Re: [ARSCLIST] CD versus Download was "All hail the analogue revolution..."

[Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Don:

I gotta ask a question that's probably asked regularly at the major label-owners -- how many 
different versions of a work can the public want? I don't mean Don Cox and a shrinking few rabid 
classical buyers. I mean a market that is mass enough to justify trodding anew over well-trodden 
ground.

Hey, my sympathies are with you. It's the same with jazz -- aside from the fact that the genre has 
been hijacked to large extent by the "museum music" crowd.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Don Cox" <doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2006 9:43 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] CD versus Download was "All hail the analogue revolution..."


> Hello Tom
>
> On 27/09/06, Tom Fine wrote:
> > Right, again, niche players. Limited marketing budget, etc. Most of
> > the world's back catalog of classical music is owned by Universal and
> > BMG/Sony and EMI. I think if you took a census, they would own about
> > 85-90% of total back catalog of recordings. The reasons why so much of
> > it is out of print has been detailed ad nauseum by me and others.
>
> I doubt if even that is true any more. They release so few new titles
> now that the more productive companies are catching up.
>
> I could do some counts to be sure, but let's suppose that EMI released
> a hundred new classical albums per year from 1955 to 1995. That is 4000
> titles. Naxos' 3000 is less, but they are still releasing 150 titles per
> year.
>
> Admittedly the others are less productive. Hyperion, Chandos, BIS etc
> etc probably release 50 or 60 titles per year each.
>
>
> Regards
> --
> Don Cox
> doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx