After last week’s sad and shocking closure of MUSO magazine, it seems the world of classical music is following the general trend of culture, news and entertainment – going online.

We decided to go to the Proms this week to ask classical music fans their opinions on magazines and whether they were still the best source for concerts, artist news and listings.

The results we obtained were somewhat surprising and supported the closure of a publication such as MUSO. Only 12.5% of the prommers we spoke to had ever read the magazine. Having said that, only a few more told us that they read classical music magazines at all.

As far as listings and concerts are concerned, these were deemed ‘easier to get online’, on platforms such as Twitter, Time Out, and Classical Source, as well as in Sunday paper supplements. Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine and The Strad were mentioned, but were not widely known. In general many agreed that ‘the paper format is disappearing’, with some arguing that ‘magazines are still current, but are certainly diminishing’.

As one prommer said ‘it is always sad when something comes to an end’; the unfortunate closure of MUSO marks the end of an era, signalling a possible new beginning for classical music coverage online.

See the thoughts of a few prommers in this video: