The German sheet music market has a centuries-old tradition and a worldwide reputation. But the events of the past two years have left their mark on the industry.
The vice-president of the almost 200-year-old German Music Publishers Association (DMV), Clemens Scheuch, assumes that the sheet music market for classical music has lost 30 to 60 percent in sales since 2019. “It is to be feared that some publishers will have to close next year,” he says.
Scheuch estimates sales of banknotes at a good 93 million euros in 2019. He does not yet have more recent industry figures. The book market earned around 9.3 billion euros in the same year.
There are around 350 music publishers in Germany – a few large ones, many small ones. “Only one or two handfuls break the ten million euro mark in annual sales,” says the DMV vice president, who also heads the Bärenreiter publishing house in Kassel. This will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2023.
In the land of Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, the traditional industry has a unique selling point worldwide. Bärenreiter spokesman Johannes Mundry says: “Music publishing is a German invention.” Apart from England, France and the USA there are no longer many music publishers anywhere. Foreign business is also easy for Germany’s industry: “You can use the same sheet music in Sydney for the “Magic Flute” as here.”
The music industry was hit hard by the pandemic
The German market leader Schott Music in Mainz is already 252 years old. Authorized officer Christiane Albiez emphasizes: “The pandemic has shaken musical life to the core.” Concert bans “dropped our income from one day to the next”. Many months of short-time work at Schott would have dampened the release of new titles.
According to Albiez, “previously unimaginable price increases” as a result of the Ukraine war, for example for energy, paper and packaging. The high inflation is also responsible for reluctance to buy sheet music. In addition, the audience for concerts and operas is only slowly returning: “You snuggled up so comfortably on the sofa.”
But Albiez adds with a view to the relaxation in Corona: “At some point it’s enough, then people want to be inspired again, entertained, excited by music played live.” Schott also used the pandemic to completely revise the online shop and offer even more titles for download. There are now around 30,000 sheet music editions here.
On the other hand, the number of traditional trading partners, the owner-managed music stores, has fallen dramatically. Bärenreiter spokesman Mundry says: “I don’t know any more in Frankfurt am Main and Kassel and only one in Wiesbaden. Many other major German cities don’t have any anymore either.”
Difficult fight against illegal distribution on the Internet
Overall, music publishers have been slow to respond to the Internet. There are also illegal sheet music offers. Schott authorized signatory Albiez emphasizes: “We are looking for these legal violations and are taking action against them.” However, it is not always easy to get hold of suppliers of digital sheet music far away abroad.
A number of sheet music are also available free of charge and legally on the Internet. There is a 70-year period for copyrights. But many composers have been dead for a long time. The Internet portal imslp.org, for example, offers hundreds of thousands of pieces, often scans of old sheet music, either free of charge – or with a paid membership to support the project. Scheuch says: “These free offers are wonderful for hobby musicians. But professionals want editions with the current scientific status, they tend to buy sheet music.”
Either as a paper edition or as a download, both often with introductory texts. According to Albiez, smaller ensembles and soloists often prefer sheet music on a tablet, in jazz and pop anyway. Professional orchestras, on the other hand, “still mostly want physical notes – that’s changing much more slowly than we expected.”
The pianist and music teacher Christian Vogt in Eltville near Wiesbaden embodies tradition and digital in one person. When it comes to important piano works, he swears by his notes on paper with his own annotations: “Pencils, erasers and bound notes simply belong together.” In his indie rock formation Gribaldies, on the other hand, he likes to record everything with a tablet: “It’s faster.”
Some orchestral musicians scroll through tablet sheet music with Bluetooth foot pedals – a significant simplification, their hands can continue playing seamlessly. Bärenreiter boss Scheuch also says: “Other professionals consider paper notes to be safer – they are afraid of a technical crash of their tablet at a concert.”
