The power of the niche - Naxos

People are trying to make money in the music industry, and some of them are using subscription-based music services to (try to) do it. Jon Healey at the Los Angeles Times highlights one service that claims to be successful at this:

[O]ne music industry player says it's actually "extremely successful" with a subscription music-on-demand service for the college market. That would be Naxos, which specializes in ... classical music. And it's prices aren't cheap, either.

This is a lesson in the value of finding the right niche in a time of technological upheaval. Naxos is both an independent classical-music label and a distributor of classical music.

More here. Naxos also offers subscriptions, in some cases using partners to do so:

Imagine leaving a concert and wanting to go right home and hear your favorite parts of the music again and again...Well now you can! As a BSO [Baltimore Symphony Orchestra] subscriber you will gain exclusive online access to the world's largest collection of streaming Classical music with more than 400,000 tracks of music from Classical, Orchestral, Choral, Wind Band, Jazz, and World Music genres from more than 80 top record labels around the world.

Naxos Music Library is a streaming audio music resource that features powerful tools to stimulate music education and research. Recordings are even available for download and purchase. Don't forget to check out our BSO playlist! We've complied a list of all the pieces from our 2009-2010 season for your listening pleasure and easy access. Once you are logged in, scroll over the playlists tab and click "New" from the drop-down menu. Then choose the "Shared Playlists" tab and enjoy.

This benefit has a $300 value per person and is completely FREE to you with your BSO subscription.

They also offer a lower-priced subscription on their web site:

Subscribe to Naxos.com and enjoy these benefits!

Access to listen to more than 5,000 CDs (one track at a time) including all Naxos, Marco Polo and Dacapo recordings in FM quality sound (20Kbps).

Access to about 50 new releases per month as well as next month’s releases.

Access to various genres recording including Classical, Historical*, Film Music, Jazz/Blues, Nostalgia*, Classical Archives*, Rock Legends* and World/New Age.

* Due to the uncertain legal situation regarding pre-1972 sound recordings, Historical, Nostalgia, Classical Archives, Rock Legends and Jazz Legends recordings are not available for audio streaming for any users situated within the United States of America.

Access to sample video clips from the BBC/Opus Arte, TDK, Arthaus and EuroArts DVD catalogues.

For this package, the annual subscription costs US$19.95 or EUR€19.95.

You can see why this niche works. Classical music lovers are used to paying a premium to attend concerts and often offer financial support to symphony orchestras and other music organizations. If you can hear streamed music for your support, all the better.