Where's all the ECM music on Spotify?

[Tenor Freak]

Because it's all goooooooooone.......


And I'm not the only one to have noticed: http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=91360

It all boils down to the bread, of course. Steve Lake writes:

"At the moment ECM is out of Spotify in all countries except France where the deal with the streaming service was via ECM's licensee there, Universal ...Music. On this issue ECM has basically been responding to the protests of its distributors who are losing sales to the streaming companies (and there have also been a few artists who've said they prefer not to have their music sold in this fashion). ECM's old-fashioned priority is still the physical CD, so we have to support the efforts of those who are trying hard to keep it alive. "

Though whether this will encourage folk to buy legit ECM CDs at thirteen quid + a pop is a moot point.

Meh.

[Ian Thumwood]

Bruce

I think that new issues on CD from this label can be acquired for about £10 plus pp from Amazon's "Marketplace" which puts the records about £2-3 more expensive that other labels. There was link someone posted last week where Eicher was defending the quality of sound on CD's as opposed to streaming. A comment was made about the sound quality justifying the price of the product. I find this very odd since, as great at this label sounded in the 80's, the sound quality does sound a bit produced and artifical these days. In my opinion, the label isn't what it was (although the recent Towner / Frescu disc and Charles Lloyd's output proves that they can still be on the money) and it definately doesn't seem as ahead of the curve as it did when I first got in to this music. For me, the drumming often seems to lack the bite that you get on other labels and it becomes very noticeable when you hear many ECM artists live just how much the studio production is almost like an additional player- a bit like football supporters being described as the 12th man.

I've not yet got into downloading although I have accessed stuff where I know it is legal. I think there is still something about owning a product that cannot replace downloads even if I am beginning to get buried in CD's. CD collecting is still a big pull for me and nothing quite matches the thrill of hearing music that is totally new to you. With CD prices often tumbling to prices ranging from £5-8 on other labels, it is possible to take a punt in a way that a £13 ECM seems like you are being fleeced. I quite like the gatefold discs but find I can't leave them in the car overnight as the humidity issue causes the plastic element to become unstuck. What I do like is the fact that buyng a CD is now more like getting a magazine than a book. In the past I would have debated whether to buy something but access to cheaper CD's on the internet with a wider variety has mean't that i listen to a far wider range of jazz than has been possible in the past.

Fascinating to compare Eicher's comments to the ower of the Naxos label who revealed on a CD review programme on Radio Three over five years ago that he was definately looking more towards issuing downloads than CD's for which he foresaw a limited future. I think the truth is somewhere in between but I feel the CD is now more disposable and not quite as permanent as a testiment / statement by an artist. Staggering to see how prolific the likes of Dave Douglas, William Parker, Dave Liebman or even Joey DeFrancesco are as they all put out several CD's / projects in one year. An interesting comparison with ECM's 2/3 year cycle for each artist (excluding Keith Jarrett!) It will be interesting to see how ECM evolves as Eicher's dislike of flooding the market with one artist's work is opposed to the reality of working jazz musicians and the propensity for artists to produce records for all their projects and not just a "flagship" CD. I think the lack of artists under the age of 40 on ECM means that the label will have a limited lifespan - most of the artists on this label are now 60's-70's. Can't help thinking that Eicher is further sowing the seeds of his label's distruction by insisting on full price.

[charles t]

Certainly one of your most cogent responses, there, Calum.

I do snicker to myself when I revisit in my memory the summer I lived in an abandoned apartment in Chicago for awhile; with the usual suitcase-sized record player and boxes of Prestige Records, etc. Now that was a storage problem!

Now in this on-line warehouse way-of-life, there has never been, previously, anything approximating this surfeit of product.

I have to confess being one of those evangelical ECM-r's. I do hear that Nordic pure air...I really do!

When Tower Records over here, were closing out their stores...I still remember blindly picking up ECM's (Thomas Stronen, for example) knowing I had been saved: a-priori !

I also know, that like myself, you haunt the vaults of emusic.com. Probably despite the hiking-up of their charge system. From a 75-points bankroll, to now staring right at the dollar equivalency - $6.00 for a typical download.

Like all retail matters, it's a question of choice. ECM (CD) is like a fine Italian knit. But, we all know Pakastani will also do.

For my 'choice' downloads (translate: paid-for's) I use Mitsui gold CD-R. Otherwise...let me look...TDK (50 for 5 bucks).

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Certainly one of your most cogent responses, there, Calum.

not me guv honest!

[charles t]

True. Not very erudite of me. Ian The Man...shoulda known. I'm going to blame it on the residue of forlornness left in my psyche while reading a jazz novel - Changes by Al Neil (1989).

Quoting: "Changes follows the adventures of Seamus Finn - jazz pianist, heroin addict, poet and philosopher who sees his life, his art and his addiction as a desperate spiritual search."

Like revisiting the junkie classic Cain's Book by (Scottish) novelist Alexander Trocchi, all over again.

Both writers were brilliant, devastating so.

[eighthobstruction]

CharlesT what's all this stringing words together....mojo job....rattle the cage....dig the earth at


....