Klarinet Archive - Posting 001324.txt from 2000/05

From: "Benjamin Maas" <benmaas@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Re: [kl,c] Does On-line Music make any money?
Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 02:24:44 -0400

> The Classical CD Sales market is dead. Even BMG/RCA is getting out of
> Classical and dropping it's top Classical Artists. That is an
> unfortunate
> reality - I wish it weren't true. The bottom line for the big recording
> companies is winning out against the art. So new means of distribution is
> the wave of the future - like it or not. So you will be going to
> your store
> in the mall to buy Brittany Spears, not Galway pretty soon. It's
> like that
> at most record stores already (except superstores like Tower Records, and
> the bookstores with Classical Sections).
> Sad thought - huh.

The thing here is that we are talking about ease of delivery. People don't
necessarily want to go out and have to find something. I rarely go to
record stores anymore. I look to online resources to find the music I wish
to listen to.

As David said, the recording industry is about BIG performers. It is major
rock groups. If a first CD doesn't do well, they are cut. Classical just
loses money, so why record new stuff. Reissue the old: People are stuck in
the past and most likely would go for a classic recording than a new
recording. Plus, it's cheaper. A project that I am peripherally involved
in is the reissue of 26 hours of live Sviatoslav Richter performances. Why
listen to new when you can listen to the old. (I have similar feelings
about contemporary music, but that is a soapbox for another day)

Artists like Yo-Yo Ma, Pavarotti, etc... will probably make new recordings
for the rest of their lives and they will be issued on big labels that will
end up in big stores. The rest of us will be doing work for small labels.
Distributors now get collections of small labels and take a piece of the
action. It is much cheaper that way. Somebody else pays for the recording.
I see online music as just another extension of this.

--Ben

Benjamin Maas
Freelance Clarinetist and Recording Engineer
Los Angeles, CA
benmaas@-----.com
http://www.fifthcircle.com

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