Lots of people. Anne Midgette has an article in the Washington Post about two different groups doing online video broadcasts of Classical Music concerts. One seems to be successful and growing, the other one, well, not so much:
European music fests coming to the Web
Broadcasting live music video over the web is nothing even remotely new, of course. And it's not just that pop music has been doing it for years. I saw an early, low-res, low fps attempt at this at the New Directions Cello Festival more than ten years ago. Which shows the irony in all this.
Years ago, it was the contemporary music scene that was experimenting with sharing their work with audiences through new technology. The (now defunct?) Institute for Studies in the Arts at Arizona State University used to make a big deal about getting all their commissioned works on interactive dvds. There was much talk about interactivity, sharing, online broadcasting. Musicians would set up concerts in which performers would be in different cities, perceived as an ensemble only to those viewing the combo on screen. A few music and media heavyweights in Europe tried to get something like this going several years ago, which died a quick death.
So there's nothing new at all about this idea in Classical Music. The innovators stayed in the margins, and the big boys of the music business mostly stayed clear. Overtures were made every now and then, but there were all kinds of reasons why it never went mainstream.
The basic reasons are money and technology. Until three or four years ago, the technology to do online video to the satisfaction of (quite rightfully) finicky Classical Music fans with very high standards didn't really exist. That is to say, even though broadcast capabilities existed, most potential audience members didn't have the technology themselves on the receiving end (It's so easy to forget that not everybody had high-speed internet connections and decent computers at home). Even if it was mostly free, watching violin bows saw away at 12 frames per second - choppy and barely moving, like in the worst of the old Hanna-Barbera cartoons - whle listening to semi-decent quality audio - which may or may not freeze at the worst possible moment - just doesn't cut it. And forget it if they're asking for a monthly subscription for it, and special software must be installed, etc.
Then one has to consider all the negotiated costs with the artists. Musicians unions nearly prevented the BBC Legends label from getting off the ground, so it's no surprise that broadcasting rights and royalties would be a nightmare to work out. It goes on and on, of course, with the end result that it's a pleasant surprise when the Bayreuth Festival announces that it's going to do a live broadcast of Der Meistersinger.
What is not a surprise is the fact that Bayreuth didn't get anything like as many subscribers at they hoped. At $75 each, no less. If they wanted 10,000 viewers, they could have easily gotten three times that at $20 a pop. That should have been at least worth their investment in the project, and is certainly far more than they made their way.
Equally unsurprising is that Medici Arts is doing extremely well with its free broadcasts on their own Medici.tv.
How did Medici Arts arrive at their successful (so far) formula? Years of experience in the performing arts business, dealing with every single aspect of both live and recorded music, artist management, and everything in between. The group was founded by Steven Wright, who used to be Managing Director of IMG Europe. He was also the brains behind BBC Legends, along with John Pattrick, a long time EMI exec. These guys had been through it all already, and the idea of combining a music label with broadcasting and distribution. Although they started out making arrangements with the BBC for archived material, that led to similar arrangements with other European broadcasting organizations, which in turn has led to their involvement with live broadcasting of today's concerts.
This is how you do it. Is there an audience for this? Yes, and for a long time now. Is the technology ubiquitous enough for this to work? Absolutely.
Unfortunately, the summer festivals they're offering for free have ended. But there is still more coming, and they still have highlight clips of the festivals showing online right now. They also offer subscriptions at a more reasonable rate than Bayreuth.
I'm adding a link to this on the left, and I because of this I've had to change the list title to "Classcial Music Online".