Re: [ARSCLIST] One business model for out of print recordings -- let's hope it works

["Steven C. Barr(x)" <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

see end...
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Fine" <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Archiv has extended their licensing since this article.
> Now include most of the Mercury Living Presence CD reissues that are currently
out of print:
> http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Label?album_group=8&label_id=1228
> (note that some titles, for instance the Kubelik/Chicago mono reissues, are
out of print as
> individual CD's but are in print as a multi-CD set)
> And also the CD reissues of Everest done in the 1990's, I believe remastered
by David Baker:
> http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Label?album_group=8&label_id=1402
> (note that some Everest titles have now been remastered again, from the 35mm
films, by Classic
> Records, and issued as LPs and double-disc sets of CD audio and DVD-Audio)
> Plus a bunch others from various Universal, EMI and Sony/BMG labels:
>
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/MusicList?featured=1&role_wanted=6&album_group=8
> If enough of these sell, one would think the copyright owners would see the
sense in "annuity"
> arrangements like this. Basically, they license the right to sell clones of
CD's they already long
> ago amortized the cost of remastering. So every sale of an ArchivCD is pure
profit to the copyright
> owner, and even if it's only a few dollars a day it adds up at no cost to
them. Now, the question
> will be if this is profitable enough for Archiv. So far they say, yes.
> There is a ready-made version of this business for jazz. There are hundreds of
Universal (Verve,
> Mercury, MGM, Argo/Chess, etc) jazz titles that are now out of print but were
remastered for CD
> either here or in Japan since the dawn of CD's. There are also dozens if not
hundreds of
> Sony/Columbia and RCA/BMG jazz titles that were in print on CD at one time and
aren't now.
> Also, there is a version of this business just covering classical, jazz and
even rock/pop titles
> that were out on CD in a non-US market and never made it to the US market.
> I say, kudos to Archiv and everyone who values the fact that this material is
back available in CD
> format should support their efforts.
>
However...there are also innumerable analog "albums," and even singles
(paricularly given the RRIA-inspired "eternal copyright" for sound
recordings!) which were never reissued on CD...but still represent
significant milestones in our musical history. These, too, deserve
to be made available...either through "official" CD reissues by the
copyright holders, or authorized reissue by third-party companies!

Whether such projects would be financially viable is, admittedly,
open to question (in many cases, the minimal overhead involved in
"indie-label" but authorized reissues might help...?!)...

Steven C. Barr