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

[David Lennick <dlennick@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

A friend of mine has 44 versions of the Rachmaninoff Third Piano Concerto. That's about 40 more than I
think worthwhile, and one is probably plenty for many folks.

dl

Tom Fine wrote:

> 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