I have the following reaction when I read that the New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic were going to offer downloads of complete recent concerts via iTunes: it’s about time!
Both orchestras are part of a new initiative by the Universal Music Group built on its Deutsche Grammophon and Decca labels. Christopher Roberts, president for classics and jazz for Universal Music Group International, says that DG Concerts and Decca Concerts will, between them, ultimately service about 10 orchestras in the United States and abroad. Negotiations are under way with orchestras in London, Paris and three German cities. The current intention is for each orchestra to offer, on average, four concerts a season for digital downloading, and one of the four would also be released on CD.
I think that this development (most notable among recent events of this type for the involvement of a prestigious major classical label, Deutsche Grammophone), which is the latest of several in which orchestras begin addressing the true potential for digital downloads as a way to promote themselves, is very positive on two fronts. Remember the adage “Think globally, act locally”?
First of all, if I’m a subscriber and I liked the performance of a new work by, say Jennifer Higdon, but I wanted to hear it again, I could go to iTunes and download the piece in question or the whole concert. I could listen repeatedly on my iPod or at home or in the car and gain a real appreciation for newer music. I might be less liable to skip a concert with unfamiliar repertoire and support more adventuresome programming by buying a season subscription next season, and telling my friends to do the same.
Second, let’s say that I live in North Carolina, and have seen the music director of the Oregon Symphony (Carlos Kalmar) conduct the North Carolina Symphony. I might want to hear performances of Kalmar with his own band – so I go to iTunes and download some performances as they appear. Wow, the OSO sounds pretty good – I might want to see the on tour or buy some recordings if they come out in the future. The national estimation of the ensemble goes up due to exposure.
With these two models, the prestige of the organization goes up, understanding goes up, attendance goes up, and without the traditionally prohibitive expenses of national and international touring and commercial recording with royalties and advances on royalties. Musicians should and must benefit in concrete ways from these recordings, most likely through a revenue sharing arrangement (many are being tried right now in experimental mode under the union’s Internet Agreement as the symphony managers and union continue a seemingly unending process to come to a new recording agreement to replace the outmoded phonograph agreement), but clearly the time has come for orchestral musicians to embrace the new methods of distribution that are benefitting the independent classical artists and to leverage the [new distribution method’s] benefits to their advantage.
Here is the article from today’s New York Times: link.
If you are a orchestral patron, let me know what you think about the ability to download recent concerts – is it attractive to you? Do you prefer it to radio, or not? And why? I’ll post the answers (with your permission, of course) at a later date.