Celebrity came at 15, after a video that featured her playing a techno-pop version of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in a wet T shirt. When you are brave enough to do something new, people are always threadened by it. The answer's still far from clear. But there is little doubt it's here to stay. After years of blissfully ignoring the market, and then panicking as sales plummeted, classical labels have finaly given in to the need to mix entertainment with art.
Crossover now accounts for almost all of classical music's best selling records.
A modestly successful crossover album will sell 150.000 to 200.000 copies, while the most successful classical albums sell 50.000 to 75. 000 copies. Clearly the classical industry had to do something. It is failing to find new listeners while its core audience is aging and shrinking.