Pop acts dominate the iTunes charts, but music fans grab digital samplings of every conceivable genre — and smart artists keep track of purchasing patterns. "Our best-selling pieces through digital distribution are pieces that are often sung by high-school choirs," says Krista Lang Blackwood, artistic director of the local a cappella ensemble Octarium. "Youngsters buy digitally. Oldsters do not. Typically, choral music is an 'oldster' medium, but Octarium has, from its inception, tried to be 'not your father's choral group.'" With its new release, Essentials, Octarium offers its online following an abridged choral canon. The live song order differs from the album sequencing, as if the 17 tracks were set on shuffle. Octarium performs Essentials at 7:30 p.m. at Visitation Church (5141 Main, 816-753-7422) and again at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Corpus Christi Catholic Church (6100 Bob Billings Parkway — formerly West 15th Street — in Lawrence, 785-843-6286). Tickets are $15 for each show.
Fri., Oct. 17, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., Oct. 18, 7:30 p.m., 2008
