Streaming services, artificial intelligence? For Arndt-Helge Grap, this is no competition. The entrepreneur relies on the expertise of real people, his team curates a selection of music or films like an art exhibition - and brings hidden treasures from all over the world to light. In addition, the sound quality and technology satisfy even connoisseurs. To mark Radiopark's 20th birthday, the trained musician and guitar fan talks to BOOTE EXCLUSIV and explains which sounds are good where, how his company got rolling and how the technology behind the music has developed.
Mr Grap, I'm sitting with a few guests on an 80-metre explorer, heading for the Arctic Ocean. It's cocktail hour. What am I going to hear?
It depends on which guests are there, how young, how old ...
Let's say middle-aged.
I would play loungy jazz with a bit of soul - or maybe even classical music. Not too exciting, but relaxed. An Explorer is not a party yacht. People are there because they want to experience nature, otherwise they would charter a different ship. That means a little more reserved, a little more grown-up. So less David Guetta, more Sting.
And what do you hear for lunch on the Mediterranean?
Everything that is somehow yellow, yellow music is summer music. Leviathan, for example, or Vargo. You may not know these artists, but their sounds were part of the Café del Mar CDs. They played up and down Ibiza's Bossa Beach, in the lounges or in the legendary Café del Mar. I describe this music as yellow, because the first covers of the CDs were also yellow or pastel-coloured. It's very unobtrusive music, little melody, lots of repetition, atmosphere, rhythm. No hard guitars, no annoying saxophone solos, no shouting souldivas. These are soft sounds, often with acoustic guitar, the relaxed guitarist playing into the sunset. And this line is repeated again and again. You wouldn't find a Carlos Santana at Café del Mar who suddenly starts sawing away on his electric guitar. That doesn't fit in, it's about the overall impression. It's like an impressionist painting. Pointillist.
Does the music primarily suit the guests or rather the destination?
The music has to suit both the target group and the location. It has to match the ambience on the ship, the interior design and the location. And it has to suit the guests. It makes no sense for me to play a deep house production for an 18-year-old and my guests are 60 plus. Of course, the destination is also important. Bob Marley might be out of place on a Scandinavian tour. If you're travelling on a cruise ship into a picturesque fjord, classical music is a much better choice to let nature take effect. For the right sound, you have to take everything into account to create the right atmosphere. Then the ship dances on the waves, as one of our customers once put it. Conversely, the wrong music ruins everything.
How does the music get onto the yacht, how does the technology work?
The music normally comes to the yacht by installing our server in the audio-video room. The music server is therefore connected to the existing system. If the yacht is large enough, it will have an AV system from one of the three or four major suppliers, with TV and cabin control. Some yachts also have a modern system for which we only supply the content. We then receive the specification of the installed system from the shipyard and deliver our content as a digital plug-and-play solution. Our programmes are far larger than what is known from well-known streaming services.
Why are your programmes so extensive?
Because we don't want the following example: I pull out some ready-made Spotify streaming list, which then, if I'm lucky, has 50 tracks and after three hours the thing starts to repeat itself. Our programmes have a minimum of 700, usually 2000 songs. Even if I leave it on 24 hours a day, around the clock, the repetitions are very, very rare. And the combination of tracks is also changed regularly. With many streaming services, the playlist is like a string of pearls and it just plays. We used to have this problem in hotels, which is why I started this business in the first place. At some point, the staff were able to play along with the list because it was always the same thing.
How many titles does your archive contain?
We have around 1.5 million songs here, practically everything that has been released since 1950. Our task is to put together as large a compilation as possible. Especially when it comes to ambient music, the music that plays in the background and triggers emotions. Music is just as important as the interior design. It must never be boring.
And if the programme is to be renewed?
We make sure that OTA (Over the Air) updates of music and film content are sent to the ship. When it is in harbour, via mobile networks or underway via satellite. We use a patented technology, a process that stores the content on the server on board and then allows it to run for up to three months without a connection.
How often is a new programme installed?
That depends entirely on the customer, perhaps once a month. Some customers only want the update once every six months. It also depends on the repertoire. If a customer listens to a lot of classical music, there's not much new stuff. Theoretically, I could transfer the entire classical music archive to the server. The decisive factor is the playlist, which I have to redesign. But at a few kilobytes, it's much smaller. If I transfer updates or specify a new combination and the customer says, "the morning window is too soft for me, I'd like it to be more cheerful", then I have to touch the control information in particular. This is possible everywhere these days, on superyachts anyway.
The owners let their representatives know whether they prefer to listen to jazz or charts.
Yes, we often sit around the table with our colleagues at the very beginning and receive the briefing on which zones need to be covered and how. The delivery for Superyachts is divided into two areas. One is a curated music archive that we put together and from which we select according to our own preferences. So: "I like to listen to jazz or classical music, my children listen to this and this." Then we prepare that, or a kind of standard archive along the lines of: the best 2000 albums of all genres of all time - all you can hear, a basic archive that is constantly adapted over the years. And the second topic is: pre-curated playlists designed by our editors for the ambient sector.
Do you have another example of personal preferences?
Take, for example, an owner with a strong preference for Italian cuisine. If there is an Italian chef on board, there should be Italian music - not Pavarotti, but Ramazotti. Then I put the list together for him. The owner also has a spa, a wellness area and a fitness room. His wife does yoga and he likes to organise cocktail receptions. That means I need something for the evening and maybe a few playlists that I can call up on demand. So, I press a button and it's now Lucio Dalla.
Party at the touch of a button ...
Of course, if he wants that, he gets curated lists from us, including sets put together by DJs. The owners are often very spontaneous in their decisions. In a remote location, you might not be able to fly the DJ in, but our suitable list is ready and waiting. It's not unusual for us to get a call on a Friday evening: "The owner has planned a party tomorrow. Can you please send us an update? We need the latest music, and this remix and these artists have to be included.
Okay, and if it says the party starts around 8 pm and goes on until about 5 am ...
... then I need an eight-hour list from the DJ without repetitions.
Are there any unusual announcements?
In the film industry, we once had a situation where someone wanted all the episodes of Friends, all of them. That can be hard for the editor, but it has to be done. We don't really have that in music. If the owners allow it, we get an extract from their mobile phone with their own lists on it, so that we know which direction it's going in. Our editors then understand this very quickly.
What about the sound quality?
We are dealing with much better sound quality today. This is important because the owners have installed really expensive systems. So on the 162.50 metre long "Eclipse" there is a complete Burmester system in every room. The owner had the speakers built especially for the ship. I can't even come up with very good digital resolution and transmission rates, I need the music to be linear and uncompressed. Otherwise it's all for nothing. Audio and video play a major role on superyachts, but the shipyards only realised this late because they are actually shipbuilders. Today, these are toys for boys, big toys to have fun with. The owners want a seven-metre TV that can be pulled out of the floor and a great outdoor system. It is important that they can really raise the alarm on the sun deck without having to bring in another system. The sound has to be perfect even for a party on a secluded beach.
Does the crew actually have the same offer?
The yacht often gets an extra server for the crew, so everything can be a little cheaper. The programme is more international, as are the crews. A Top 40 programme or current hits are played. A yacht like this is usually only used for four to six weeks a year, the rest of the time people have to be kept happy.
A rapid development.
About ten or 15 years ago, there was only one provider worldwide from America that offered such server systems with which you could store films and music on board. It dominated everything. When I asked at the time: "Can this system also read Arabic characters or Russian?", they replied: "Of course not!". Then I said: "That's pretty unintelligent if 50 per cent of the customers are Eastern European or Arab. It would be quite helpful if the system could also speak Russian, for example." We were the first to set up such a content archive. Also in Arabic - Emiratis are one of the main target groups in the 100 metres plus sector.
Her very first superyacht customer was ...
... the Emir of Qatar. It all started with the "Katara" around 13 years ago, our very first superyacht. Lürssen called us and said that they had finally found a system that could replace this American one: a music and video server that distributes the content on the ship. They knew about us from our cruise ship colleagues at Meyer Werft and thought that we must know our way around yachts: "Maybe they can curate films too?" Because the Emir is a cineaste. He has had a cinema built on his 124-metre yacht. He put a list of 2000 films on the table and said: "I need this on my ship." He is a real connoisseur and wanted films with a Cannes palm, first silent films, film noir. No blockbusters. He really knew what he wanted.
Could Radiopark do that: Arabic films?
We had to appoint an extra editor. We had a brief: firstly to curate the editorial work, i.e. the archive, and secondly to get all the films. That's how it all started. There were no translations or synchronised versions, no things that might only be shown in the Arab world. Over the years, we have built up a reputation for having and being able to do this. We have to engage with their culture, I can't show every film there. When he's on board with his whole family, I have to be a little careful about what I show.
Is the quality standard for films the same as for music?
Yes, absolutely. Especially when it comes to picture quality. Why should I spend 2.5 million euros on a huge television plus audio system and then the film looks miserable? That would be out of the question. It's not just the curating that's important, but also the bibliographical work.
What does that mean?
After all, it is a library. When the AV man on board does this, the films are often called 01 and 02 and they never find these files again. They have to be organised professionally, with title, year and all metadata. So who are the actors, the director, year of release, exact title or remakes. What use is it to me if the film is called Harry Potter, there are eight of them! You can't call them 1, 2, 3, 4, you have to do it sensibly. There's a reason why editors are trained.
So no competition, not even from AI?
That doesn't scare me, we'll survive it. Because we have this experience over the last ten years and have already processed so many enquiries, the phone is ringing. You can't make up for those ten years so quickly, and neither can AI. Sucking a few facts from the Internet without checking them is not enough for the metadata. The databases are often incorrect. And the automatic translations can also end up with nonsense. We check every film again, even the information on the DVD is sometimes incomplete or incorrect. We go through several quality controls, our archive and our database are absolutely official.
Who is part of your team, what do they need to be able to do?
We have trained music and film editors here. We have media technicians who convert image and music data and prepare it for the respective formats. Plus fast customer service. That's extremely important - and speed. We also have a number of freelancers who have specialised qualifications in certain areas, for example a DJ or a musical director who is responsible for our classical and jazz music because he also studied it. We also have offices in Berlin, Munich, Vienna and Dubai. We have international colleagues who enlighten us about what we Western Europeans may not know or understand. Recently, partners in London, Miami and Hong Kong have also joined the team. Everything we deliver has to be first class, reliable and fast - we have a reputation in this scene. Ships are in our company's DNA, and our customers can sense that very clearly.
