The Da Capo Catalog Discovery
While building the classical music streaming platform at GlobalOrange (later rebranded Primephonic), I discovered the Da Capo catalog — a rare classical music reference book that contained the most comprehensive taxonomy of classical music compositions ever assembled. This discovery became the foundation of the entire database architecture.
Classical music does not fit the pop music metadata model. A single "song" might be a movement within a symphony, performed by dozens of different orchestras under different conductors, recorded across multiple decades. Standard music databases could not represent these relationships. The Da Capo catalog provided the ontology we needed.
First-Ever Classical Music Database
Architected the database infrastructure that could represent the full complexity of classical music metadata: composers, compositions, movements, performers, conductors, orchestras, recording sessions, labels, and the intricate relationships between all of them. Built genre-specific search that understood classical music vocabulary — allowing users to search by opus number, key signature, ensemble type, or historical period.
5M+ Classical Recordings
The system cataloged over 5 million classical recordings with rich, structured metadata that enabled discovery patterns impossible on any other platform. Every recording linked to its composition, every composition to its composer, every performance to its performers — creating a navigable graph of the entire classical music world.
Payment Infrastructure
Built the complete payment infrastructure supporting Apple Pay, Google Pay, Adyen payment processing, and SSO authentication. Handled subscription management, trial periods, and multi-currency billing for a global classical music audience.
The Apple Acquisition
In 2021, Apple acquired Primephonic and its technology stack. The database architecture, search infrastructure, and metadata systems I built became the core of Apple Music Classical, which launched in March 2023. Apple described it as their most beautiful app — and beneath that beauty was the database architecture built from the Da Capo catalog discovery.