade, streaming services have revolutionized the music industry. In the U.S. market alone, streaming music has grown from a 7 percent market share in 2010 to an 80 percent share today, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. But the boom left something behind: classical music. Bach, Brahms, Beethoven, and the rest of those famous and not-so-famous classical composers might still be beloved by many, but most of those listeners aren't paying to stream music. Classical music makes up only 0.7 percent of streaming sales, even though a Primephonic survey showed that 34 percent of Americans say they are interested in the genre. The problem, at least in part, lies in the fact that less than half of those respondents are actually tuning in. Primephonic is one of a handful of companies trying to raise interest in streaming classical music, but CEO Thomas Steffens says it's a hard sell. "This can be a wake-up call to the classical music community," he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "Classical is facing the risk of a digital death. (But) there's more hope than we think. We just need to get our act together."
Hooked on classical:
- It takes more than 70 individual pieces of wood to create one violin.
- Until a last-minute change, the London Symphony Orchestra was planning to sail on the ill-fated voyage of the Titanic.
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart lived for only 35 years, but he composed more than 600 musical compositions, including more than 40 symphonies.