Classical-music streaming service Idagio is launching a free tier, which will make a catalogue of 2m tracks available to listeners without the need for a subscription.
The company clearly hopes that the new tier will provide an accessible entry-point to classical music for people who may be less knowledgeable about classical – with a canny eye on the wider trend for mindfulness.
“Classical music is timeless, global and grounded: it enables us to pause. A central part of our mission is to bring its beauty and calming power to people everywhere – regardless of age, origin or income,” as CEO Till Janczukowicz put it. T
he service’s Idagio Premium ($9.99 a month) and Idagio Premium+ ($12.99 a month) remain as upsell tiers for those who want offline play, lossless audio and compatibility with Chromecast, Bluesound, Sonos and Burmester speakers.
Before the addition of the free tier, Idagio’s app had been downloaded 1.6m times globally – up from 1m in February, although since then Idagio updated the figure to 1.5m downloads by June. That was also the month it published a study commissioned from Midia Research suggesting that 35% of the global adult population listens to classical music in some form. Earlier in the year, meanwhile, British industry body the BPI reported that combined sales and streams of classical music grew by 10.2% in 2018, outperforming the 5.7% rise in overall music consumption that year.
Tools: platforms to help you reach new audiences
Tools: Kaiber
In the year or so since its launch, AI startup Kaiber has been making waves,…