Downtown-owned B2B music distributor FUGA has renewed its partnership with specialist classical music company Naxos Music Group.
In November 2022, the two companies teamed up in a deal that saw FUGA providing its services including digital distribution, marketing, royalty accounting and trends and analytics platform to Naxos.
The broadened partnership adds strategic marketing, specialist YouTube services, product development, business development and royalty management services to the deal.
FUGA now also integrates data from Presto Music, a classical streaming platform, into its analytics dashboard for Naxos. The integration marks the first time Presto Music has provided performance data to a music distributor, giving Naxos visibility into how its recordings perform on a platform tailored to classical listeners.
Chris O’Reilly, CEO of Presto Music, said: “By connecting Presto Music with FUGA Analytics, we’re giving Naxos unprecedented visibility into classical streaming performance. This integration strengthens our partnership with Naxos and FUGA, delivering timely data that will bring smarter marketing and greater growth to the classical music space.”
To support the partnership, FUGA has appointed Amy Nelson as Senior Strategy Marketing Manager for Classical & Jazz, based in Amsterdam. Nelson previously worked at LSO Live, The Orchard and Pentatone, bringing more than a decade of classical music experience to campaign development, artist promotion and audience strategy.
“This integration strengthens our partnership with Naxos and FUGA, delivering timely data that will bring smarter marketing and greater growth to the classical music space.”
Chris O’Reilly, Presto Music
Nelson said: “Joining FUGA to support Naxos’ legendary catalogue is a real privilege. I look forward to helping global audiences discover and enjoy classical and jazz.”
Håkan Lagerqvist, CEO of Naxos Digital Services, said: “Naxos and FUGA share a belief in innovation, and the power of music to reach across cultures. This expanded partnership reflects our continued investment in reimagining how classical music is marketed, distributed, and discovered by listeners around the world.”
Liz Northeast, SVP EMEA, FUGA, added: “Naxos is a true pioneer in classical music, and we’re proud to deepen our collaboration with them as they modernise how classical music is experienced. Their deep understanding of the classical landscape, combined with our technological expertise, creates a powerful opportunity to grow audiences for classical music worldwide.”
“Joining FUGA to support Naxos’ legendary catalogue is a real privilege. I look forward to helping global audiences discover and enjoy classical and jazz.”
Amy Nelson, Fuga
Naxos, founded in 1987 by German entrepreneur Klaus Heymann, operates more than 50 record labels and distributes 500 independent labels. The now Hong Kong-based company’s catalog includes nearly 30,000 titles spanning classical, world and jazz recordings. This year, Naxos received 15 Grammy nominations across categories including opera, orchestral performance and vocal albums.
“This expanded partnership reflects our continued investment in reimagining how classical music is marketed, distributed, and discovered by listeners around the world.”
Håkan Lagerqvist, Naxos Digital Services
In October last year, Naxos partnered with gaming music personalization platform Reactional Music, making its catalog available to game developers who use Reactional to enable customizable music in their games.
The expanded arrangement between Naxos and FUGA comes amid renewed appetite for classical music. Two weeks ago, TikTok launched an accelerator program called Crescendo for classical music content creators in partnership with London’s Southbank Centre. The project comes as consumption of classical music on TikTok has grown in recent years. Posts tagged with #ClassicalMusic on TikTok have jumped 60% over the past year, reaching nearly one million entries, according to TikTok.
“Naxos is a true pioneer in classical music, and we’re proud to deepen our collaboration with them as they modernise how classical music is experienced.”
Liz Northeast, FUGA
Meanwhile, music giant Universal Music Group launched dedicated classical and jazz labels in China, marking its latest venture in the classical music world. In 2023, four months after launching its own classical music streaming service via Deutsche Grammophon, UMG acquired British classical label Hyperion Records.
Last year, Apple Music launched a global weekly chart dedicated to classical music, over a year after launching a standalone app for the genre.
Music Business Worldwide
