Sunday, February 05, 2006

Farewell Andante

Earlier this week, the classical website andante.com shut down for reasons of financial unsustainability. Scott Timber in the Los Angeles Times asks the question of whether classical music has a place on the web in his coverage.

What? The failure of one classical website because its business model didn't work doesn't warrant asking whether an entire genre can actually "fit" into the web. No one asks whether tech has a place on the web because a few thousand companies failed a few years ago. And no one questions the viability of the oil and gas industry because of the failure of Enron (the industry seems to be doing rather well.)

It seems that one of the ways into a classical music story in the press these days is by commenting on whether or not it is still viable. I must completely disagree with the question, which smacks of stereotyping and bias. Never have so many people listened to this genre, been involved in creating and re-creating it, writing about it, studying it, and trying to make money from it.

And to suggest that classical music doesn't "work" on the web? The last year has seen a huge increase in the number of classical music blogs created with a passion for the art and its possibilities, and the success of ones such as the concert, Tomness, Think Denk, and canadienne show that it is entirely possible to have both a solid performing career and engaging blog.

2/8 More on this subject from Alex Ross

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