| Opened | Before November 2003 |
|---|---|
| Pricing model | visitor's choice |
| Platforms | Platform independent |
| Format | WAV (.wav) |
| Restrictions | None, Creative Commons License |
| Catalogue | Only own recordings |
| Preview | Entire piece in (low resolution) MPEG Layer 3 (.mp3) |
| Protocol | Hypertext Transfer Protocol (http://) |
| Availability | World Wide Web |
| Features | Flash reader, downloadable art-covers |
| Website | www.onclassical.com |
OnClassical is a small Italian independent record label based in Pove del Grappa, Italy. It features classical music mostly for piano or chamber ensemble.
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Founded in April 2003 by Alessandro Simonetto, harpsichordist, producer and sound engineer, it enlists selected first-prize international contest winners and young talented musicians who do not hold exclusive contracts with managers or traditional recording houses.
OnClassical was the first Italian label to produce, realize, distribute and sell recordings through the web and amongst the first to apply the new philosophy of Creative Commons to MP3 and other files.
The website started as a simple collection of classical music performances of some of the most important Italian pianists such as Maurizio Baglini, Roberto Prosseda, Gianluca Luisi, Alberto Nosè, Roberto Plano, Mariangela Vacatello and many other. Only in January 2004 (second version) it evolved as an online record label and a mobile recording studio working with its own equipment. The third, of February 2005 (the 14th), and the last version, of July 2007 (the 14th), have always maintained the graphic unchanged (white blackground with yellow left border) and the main concepts tied to contents and licences.
OnClassical has no relationship with societies of rights collecting due to the facts it threats only public domain music.
With the last version of onclassical.com substantial innovationes have been introduced, such as the only publication of self-produced recordings and a careful selection. Albums are now sold in a CD-quality uncompressed format (PCM / WAV, at 44.1 kHz × 16-bit only. No DRM) are present on the recordings. Compressed formats files can however be found through the online stores such as Amazon, iTunes, emusic.
Each album is sold at a price based on the visitors preference. An alert informs the purchaser that artists earn 50% from profits given to downloadings of their albums.
OnClassical claims for each recording a high standard of professionalism. The recordings are made with particular care, capturing only natural sounds which are not successively manipulated. Renowned piano manufacturers, Bösendorfer, evaluated Alessandro Simonetto's recording made at Capri isle, in which he reproduced a performance by the pianist Gianluca Luisi, as excellent work [1].
Today the catalogue has c. 40 titles.