Bravo BIS!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Robert is one of the industry's good guys and deserves our support.

I agree, but surely all companies who give us such an abundance and range of music are the good guys - even Universal has its good points (i.e. its phenominal back catalogue).

[Mahlerei]

The point is that BIS is not a major player but they do have a fairly extensive and diverse catalogue. Also, Robert takes a punt on little known composers that the big 'uns won't touch. He is one of those record bosses who also takes the trouble to engage with his listeners on internet sites. He started the business hawking LPs to record shops in the 1970s and is still very much in charge at BIS.

As for Universal, their back catalogue is just about all the've got left, what with the slow trickle of new - and safe - recordings. They are a giant multinational with diverse interests, and classical music is but a tiny fragment of their business. BIS only does one thing, and they do it very well, even in a very tough market. That kind of perseverance is rare in this - or any other - business.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The "minor" companies have effectively become the majors. I always look at the enterprising Dutton new releases with appreciation.

[johnb]

Well, virtually their [presumably Decca and EMI] whole available catalogue is on Spotify, free if you don't mind the adverts, or if you do, excellent value for a tenner a month.

Curious. When I've checked spotify for something I am interested in the CD hasn't appeared to be there - I got the impression that they only have an extremely small proportion of the Decca and EMI catalogues.

Bravo for BIS!!!

[gurnemanz]

I have greatly enjoyed this Villa-Lobos set from BIS. Seven for the price of three with a pretty box and decent notes.

http://www.bis.se/index.php?op=album&aID=BIS-CD-1830-32

[Mahlerei]

Indeed, gurnemanz, just one of many good bargains to be had from BIS.

[amateur51]

I hope they are better than his totally uninspiring playing of the Schumann Nachtstuecke op. 111.

Well why not have a listen and let us have an informed comment, pianoanorak

[Lion-of-Vienna]

I would endorse the favourable comments about Brautigam's Beethoven and Suzuki's Bach but, for me, the jewels in the crown of the BIS catalogue are the vast number of Scandinavian symphonies. Stenhammar, Tubin, Holmboe, Saeverud, Sallinen, and Kokkonen to name but a few are all there. Enough to keep a symphony fan like me happy for months!

[Bryn]

I particularly applaud their Jón Leifs series.

[Uncle Monty]

I would endorse the favourable comments about Brautigam's Beethoven and Suzuki's Bach but, for me, the jewels in the crown of the BIS catalogue are the vast number of Scandinavian symphonies. Stenhammar, Tubin, Holmboe, Saeverud, Sallinen, and Kokkonen to name but a few are all there. Enough to keep a symphony fan like me happy for months!

Yes, agreed. It's "horses for courses". I've been catching up with missing pieces of Tubin and Aho in particular.

However, word has obviously got round like wildfire, and teh server is currently clogged up with people like us! Try again later.

[Uncle Monty]

Just wanted to thank Lion-of-Vienna for the heads-up about Kokkonen, hitherto just one more name on a list to me. I'm really enjoying being in his intriguing and very varied sound-world, and could hardly wait to get to the machine for yet more this morning!

[ahinton]

I have no idea what the effect on the turnover and profit of BIS will be following this decision, but one thing is certain; Robert von Bahr is no fool, either musically or commercially, so I can only imagine that he perceives that this immense gamble will ultimately pay off so that he can continue to provide the valuable service that he has done over the years.

Check out the discography of the remarkable Swedish pianist Fredrik Ullén on the label; there's Ligeti, there's a fascinating and amusing CD entitled Got a Minute which explores more than 20 piano transcription of Chopin's "Minute" waltz and ends up with the original and, last but by no means least, there's the first three CDs in an ongoing series of the complete 100 Transcendental Studies by Sorabji, all of which should surely add up to more than enough to convince anyone that Ullén deserbes to be far better known than he is.

[Lion-of-Vienna]

Thanks Uncle Monty, I'm glad you're enjoying Kokkonen.

In the words of the Goon Show: "There's more where that came from"!

[Uncle Monty]

I have no idea what the effect on the turnover and profit of BIS will be following this decision, but one thing is certain; Robert von Bahr is no fool, either musically or commercially, so I can only imagine that he perceives that this immense gamble will ultimately pay off so that he can continue to provide the valuable service that he has done over the years.

It's an intriguing decision, isn't it? But as you say, I'm sure there must be a "cunning plan" behind it. I have wondered for twenty years now why record companies, mainly the multinationals, have seemed not to realise, or not to want to realise, that with digitisation the whole world of music distribution has changed, and to do nothing about it.

You have desperate rearguard actions by droves of lawyers trying to enforce analogue/hardware-based copyright laws in a situation where it simply cannot be done because the material concerned is not material, but intangible and pretty well untraceable. You have a few wretched teenagers dragged up before the courts for sharing horrible here-today-gone-tomorrow commercial ditties and movies, while organised criminals are distributing material on a huge scale with little risk of being brought to book. Trying to police this really is like trying to hold back an invisible tsunami.

I imagine the record companies decided to try and make money in the traditional way while the going was good, but at last they are being forced either to get out of the business or to come up with something new.

I have no wish to defraud anyone, particularly the best of the independent record labels not motivated entirely by corporate greed, and I've probably spent far more on records than is conscionable, but these days I could, if I wanted to, build a huge collection of classical music for absolutely nothing, and no doubt many do, and will. Whether it's right or wrong becomes almost irrelevant in such a situation.

What do you think BIS, for example, is up to? And what should the record companies be doing? And what is the future for them and us?

Thanks, by the way, for the tip re Ullen. I will get to it!

[Paul Sherratt]

>>Well, virtually their whole available catalogue is on Spotify, free if you don't mind the adverts, or if you do, excellent value for a tenner a month.



£4.99 actually !!!