see end...
---- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Fine" <[log in to unmask]>
> Most of the Naxos stuff I've heard is junk (it's technically not for sale
> in the US yet a lot of it seems to be floating around in the CD shops of
> major US cities). People who think this is any good obviously haven't
> heard anything close to the master tapes. LPs and 78s, and for that matter
> mass-duped quarter-track reels, are simply inferior to the masters, for a
> whole variety of obvious technical reasons. To suggest that an
> over-processed dub of an LP is anything close to the quality of the master
> is, I am afraid, an indication of poor hearing or misunderstanding of the
> technical limits of the media.
>
> Now, it's another matter whether the major copyright-owners have a spotty
> record of quality regarding remasters (and for that matter original issues
> and in many cases, original recordings themselves). Recording quality and
> end-result production and manufacturing quality have always been spotty
> when the industry is taken as a whole. That's why certain recordings stand
> out -- they are better. Where a mass-production approach has been taken to
> remastering, the results have generally not been good. In some cases,
> companies went back later in the CD era and did a much better job. In
> other cases, bad old remasters have simply been repackaged at a lower
> price point.
>
> The fact that the Naxos and even worse-quality gray-market stuff is out
> there SHOULD be a huge impetus to the copyright-owners to put everything
> in print in superior quality for similar discount prices, which can be
> accomplished with direct-download models. Inferior 3rd-party trash
> diminishes their brands and devalues their entire catalog (not to mention
> that every sale of a Naxos dub of an LP is money not made by the owner of
> the master tape). If they can't make money by directly issuing their
> vaults, they should aggressively license full-quality transfers to people
> who can make money with that business model. They seem more intent on
> losing market value than fighting back, sadly.
>
I suspect here you are dealing with reissues of CLASSICAL recordings...which
brings up another
important point...! The sales of even CURRENT classical records rarely, if
ever, reach the
vast numbers that "catch the eye" of record-company executives (or others on
a "decision-
making-level)...?! While there are lovers of classical music who would
probably HAPPILY
purchase reissues of noted performances (BTW, how do they deal with the
fact that many
of these recordings are MONOphonic...?!)...these folks do NOT number in tens
of
thousands...in fact, AFAIK, may not even number in the thousands...?!
The question then becomes, "How...and for how much...do/can we sell
recordings which
have a possible audience of less than a thousand at best...?!"
Remember, you're dealing with people who are used to seeing recordings "go
platinum'...how do we accustom them to dealing with recordings which, at
best,
are lucky to "go cardboard"...?!
Steven C. Barr
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