How important is "street credibility" for classical CD labels?
Wed, Mar 17 2010, 9:18PM
Hello all,
With many internet-radio stations around, youtube, and probably an already large music collection, the purchase of a new cd/download becomes a rarer event year by year. The market is (still) full of new cd issues, read page 124/126 of the Gramophone March issue; you could do a lifetime with that!, and beside quality and new repertoire there is (for me) an other factor that influences the choice in buying a new classical cd; the street credibility of a label...
I was furious, when EMI could lobby a 95 year ban on historical records in the USA, almost succeeding the same in Europe last year. The "Icons" series they produce themselves are absolutely not state of the art in sound restoration, sound like it was done as a rush job. Universal treat their issues more and more as marketable "products" and Warner seems to be more occupied in deleting 14 year old girls from youtube -> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/23/business/media/23warner.html?_r=1 than in building a well cared classical cd catalogue.
That is why I only buy CD's from labels like BIS, Chandos, Channel Classics, Pentatone and the Orchestral owned small labels these days. These labels really give you the idea it matters that you buy their labours of love.
Am I alone in this? Does this "street credibility" matter to you to?
Rolf
Mon, Mar 29 2010, 7:28PM
#2
RE: How important is "street credibility" for classical CD label
I'm assuming you have a huge CD collection. Mine is only about 360-400 (versus about 800 LPs) and a lot of it is music I never had on LP. I like the Hyperion label and intend to try their download service some time. They've promised to send me a catalogue but that must be a good two months ago. However, the postal service between UK and NZ often takes this long, or longer. I will wait a little longer before getting back to them. I have some Chandos CDs and I must admit I'm very happy with them. My latest purchase is from Naive Astree, which is new to me, and I'm extremely happy with that.
Tue, Mar 30 2010, 3:09PM
#3
"street credibility" for classical CD labels?
I also with time I tend to buy from smaller labels like BIS and so on. It seems that their is really a labor of love from the liner notes to the actual performances. The big labels seem to more concerned with making the most i.e. getting the most money out of their existing catalogs, therefore the end- less re-issues from these labels. The big labels record the same repertoire endless times, but with new big name performers like Lang Lang whereas the smaller labels record lesser-known or new repertoire with capable performers who are not as famous. If one is looking for rarer or new repertoire, smaller labels like ECM and BIS .
Mon, May 3 2010, 11:17AM
#4
RE: Home
The old labels from the 1920s, 30s, 50s and 60s endlessly recycle their past glories -- very often transferred with the minimum of effort and skill. And they are still wedded to the pop-world "star" system and will sign up any singer or instrumentalist as long they they are young, slim, good to look at, have major PR presence, and just play Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Bruch, etc.
For interesting repertoire and "unknown" top-notch artists, we have to go to BIS, Naxos, Harmonia Mundi, etc. My recent favourite purchases have been Yevgeny Sudbin (BIS), Sandrine Piau (Naïve), Hanna Shybayeva (Brilliant Classics) and Sophia Jaffe (Genuin), Viviane Hagner (Hyperion) and Kreisler 1911-12 (Naxos). And you didn't get much Wieniawski, Sarasate, Hubay or Vieuxtemps when EMI, Capitol, RCA et al ruled the roost -- let alone 9/10 of Handel's musc.
Fri, May 7 2010, 12:29PM
#5
RE: How important
I m a new member to your site and this is my first. so i have read your post which is really interesting and amazing.
Fri, May 7 2010, 10:35PM
#6
RE: How important is "street credibility" for CD labels?
With previously-enjoyed/pre-used CD retailers like Amazon Marketplace, I see no reason to languish about what any label is doing.
Buying new, harmonia mundi, Tacet, Avie are favorites.
What matters is being able to get the cd in the first place. Bricks and mortar retailers are few and far between where I live, and mostly don't get very adventurous.
The online retailers sell more interesting stuff, I don't worry too much about street-cred - I gave that up years ago. I also regret the demise of Universal's labels, and the shrivelling of emi.
Best wishes,
P