Apple's iTunes faces competition from Mayfair auctioneer

12 April 2012

Apple's iTunes music store is facing unlikely competition - from a Mayfair auction house more used to selling rare violins.

Bromptons, which holds its auctions in the grand library of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, have put hundreds of recordings made by some of the world's best instruments and artists online for free.

They include performers such as David Oistrakh and Yehudi Menuhin, with highlights including the Beethoven Violin Concerto recorded by Menuhin, and two recordings by Jascha Heifetz of the Tchaikovsky violin concerto from opposite ends of his career.

The auction house hopes it can help boost the popularity of classical music by giving away the out of copyright recordings.

"These performance go up to about 1929, and these are some of the best recordings you'll ever find," said James Buchanan of Brompton's.

"There's a big gap in the market for classical downloads which are really important - some of these performances are senstational.

"iTunes is more market led - we're not dictated by who won young musician of the year last year. In fact, you can't buy a lot of these recordings, they're priceless."

The performances, which are out of copyright are recorded at the same quality as iTunes downloads, and Bromptons promises more will be added.

"When I was a student I could only afford vinyl from Oxfam, and thats how I discovered a lot of classical music," said Mr Buchanan.

"Hopefully this will have the same effect, and being free will mean people will download and listen.

Mr Buchanan says he has no plans to start charging.

"We would struggle to make money out of this, and its certainly not our main business - just another string to our bow. We also wanted to thank the musicians who make our business - and it's a good way to keep people coming back to the website.

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