Why Can't Streaming Services Get Classical Music Right?
Posted by: Kendrick on 11 June 2015
I've wondered as much after searching for a specific classical work on Tidal or Spotify and coming up "empty". Perhaps you have, too. Answers to this question and more can be found in an interesting article featured by NPR (National Public Radio, USA, June 4th). Links are not allowed, but the article can be found by searching the subject title. Thanks to "Audio_Elf" on the Computer Audiophile forum for posting.
ER, perhaps because they don't care. Lady Gaga is far more serious musician than Mozart was.
Perhaps because they're curated by 12 year olds who think Beethoven is an artist.
Perhaps because they're led by PR companies who've never heard of Shostakovich or Vaughan Williams and who won't make an MTV video (being dead is no excuse)
Perhaps because it doesn't fit into a single "genre".
And so on.
I'll stick with the wonderful free Audiophile Classic, Radio 3 and the rest and spend my money on CDs
Don't blame the streaming services if the record company itself cannot get its own act together....
So I can't really agree that qobuz have got it quite right either.
roonlabs claim that their software features "classical music done right". Anyone know whether that's true?
Qobuz has a nice classical catalog, agree R.K.
Bought almost 40% of my clasical music there.
This is one of the main reasons I'm sticking with CD for the foreseeable. I haven't tried Qobuz, but Spotify's classical offerings are rather thin. I've just typed Chopin into the search box and got Frederic Chopin as a suggestion. Clicked on him and... 'Something went wrong. We can't seem to find the artist.'. Same thing happened with Mozart. And Beethoven.
Mark
I agree that it can be difficult to find classical recordings on Spotify. I have tried searching for particular works by title or album, only to find no result and then to search by artist and the recording is found. This is very frustrating. At least Spotify is gapless.
Our local public library service offers access to the Naxos Music Library (albeit at standard quality and not premium). This is a fantastic resource with recordings from many labels not just Naxos - however it is not gapless and so if you listen to say 'Pictures at an Exhibition' or the 'Enigma Variations', the flow of the music is broken with gaps in what for the main should be a continuous piece.
There is a huge problem with downloads of Classical, especially opera. I have almost given up buying opera downloads, because of their tendency to appear in Nstream as multiple albums because of the change of the 'artist' field on nearly every track. Also, albums which were originally multiple CDs (most opera) often need a lot of work to get the tracks to play in the right order - not a big problem with many a Rock or Pop album, but a must for opera!
Generally, classical music requires an 'album' approach, which is at odds with prevailing 'songs' and 'playlist' culture.
Qobuz has an extensive classical offering but it often suffers from the aforementioned drawbacks.
I'm Minimserver I just ensure the album and album artist metadata are consistent for the whole album in dbpoweramp and they work perfectly.
But HH, am I correct that you have to edit the metadata after download, to get the required result?
It is this task which I find a pain in the ass - but maybe I am missing something?
This seems to have strayed into download rather than streaming issues. To get back on topic, Qobuz, when it does things well, is a model of what lossless streaming classical services should offer, because:-
- It provides gapless playback, absolutely essential for classical listening
- it usually (though not always - it needs to improve) offers access to the cd booklet to enable one to follow notes, libretti etc
- the search engine usually works ok
Blips in service are rare - yesterday I listened to the whole of Mahler 9 (Concertgebouw/Chailly, since you ask), which is 90 minutes without any interruption. If I'd had the CD, I'd have had to get up to change disc. Qobuz deserves to succeed, at least for the classical listener, but I so wish it would be properly integrated into Naim streamers.
But what if you want to listen to 24 bit?
This seems to have strayed into download rather than streaming issues. To get back on topic, Qobuz, when it does things well, is a model of what lossless streaming classical services should offer, because:-
- It provides gapless playback, absolutely essential for classical listening
- it usually (though not always - it needs to improve) offers access to the cd booklet to enable one to follow notes, libretti etc
- the search engine usually works ok
Blips in service are rare - yesterday I listened to the whole of Mahler 9 (Concertgebouw/Chailly, since you ask), which is 90 minutes without any interruption. If I'd had the CD, I'd have had to get up to change disc. Qobuz deserves to succeed, at least for the classical listener, but I so wish it would be properly integrated into Naim streamers.
Well, JSH, that's true, but it would have required me to purchase a performance I only want to hear once. I note from contributions above that a lot of people see streaming as some sort of superior radio station. I see it as a way of picking and choosing specific repertoire and performances that I'm interested in - but would only rarely choose to buy.
Well, JSH, that's true, but it would have required me to purchase a performance I only want to hear once. I note from contributions above that a lot of people see streaming as some sort of superior radio station. I see it as a way of picking and choosing specific repertoire and performances that I'm interested in - but would only rarely choose to buy.