Stage+, Spotify or Idagio: Berliner Philharmoniker in the living room

Deutsche Grammophon promises a “new world of music” on its online platform, which has just been launched Stage+ (https://www.stage-plus.com/de/discover). Live streams from all over the world, brand new albums as well as archive recordings in sound and image are intended to attract the classical music audience in droves to the screens. But is what the traditional yellow label advertises to its future subscribers as “music for the eye” and “magic for the ear” really such big news?

Public and private platforms

In addition to public broadcasters such as Arte or Bayerischer Rundfunk, which offer live broadcasts and media libraries, numerous private streaming platforms have long been competing for the attention of opera and concert lovers.

The corona pandemic has obviously given music streaming a powerful boost. According to the Federal Association of the Music Industry, more than three quarters of the total sales of around two billion euros were generated digitally in the industry for the first time in 2021. Audio streaming accounted for a good two-thirds of this. Sales of physical CDs and music videos on DVD or Blu-ray continued to fall. Not only rock and pop fans, but also classical music listeners are logging on to streaming portals more and more frequently.

On the virtual stage DG Stage Deutsche Grammophon had already broadcast six Wagner operas from Bayreuth in the first year of the pandemic, 2020 – each on the day of their originally planned performance at the festival, which had to be canceled due to Corona. At the moment, paying customers can Stage+ see this year’s new production of the Bayreuth “Ring des Nibelungen” directed by Valentin Schwarz. At the same time, however, Arte offers the “Ring” from the Berlin State Opera free of charge, in which Christian Thielemann recently stepped in at the podium for the sick host Daniel Barenboim.

The audiovisual DG productions are supervised by Robert Zimmermann, previously head of the Digital Concert Hall (https://www.digitalconcerthall.com/de/concerts) by the Berlin Philharmonic. With the introduction of their virtual concert hall at the end of 2008, the Philharmoniker became pioneers in the classical music streaming business. Until then, there had only been precursors in the world of opera.

14 years of Philharmonic programs

Subscribers can listen to live concerts and access an ever-growing archive of hundreds of recordings. It contains all Philharmonic programs performed over the past 14 years as well as older concerts, for example with the then chief conductors Herbert von Karajan and Claudio Abbado. Interviews, documentaries and contributions from the education program complete the offer. Since this summer, the platform has enabled a new, three-dimensional sound experience thanks to the Dolby Atmos surround sound format.

In the archive of the Digital Concert Hall, you can use different search categories – for example composers, conductors, soloists, epochs – to find the desired concerts. The streaming market leader can do such differentiated functions Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/) , which covers more than just the classic segment. That’s what the platform has developed idagio (https://www.idagio.com/de/), which also advertises fair remuneration for authors. The artists are not paid per click, as is usual, but per second they listen to – because classical pieces are usually longer than pop songs.

Meanwhile, Apple is planning the long-awaited launch of its Apple Music Classical streaming service for late March. https://apps.apple.com/de/app/apple-music-classical/id1598433714. The basis is the Primephonic streaming platform, which the US technology giant acquired in 2021. The new service can initially only be used on iPhone models from iOS 15.4 and up. According to the group, subscribers will have access to more than five million classical titles. In addition, curated playlists, music albums available exclusively from Apple and in-depth information such as composer biographies are offered. An app for the Android operating system will follow soon.

In addition to CD recordings from various eras, you can idagio Listen to numerous playlists curated by music experts. The “Weekly Mixes” contain a selection of tracks based on personal listening history.

With the Global Concert Hall, this provider also has a stage for video live streams, which then go into the archive for a limited time. Some broadcasts also require subscribers to purchase additional tickets, such as the “Pay As You Wish” model, which allows them to pay any price within a specified price range. Idagio Interactive offers courses, some lasting several weeks, ranging from composer workshops to preparing professional musicians for orchestral auditions.

Primephonic (https://www.primephonic.com/) , formerly a competitor of idagio in the classical sector, was bought by Apple over a year ago and has been dormant ever since. Users are currently puzzling when the Apple Classical app announced by the computer company will actually be launched. AppleMusic (https://www.apple.com/de/apple-music/) covers all music genres, as well as Spotify or the streaming services Qobuz (https://www.qobuz.com/de-de/discover), Tidal (https://tidal.com/) and deezer (https://www.deezer.com/de/)..

The video platform operated by the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation ORF and Unitel myfidelio (https://www.myfidelio.at/) presents operas, concerts and ballets, including from the Vienna State Opera and the Salzburg Festival. A similar program of international stages has Medici.TV (https://www.medici.tv/en) in the portfolio.

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