Future of EMI Classics and Virgin Classics

[KipperKid]

to copy seedys, of course.

Let's got back OT, or maybe you could start a new thread on the techie board for this sort of thing.

[Ferretfancy]

AS the argument rages, I look at my shelves and realise that I have all I need. It's nice to buy new CDs, especially bargain boxes from the golden age of stereo, but today's offerings often don't match the standard of the classic performances anyway, and there's always a good book or a trip to Gramex.

[anamnesis]

Alps, they'll do it by price - I'm a download sceptic but have been seduced recently by some sub £8 bulk downloads of otherwise unavailable old recordings. OK I immediately burned them to CD. But I fear it is going to become the norm. Meanwhile I'm enjoying the Klemperer boxes and the Icons.

Same here. If low price & good quality & high download speed come together, for me there is no reason to defend the CD/DVD. I'm caring for my LP collection, though, and occasionally I buy used LPs from Oxfam online. Some are jewels (eg Beethoven's string quartets, Hungarian String Quartet, EMI, 1966, immaculate condition for £ 8,-)

[BBMmk2]

Would you get all the information on downloads?

[cloughie]

I suppose we need to ask the question 'Is there any money in it for Warner to continue issuing EMI's cheap box sets?' If yes then they will - if not we just need to say thank you to EMI in their dying days for trying to keep going by luring us into buying these bargain gems. I'd like to think Warner will see fit to continue the good work as there are still many gems to uncover.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Nothing on the shelf for visitors to peruse. No programme notes. No libretti with translations. Only playable on limited media. All you have bought is permission to rearrange the magnetic particles on something you already own.

But it's modern.

[cloughie]

Nothing on the shelf for visitors to peruse. No programme notes. No libretti with translations. Only playable on limited media. All you have bought is permission to rearrange the magnetic particles on something you already own.

But it's modern.

Alps, that's something I've always felt conned by - paying out good money for a chunk of ether. When I buy the Klemperer Box I can sell on the duplicates - always assuming I can find a buyer - downloads are rental with no right to sell on!

[Roehre]

AS the argument rages, I look at my shelves and realise that I have all I need. It's nice to buy new CDs, especially bargain boxes from the golden age of stereo, but today's offerings often don't match the standard of the classic performances anyway, and there's always a good book or a trip to Gramex.

Agreed, especially that the standards of classic performances aren't matched: they are only surpassed quite regularly

[umslopogaas]

Its worth noting that the arrival of a new technology doesnt necessarily mean the extinction of the previous one. The arrival of CDs was welcomed for reasons already given, but the LP did not disappear. Nearly forty years after they were supplanted by CDs, my local hifi shop still carries a good selection of LPs. Some are secondhand survivors of course, but there is also a good selection of brand new ones, both re-issues of classics from the nineteen sixties and also brand new performances (mostly from pop artists I've never heard of). And the shop gives you a choice of at least five turntables to play them on. He wouldnt stock this stuff if no-one bought it, so there is still a small but viable market out there for the LP. I'm sure the same will be the case with CDs. For example, I keep a good selection in the car. I expect I could master some technology for playing downloads in the car, but why, when CDs are so convenient? OK, I might want to play something only available as a download, though in my case that is unlikely, and as already mentioned, it could be burned onto a CD. In the house I have mountains of vinyl, because I collect it, and a growing mountain of CDs, since every month The Gramophone tells me I need to buy something newly released. Fortunately I live by myself in a four bedroom house, so there is a. plenty of space and b. no other half to restrain my collecting.

[Ferretfancy]

Agreed, especially that the standards of classic performances aren't matched: they are only surpassed quite regularly

In certain areas I agree with you, especially where instrumental and chamber music is concerned. The reason for my bias is probably because I dislike the artificial sound quality of so many recordings of large scale music with that patched together feeling.

I've just been listening to Andrew Litton's recent recording of Prokofiev's 6th, bloated sound with the sort of exaggerated dynamics that make enjoyment of the music a challenge, and this is only one I could name. As I contrast in scale and achievement I listened yesterday to Rubinstein in Mozart's K 466, a fine naturally balanced performance from a pianist who we don't often associate with Mozart, and splendidly dramatic conducting from Alfred Wallenstein.

Incidentally, I'm often intrigued by the fact that contemporary music is often so much better recorded than more conventional classical music, greater transparency of scoring perhaps ?

[anamnesis]

All you have bought is permission to rearrange the magnetic particles on something you already own.

But it's modern.

Well, in fact you buy the permission to use the zeros and ones on a piece of metal (CDs). You are not allowed to copy the cd and sell the original.

[doversoul1]

I have no knowledge of the working of record companies and have never really thought about it until now but what happens to the artists’ contract when a company acquires another? Do the artists automatically move to the new label or does the new company pick and choose what they want? I don’t often hear, if at all comes to that (it may be just me being ignorant), Warner label in the field of early music. I imagine large part of recording of early music is very much dependant on knowledge and enthusiasm of record companies. How good is Warner in this respect?

[cloughie]

Well, in fact you buy the permission to use the zeros and ones on a piece of metal (CDs). You are not allowed to copy the cd and sell the original.

More to the point you are not allowed to sell the copy of the download you have paid for!

[Gordon]

Let's face it folks the industry has commoditised music and technologies like MP3 have simply aided and abetted the process. Once you get the acountants in charge, the pile it high sell it cheap mentality will dominate. Even in the 1950s/60s pop music made the money not the classical and fidelity was not a mass market imperative. The consumption of music is now ubiquitous on the move and that convenience drives some of the need for compressed sound and the ability to deliver it anywhere at will anytime. EMI's problem is not new - EMI was a stodgy company, even in the 50s.

I have no knowledge of the working of record companies and have never really thought about it until now but what happens to the artists’ contract when a company acquires another? Do the artists automatically move to the new label or does the new company pick and choose what they want? I don’t often hear, if at all comes to that (it may be just me being ignorant), Warner label in the field of early music. I imagine large part of recording of early music is very much dependant on knowledge and enthusiasm of record companies. How good is Warner in this respect?

The value an acquirer places on a company is often based on intellectual property, not physical assets, and part of that value is the set of contracts with the artists they have. Similarly a set of key customers in a market may be the incentive behind an acquisition too. Or even a football club for the players!!! In this and other cases recently the back catalogue may be the basis of the valuation.

[anamnesis]

More to the point you are not allowed to sell the copy of the download you have paid for!

Correct. You have paid for the content. So, if you want to sell the content make sure that you remove it from your hard drive after you've sold it. :-)