Q&A: UMA on launching Sinfini Music in Australia

Universal Music’s newly launched Australian Sinfini Music site is set to be the prime online destination for classical music needs. Featuring a streamlined, contemporary aesthetic and embracing every possible editorial format, from written features to video animations, quizzes, cartoons, and exclusive filmed sessions, Sinfini Music encourages a new wave of interaction with all areas of classical music.

TMN spoke to Cyrus Meher-Homji (General Manager, Classics & Jazz, Universal Music Australia) and Tina Poyser, (General Manager, Sinfini Music) about how Sinfini aims to invigorate the classical music industry through digital media.

What prompted Universal to bring Sinfini to Australia?

We have long felt the need for an online presence that defrosted classical music while making it of interest to aficionados too. Something colourful, vibrant and engaging. But aside from that, the launch of the central Sinfini Music site has already attracted a great mix of international visitors and Australia seemed a very natural fit for our first steps outside of this central operation. Australia has been chosen by a number of major digital services as their second market, such as Google Play Music All Access and iTunes Radio, and this combined with a very strong classical market in Australia, an open minded audience and of course not having to work with a different language sets a great scene for launching a successful rich content experience for classical music fans in the southern hemisphere.

The Sinfini Music site incorporates streaming via Spotify. Have streaming services like Spotify and SoundCloud had much of an impact on the classical music sector? 

The shift to digital (downloads, streaming) has clearly been much slower for classical music than pop. However 2014 has seen a significant increase in the adoption of streaming services overall and the appetite for classical music streaming is noticeably on the up. Classical music has always been challenging to present in a formulaic world – creating searches that return results that are helpful rather than confusing (try searching for Vivaldi’s Four Seasons on some portals and you get the likes of a telephone directory!); presenting the information itself (titles, artists, composers, works); the storage capacity that you need for full works like major symphonies or operas, bandwidth, download speed, etc. However, as the streaming market develops we will see more focus on providing a better experience for classical fans, along with better quality sound, so there is a positive future for classical streaming.

What advantages do they bring?

Where to start! You have a vast catalogue to explore at your fingertips, and for classical music, where space on physical formats has always been an issue streaming would seem a god-send. We also know that services are starting to think more about the sound quality and some are already beginning to offer a high definition sound experience; couple that with our expectations of better curation and presentation of classical music within these and new services, we believe this will be a transformative step in classical listening. Some classical labels are yet to take the plunge and offer their music for streaming which is a shame but there is still a very wide choice for the classical consumer.

One of Sinfini’s feature articles is about pop going classical. Do you feel that classical can continue to stake claim in the current mainstream market?

 There are seemingly more and more younger artists that have feet in both camps and are proud of that and certainly the boundaries between what is classical and what is “pop” (using the very broadest sense of all non-classical genres) are ever more blurred. You have the likes of Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead, or Richard Reed Parry from Arcade Fire, who happily live in both the classical and pop worlds and attempt to bring good music to audiences for the sake of the music regardless of genre. As well, composers such as Einaudi, Max Richter, Olafur Arnalds, Nils Frahm are all creating new music that has a mainstream appeal for younger fans and can only add to the trend of bringing all genres to a level playing field in terms of exposure.

The site sports a very clean, sharp and contemporary design. Is this aesthetic a conscious decision to break away from the stereotype of classical being associated with wig wearing aristocracy?

We didn’t specifically think of it that way but, yes! We wanted to create an online destination for classical music that was setting a benchmark for any music site online. For us to reach as wide an audience as possible the website needs to be approachable and make an impact on first viewing, as well as keeping the experience consistent for those accessing the site on the move on mobile and tablets. We wanted it to appeal to music fans of all ages and especially a typically younger demographic and we want to be at the forefront of online design and technology – just as you would expect from any other leading digital brand. There is often a lot of information surrounding classical music and we also specifically wanted to create a feeling of less clutter and more imagery where ever possible. We’ve invested heavily not only in editorial / verbiage, but also in design-led elements, such as the composer animations, Rolando Villazón’s opera plots, comic strips for opera, etc. There is a very vibrant and creative classical scene that perhaps many music fans outside of the classical world don’t get to see and our aim is to use the way we present things – with design, formats and faces – to bring this to life for a new audience and make classical music a peer of every other genre amongst music fans of any age.

Sinfini also features deconstructions by some of today’s young up and coming classical musicians. Is this an attempt to entice a younger audience to the genre?

We certainly have an ambition to make classical music relevant and appealing to a younger audience, but in our choice of who is represented on the site our motivation is not specifically about youth but a desire to make sure that new up-and-coming musicians also have a platform to communicate alongside more established stars. Primarily we look for great communicators for features such as Deconstructed – artists who can talk about their passion and knowledge in an accessible way that inspires and appeals to fans across the board.

Do you hope to expand Sinfini to other territories?

We do already have a broad international audience with around 75% from outside of the UK so yes, anything we can do that makes sense to service those audiences better we will and do consider.