At 02:39 PM 8/17/2004 -0400, Steven C. Barr wrote:
>1) Anent the unusual lifespan of more-or-less recent pop recordings...I
>find this to be an oddity, and often wonder who is to blame! I believe
>it was a year or so ago that the top-of-the-charts album was a Beatles
>anthology...and that group hasn't existed for about 35 years! This would
>be akin to Whiteman heading record sales in 1960...and in 1960 I think
>the only way you could hear Whiteman (and his contemporaries) was to
>search out 78's! As well, RCA still pumps out Presley and Miller
>anthologies, which go back even further!
>
>2) I've always felt there should be a "use it or lose it" approach
>to sound recordings...that is, the copyright holder could only retain
>the copyright as long as the recording was maintained in the "person's"
>active catalog.
<snipped>
1) The extended lifespan is the norm in the classical field. Most
contemporary artists would appreciate the sales invoked by such names as
Callas, Caruso. Gould and Toscanini. Of course, in pop the music itself is
different over time, but I can think of no contemporary classical composer
whose sales rival those of Mozart, Beethoven or Verdi.
2) On 'use it or lose it', I agree heartily. There is hope in the classical
field with labels such as Testament and issues such as those from Black Dog
and Leventhal licensing material for reissue. They are proving that
lower-cost, lesser-name labels can profit where the Big Boys (in those
cases, EMI) cannot or will not find a way. There is also a rich trove of
top-quality, low-cost reissues from Naxos, but those are not supposed to be
available in the U.S.
Mike
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