BIS sold to Apple Music

[FRJames]

https://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical%20music%20news/article/bis-records-to-become-part-of-apple

Time will tell how this pans out but I find it hard to be optimistic.

[CallMePaul]

https://www.gramophone.co.uk/classic...-part-of-apple

Time will tell how this pans out but I find it hard to be optimistic.

I have to agree here - I fear that BIS will become a download/ streaming label and will cease CD issues. I hope I'm wrong!

[cloughie]

I have to agree here - I fear that BIS will become a download/ streaming label and will cease CD issues. I hope I'm wrong!

A thin ended wedge to oblivion?

[RichardB]

BIS's founder Robert von Bahr is now 80 years old and probably looking forward to slowing things down a little, so I guess he's selling his company to what he thinks is going to be a more careful owner than the other media juggernauts who might have bought it. As for continuing to release CDs... I've just moved house although we are keeping the old one, and I didn't for a moment think of bringing the CD player or my CD collection along. They've had their time, just as LPs did. Releasing and distributing CDs is expensive, hardly anyone buys them, and streaming/downloading sounds as good or better. In a few years' time nobody is going to be releasing CDs.

[richardfinegold]

I have to agree here - I fear that BIS will become a download/ streaming label and will cease CD issues. I hope I'm wrong!

Not to mention stopping SACD issues. This is terrible news

[Bryn]

BIS's founder Robert von Bahr is now 80 years old and probably looking forward to slowing things down a little, so I guess he's selling his company to what he thinks is going to be a more careful owner than the other media juggernauts who might have bought it. As for continuing to release CDs... I've just moved house although we are keeping the old one, and I didn't for a moment think of bringing the CD player or my CD collection along. They've had their time, just as LPs did. Releasing and distributing CDs is expensive, hardly anyone buys them, and streaming/downloading sounds as good or better. In a few years' time nobody is going to be releasing CDs.

Fair comment, as far as it goes, but very few streaming or download sites offer surround mixes, as BIS do/did via eClassical. BIS has remained loyal to 5.0 surround. Will the Apple empire stay with it?

[Joseph K]

BIS's founder Robert von Bahr is now 80 years old and probably looking forward to slowing things down a little, so I guess he's selling his company to what he thinks is going to be a more careful owner than the other media juggernauts who might have bought it. As for continuing to release CDs... I've just moved house although we are keeping the old one, and I didn't for a moment think of bringing the CD player or my CD collection along. They've had their time, just as LPs did. Releasing and distributing CDs is expensive, hardly anyone buys them, and streaming/downloading sounds as good or better. In a few years' time nobody is going to be releasing CDs.

Having been involuntarily divested of the best part of my CD collection and subsequently spending a number of years reacquiring them (though some were and still are unavailable) I guess you could say I have maybe an irrational attachment to my collection. I'm not so sure about the accuracy of your last sentence - I guess we'll see...

[teamsaint]

BIS's founder Robert von Bahr is now 80 years old and probably looking forward to slowing things down a little, so I guess he's selling his company to what he thinks is going to be a more careful owner than the other media juggernauts who might have bought it. As for continuing to release CDs... I've just moved house although we are keeping the old one, and I didn't for a moment think of bringing the CD player or my CD collection along. They've had their time, just as LPs did. Releasing and distributing CDs is expensive, hardly anyone buys them, and streaming/downloading sounds as good or better. In a few years' time nobody is going to be releasing CDs.

The death of physical media is frequently predicted, but the bloody stuff just won’t lie down and die. Kids are buying vinyl, much music for good commercial reasons gets a physical release, and as for print books, the industry is in pretty good nick, as HB and PB prices finally adjust to inflation.
Books are a good example actually. I was chatting recently to a Thomas Hardy enthusiast , who mentioned that in his lifetime each title needed a variety of formats ( serial, complete volume, translations ) and much the same is true today ( HB, ebook, audio, serial rights etc).

Producing books is expensive, hardly anybody buys them ( looked at in a certain way) , but if you want to publish a niche title, 1000/1500 HB copies is the bedrock of the profit and loss account.
And physical media is critical for musicians and authors to interact in person with their audience.

[RichardB]

The death of physical media is frequently predicted, but the bloody stuff just won’t lie down and die. Kids are buying vinyl (...) And physical media is critical for musicians and authors to interact in person with their audience.

But we were talking about CDs, not the ongoing vinyl fad and certainly not "physical media" in the form of books. And I can't speak for authors, but what's critical for musicians to interact in person with their audience is live performances! r

[MickyD]

I'm sorry to hear this news because I am one of these 'hardly anyones' who still buys tons of CDs. I had really hoped that BIS would bring out a big box of all the Miklos Spanyi CPE Bach series, but now I rather doubt it. I find it very worrying that having clicked. on the usual BIS website page, there is just the announcement by von Bahr and no possibility of accessing the impressive catalogue. Hopefully that is just temporary.

[teamsaint]

But we were talking about CDs, not the ongoing vinyl fad and certainly not "physical media" in the form of books. And I can't speak for authors, but what's critical for musicians to interact in person with their audience is live performances! r

But my point was that the death ( though not decline) of various physical media has failed to materialise in other media, despite being repeatedly predicted,and there are good reasons to think that CDs will follow the pattern and survive too.
Live performance/ appearances and sales of physical media very often go hand in hand, and can be very beneficial for artists, who often , as you are of course well aware, need all the income streams they can find.

[RichardB]

my point was that the death ( though not decline) of various physical media has failed to materialise in other media, despite being repeatedly predicted,and there are good reasons to think that CDs will follow the pattern and survive too.

CDs have existed since the 1980s and require particular devices in order to be heard, and such devices are themselves much less common than they used to be, for example no longer being built into cars or laptops. Books, on the other hand, have been around for thousands of years in one form or another and don't require any such technology (apart from spectacles, in my case), which surely puts them in a very different situation. Anyway, as far as I'm concerned the end of physical media for recorded music ought to be hastened rather than delayed!

[Bryn]

CDs have existed since the 1980s and require particular devices in order to be heard, and such devices are themselves much less common than they used to be, for example no longer being built into cars or laptops. Books, on the other hand, have been around for thousands of years in one form or another and don't require any such technology (apart from spectacles, in my case), which surely puts them in a very different situation. Anyway, as far as I'm concerned the end of physical media for recorded music ought to be hastened rather than delayed!

Fair points. I note that all optical discs, including Blu-ray, appear to be towards the end of their respective product cycles.

[cloughie]

I think many people of my age will be content to see out their years with CDs as a main source of the good music of their choice, listening on the hifi systems they’ve aged gracefully or with luck, at times disgracefully alongside!

[MickyD]

I think many people of my age will be content to see out their years with CDs as a main source of the good music of their choice, listening on the hifi systems they’ve aged gracefully or with luck, at times disgracefully alongside!

I most certainly will!