FRY COOKS

If you think the classical music market is for upper-demo bluehairs with season tix to the philharmonic, we’ve got someone for you to meet.

New Decca signing Cody Fry has been cultivating a rabid and decidedly young following thanks to his compelling presentation on TikTok, which is responding with fervor to his symphonic arrangements. They’re not the only ones; Grammy bestowed a Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals nomination on Fry’s wildly viral rendition of The Beatles’ immortal “Eleanor Rigby” (220k creations on TikTok). The 32-year-old singer-songwriter-composer-producer-arranger’s latest orchestral reimagining is of Coldplay’s “Fix You” (see "score video" below).

He's in the right place, it would seem; Verve/Decca has typically owned 80-90% of the classical chart’s Top 10. Fry will undoubtedly also find a comfortable berth on Deutsche Grammophon’s streaming service, Stage+, which launched last fall to showcase the DG and Decca rosters.

You never know what’s going to go viral; Ludovico Einaudi’s 2013 track “Experience,” for example, has proved a monster at TikTok. Sophie Kauer, meanwhile, recently became the youngest artist to hit #1 on the classical on-demand streaming chart.

Verve Label Group is preparing an eclectic slate of releases by the likes of María Dueñas, Moby, Randall Goosby and Isata Kanneh-Mason.

In a related story, a HITS staffer has almost figured out the first four notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.