Apple launches its classical music application with five million references. The objective is to simplify and streamline access to classical music.
“The largest catalog of classical music in the world”, it is with this superlative that Apple Music Classical presents itself, an application launched this week by the Apple brand, in addition to its Apple Music streaming service. The promise : “find any recording quickly and easily” among five million pieces. If the American giant is embarking on this adventure, it is because there is a real market and a real demand.
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But with these millions of references, works explained, research simplified, we will have to keep these promises. When it comes to classical music and streaming, “there is no classic title in the top 1,000 or in the top 10,000, so it’s still very little”, explains Jean-Philippe Thiellay, president of the National Music Center. For her part, the great conductor and choir Accentus, Laurence Equilbey, confesses: “Indeed, the record seems a bit dinosaur. Me, I still offer CDs of it, but, I’m sorry to say, I very rarely put them on my turntable. We’re in a hurry, we want things right away , we become a little capricious. Streaming is easy, so I understand very well, even I use it a lot”.
Bach, Beethoven or Mozart on the same level as Beyoncé, Orelsan or Taylor Swift. If Apple Music has decided to invest in the market, there is a demand. The figures show it, listening to classics in streaming jumped 25% last year. But 25% of not much is not yet a panacea, puts Jean-Philippe Thiellay into perspective, “I think that the current platforms also make very little effort to highlight diversity and novelties to an audience that might be interested.” The president of the National Center for Music notes that “listening figures are progressing”but concedes “a kind of laziness compared to the classic, which we believe should be put aside”Jean-Philippe Thiellay “hope that the arrival of Apple Music on this niche will shake up the landscape a little and push others to do their best.”
Competition and saturated music market
It’s true that the arrival of the Apple juggernaut in the sector could attract younger people and diversify playlists. But as in current music, it is the blockbusters that are doing well. “Where we have to be wary is that the issue of promotion by the platform itself, can be unfair compared to some other performers“, believes Laurence Equilbey. According to her, “It may prevent you from doing your own research because you are encouraged. And that may be a little too much marketing in my opinion.”
In direct competition with Idagio, the traditional market leader by subscription, Apple Music promises to put the package on audio quality. From there to giving classical production visibility in a saturated musical market, the question still arises.