Apple's $3.2 billion wake up call to classical music


Today's announcement of the possible $3.2 bn takeover of Beats Electronics by Apple underlines the hegemony of headphone listening. As well as operating a highly successful music streaming service, Beats controls a third of the total $1.8bn headphone market and 60 per cent of the high-end market. It may be difficult for purists - and that includes me - to accept; but if classical music really wants to reach a younger demographic where headphone listening is the norm, it must make live music more up close and personal.

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