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New orchestral maneuvers win fans

When a friend first encouraged John Bell Young to use the Internet to promote his music, the classical pianist dismissed the very thought. The notion of bits-and-bytes Beethoven just seemed ridiculous. "There was this long-held idea in the classical community that any professional worth his salt would only use the Internet as a last resort," explains Young, who already had several major-label recordings, including a pair of successful CDs featuring the music of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. "Besides, we were all convinced that classical music was simply too good for that."

Two years later, he's singing an entirely different tune. Young now hawks his music on MP3.com, a site that pays artists directly when visitors download their compositions; in the process, he has earned more than $14,000 so far this year. "I've made more money in [MP3] royalties in the past few months than I made in years on any one of my recordings," says the 47-year-old. "I think the Internet is a salvation for classical music."

A growing number of industry insiders seem to agree. As the decline of traditional outlets such as the record industry and radio continues, artists and executives are looking to the Internet to build audiences. This summer, for example, 73 American orchestras and opera and ballet companies, including the New York Philharmonic and the National Symphony, approved guidelines for distributing their music online. The first venture debuted last month: a $2-per-listen netcast of the Philadelphia Orchestra and conductor and violin soloist Itzhak Perlman performing two hours of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. Some 15,000 people attempted to log on and listen (though phone-line problems related to the Verizon strike prevented the majority of them from getting through). It's just one more step in a long history of the genre adapting to advancing technology, says Perlman. "Just because some of it is quite old, [classical music] should not be exempt from this latest development."

Help! Increased exposure can only help the classical-music industry, which has long been more about prestige than profits. According to SoundScan, a New York-based company that tracks retail music sales, classical recordings accounted for just 2.3 percent of the $755 million in album sales last year, compared with 3.9 percent in 1995. In addition, a number of major labels, including BMG Classics, recently have curtailed their operations, terminating major-artist contracts and severely cutting back new CD releases.

There's reason to believe the Internet may make a difference. For one thing, the demographics of classical fans and adult computer users often match up; the technology also cuts through the "snob factor," which has largely limited listenership to only the most highbrow consumers. Online, the uninitiated can explore freely--and cheaply-- without feeling intimidated. Indeed, a recent study by Andersen Consulting found that online classical and jazz music sales accounted for 31 percent of total sales in 1999, while in-store classical and jazz sales made up just 5 percent of total retail music sales.

But while pop music groups and fans continue to debate the merits of free-music sites like Napster, critics warn that downloading Debussy can take hours, and the quality of streaming audio is far from satisfactory. "It's going to be a long time before listening to an orchestra performance in your home, on your computer, is the same experience as going to a concert hall," says Bill Rosenblatt, president of GiantSteps Media Technology Strategies. "But broadband is coming," he says. "And then things will really change."

In the meantime, classical musicians and labels are simply using the Web to reach out to a wider audience and to educate--particularly as schools continue to cut music instruction. "If you want a U2 record, there's only one Achtung Baby, but if you want Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, there are probably hundreds and hundreds of versions," says Steven Singer, senior director of new media for Universal Classics Group, which launched its Web site three months ago. "We have a responsibility to educate, because our music is more complex than . . . pop." Thus, many record label sites are heavy on artist biographies, catalog information, and audio samples, in addition to performers' diaries, designed to forge a long-missing connection between classical musicians and their fans.

As for John Bell Young, he now manages both www.johnbellyoung.com and his MP3 site; edits the Muse, an online classical-music journal that debuts this month; and recruits peers to the Internet. "Anyone who is not in tune with this technology is going to be left in the dust, so the [classical-music] industry would be well advised to take it seriously," claims the convert. "If we don't, we're not going to have a public at all."