Thoroughly Good announces a major new partnership, a new print title, and a subscription offer designed to bring classical music to new audiences.
For some time now, Thoroughly Good has been quietly growing. A larger editorial team. A broader brief. A conviction that classical music criticism — done well — has an audience beyond the one it currently reaches.
That expansion takes a significant new step forward today.
Thoroughly Good has always operated from a simple premise: that serious engagement with music doesn’t require a conservatoire education, an expensive seat, or a particular postcode. Nor a first from Cambridge, a Harris tweed, or an origin story baked full of personal struggle with identity. What it requires is a guide worth trusting. Over the past year, the editorial team has been working to extend that reach — into new formats, new platforms, and new conversations.
Classical music has spent too long waiting for new audiences to find it. Thoroughly Good intends to go to where people already are.
Today, Thoroughly Good announces a partnership with a leading UK supermarket.
“We looked at what the data was telling us about audience development and concluded that the most logical distribution channel for serious music criticism was a chilled grocery aisle. The numbers supported it. Waitrose agreed,” said Jon Jacob, founder and CEO of Thoroughly Good.
The offer — available to monthly subscribers from this autumn — will be built around a carefully curated selection of recordings, access, and experiences developed exclusively by the Thoroughly Good editorial team. Subscribers can expect something that reflects the full breadth of what classical music can and should be.
Thoroughly Good in Your Hand, a new print title, will accompany the subscription. Critics, journalists, content creators, and commentators will contribute across both the magazine and a programme of in-store live events and podcast recordings, beginning with a pilot across selected branches.
“I was asked to contribute a column on contemporary orchestral recording,” said one music critic. “I said yes immediately. The brief was serious. The distribution is — well. It’s Waitrose. You’d be surprised how many people read things they pick up near the checkout. It’s an easy win. And the money is good. Beats some of the other pap I’m asked to write.”
Subscribers will receive a monthly hamper. Curated selections will include new and archival recordings chosen for their musical significance, streaming vouchers for key platforms, and — from the second month onwards — tickets to concerts and events. Later subscription tiers will introduce limited-edition printed scores, annotated programme notes from jobbing conductors, a scented candle composed to complement home listening, interval refreshments, and a quarterly cheese-and-wine pairing guide developed in consultation with the Thoroughly Good editorial team and Waitrose’s own buyers.
“We’ve committed to experimenting,” said Sarah Monkton, Head of Cultural Engagement at Waitrose. “We spent some time early in the process attempting to pair a good Cheddar with Elgar.” It seemed the natural place to start. But it felt arch. Unsatisfying. We went back to the Dairy Team.”
The team eventually settled on a Comté to accompany Brahms’s Third Symphony. “Comté has a particular quality in the finish — a nuttiness that lingers. We felt that mapped naturally onto the third movement in particular. Pungent melancholy, that’s what our buyers and the Thoroughly Good team said. They spent considerable time on this. It wasn’t a decision we took lightly.”
“A lot of people don’t know where to begin with listening at home. The Thoroughly Good Candle gives them somewhere to start. The scent profile was developed to reduce cortisol. Brahms does the rest,” said Sarah.
Gold-tier subscribers will receive an additional service. On the evening of their choosing, a trained Thoroughly Good usher will attend the subscriber’s home, prepare the listening environment, and manage the experience from arrival to close. Seating will be directed. Photography will be discouraged. The music will begin when the usher decides the room is ready.
At the interval, the usher will move to the kitchen to prepare and serve drinks before directing the subscriber to the bathroom and back. Conversation during this period is welcomed but not required.
“It’s about recreating the full concert experience in the home. The music is only part of it. The slight anxiety about whether you’re in the right seat. The person next to you sighing. Someone’s phone. We wanted subscribers to have all of that. And to pay for it,” said Jon Jacob.
Early responses from the Waitrose customer panel have been encouraging. “I wasn’t sure at first,” said one customer from Tunbridge Wells. “But the Mahler 8 was surprisingly good with the bone marrow on toasted sourdough. Though my husband tells me it took quite a lot of preparation.”
The partnership launches on 1 April.
