From: "Karl Miller" <[log in to unmask]>
> While I don't know the particular site being discussed, I can only guess 
> that the market is so small that the copyright owner does not see any 
> economic incentiveto make the material available on CD. In one of the 
> publications Steve mentioned, one that I reviewed for the ARSC Bulletin, 
> it was mention that only a very small percentage of early recordings have 
> been reissued.
> Then what of what interests me, non-commercial or broadcast recordings?
> As a long time collector of a fairly esoteric aspect of recorded music, 
> (Symphonic works of the 20th Century), and as one who will retire shortly, 
> I wondered what will happen to my collection. None of the libraries I 
> contacted, including the one where I was archivist, had any interest. And, 
> upon reflection, why would I want to donate to a library? The collection 
> would likely sit in a basement and not be cataloged or reformatted. Even 
> if it were, you would likely have to go to the library to hear it...not my 
> idea of reasonable access.
> Having my own record company, Pierian, I thought about issuing some of 
> this "pirate" material (old broadcasts). To see if there would be a market 
> for such material, I posted to three email lists, the URLs for my uploads 
> of the Symphonies of Daniel Gregory Mason, conducted by the likes of Bruno 
> Walter and John Barbirolli. Out of approximately 3,000 total list members 
> I had about 75 downloads. You can't even give it away. But for those 75 
> who did download those symphonies, I would like to think that hearing that 
> music will have great meaning.
> Yet, even more to my point, is the question of access. Say you were doing 
> research on those symphonies. You can't find any recording listed in OCLC. 
> What does that say about access, research and scholarship. Should 
> libraries join those email lists and start downloading? Should libraries 
> be buying all of those "pirate" CDs? For me, the answer is obvious.
> I believe, the US copyrights are as ill-conceived as was prohibition.
>
The problem is that the "record industry" (insofar as such s thing still 
exists?!)
has chosen to market its product to VERY young "consumers"...and by doing
so has reduced its product to "teen-friendly" "urban dance" material. 
Insofar
as a market for classical music still exists, it is being fed by (often sold 
in $1
stores) reissue CD's of various European recordings (often p.d. where they
originated, but effectively untraceable in most cases...?!).

I can drop by Dollarama (a Toronto-based $1-2 chain) and pick up any of
an innumerable bunch of classical CD's for $1 each...?! Needless to say,
this discourages BMG-RCA or CBS-Sony from trying to merchandise any
classical CD's...even though they usually own the rights to virtually ALL
such recordings...?!

Steven C. Barr