Sony planning all-classical download service
20th Jul 2010
Gig news staff
Category: Soundboard
Sony Music Entertainment is developing a high-quality digital download service dedicated to classical music. The service, which could launch as early as this autumn, will offer high-quality ‘lossless’ downloads, in an effort to attract consumers put off by the lower sound quality of mp3.
Sony is negotiating with Universal, Warner and EMI to add their content to the fledgling site. If successful, it would be the first time a major label has offered more than just its own classical content – Deutsche Grammophon launched a similar service in 2007, also based around high-quality lossless tracks. Sony may also add jazz recordings to the site.
Independent sites already offer classical content as lossless FLAC downloads, including Passionato, Classical Archives and ArkivMusic. Naxos has also branched into the format on its own site. According to BBC sound engineers, the sound quality of an mp3 is around one-tenth that of a CD. Matters such as downloading information about the recording, such as the names of the soloists, librettist or place of recording, still have yet to be resolved.
