Bringing Classical Music to Streaming...
Published: 2021-11-08 00:10:10

If I could build a tech service of any kind, it would be something that would be rather complex and long-term. This is the first thing that came to mind, given my passion for music and how the music industry handles artists.

The app I would build would be a music streaming app specifically for classical music. What would distinguish it from streaming apps like Spotify and Apple Music is that it's metadata system would be built with classical in mind, as this genre requires different parameters for searching and cataloguing than popular music. Such parameters include piece, movement, composer, ensemble, conductor, album, etc. Because the major streaming services' metadata systems are tailored towards popular music (who's metadata only requires artist, album, song), a platform that fixes it is needed.

The plan is for iOS and Android to have their own apps while desktop users will resort to a web-app. This is to ensure that the only requirements for desktop users is to have an up-to-date browser and not have to worry about device compatibility.

## For Who?

This app could be used by anyone looking to be a subscriber, who would get access to the entire catalogue of albums and playlists. However, the primary appeal would be towards those classical aficionados who want their own space to experience music. Also, record labels and artists can take advantage of this platform as an alternative revenue stream as opposed to relying on just concerts and record sales. Especially during the COVID lockdowns where we saw venues and record stores take a hit, streaming became the dominant way that people consumed music. For the classical music industry to not take advantage of that and give its listeners an option was a problem.

## How would it be used?

When a user logs in, the UI will be so that a play-bar will constantly show at the bottom, which will contain volume controls, track seeking, current track being played, and controls for rewind and skip. The rest of the page displays a menu bar on the left hand side for links to search, browse, view library, etc, and the main contents displayed on the page.

From a user's perspective it can be used to play music on-demand either in the foreground or the background while your phone or desktop computer is off. Because it will be subscriber only, there is no need for in-app advertising between tracks or banner ads anywhere on the app.

## Motivations

What drives me to be in the IT industry is the growing focus around using free and open-source software. What initially drew me into the open-source "movement" was my curiosity with the Linux community that started 4 years back (I say community as the only thing in a Linux "operating system" named Linux is the kernel, as everything else is developed by other projects). Their emphasis on open-source not just being a form of licensing but a philosophy of software freedom was so compelling to me. If I were to dedicate my life to something, it would be contributing to and developing open-source tools for tasks that are otherwise being used by proprietary counterparts. This would also be the case if money were not an issue as developing open-source tools means people don't have to pay to use or distribute said software, and most open-source projects like GNOME or KDE need sponsors and donations to run.

An open-source app that would power the above example streaming service would hope to serve as another example of a non-proprietary service being able to compete with proprietary service in the same industry.