Check Amazon, the "buy new and used" links. There's tons and tons of very low-cost Fantasy Group
product out there. Maybe not in a few years, but for now there's not much that can't be had cheap.
Also I just noticed there are still plenty of title available dirt-cheap at oldies.com:
http://www.oldies.com/collection-view/Fantasy-Warehouse-Clearance-Sale.html
In general, I agree with you in lamenting the slow submerging of the CD format, but it appears to be
inevitable. The good news is, I've never seen prices lower if you shop around carefully.
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Lewis" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2010 11:52 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Concord Music Group acquires Rounder Records
Nevertheless, I wasn't happy to see Concord dump the catalogue. While their digital distribution
model is sensible and user-friendly, the physical product did have meaning to some of us and there
were many Fantasy Group titles that I wanted which I will have not enough time or money to obtain
before they disappear. I'm not much of a consumer for digital-on-demand, FWIW.
David "Uncle Dave" Lewis
Assistant Editor, Classical
Rovi Corporation
Rovi. The new name for Macrovision.
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This email message (including any attachments) is for the sole use of the
intended recipient and may contain confidential and privileged information
-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tom Fine
Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2010 11:41 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [ARSCLIST] Concord Music Group acquires Rounder Records
http://www.thedailyswarm.com/headlines/rounder-records-acquired-concord-music-group/
Interesting how Concord has rolled up a bunch of mid-sized independents in this decade. Before they
started, Concord, Telarc, Fantasy Group (which earlier rolled up Riverside, Prestige, Pablo and
Stax) and Rounder were all standalones.
I've noticed that Concord has done a better job than some other record companies about having a
usable, user-friendly website and also about selling directly to the public and selling MP3
downloads directly. All of this cuts out middlemen and is good for their bottom line. They also
recently cleared out excess inventory, mostly from Fantasy Group, via Oldies.com. I've been
impressed with the Stax remasters I've heard, especially when compared to the really lousy remasters
put out by Rhino/Atlantic in the late 1980's. Also, the Keepnews Edition remasters of Riverside jazz
classics have sounded really good to my ears. On the negative side, it's too bad they shut down
Telarc's new-recording operation, but I can see how keeping it probably didn't make good business
sense. As much as we might like a type of music (classical) or a technology (SACD), we can't force
others to buy it and if there are few enough of us, it's not a profitable or sensible market.
One man's opinions, YMMV ...
-- Tom Fine
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