This needs some work. The three-part process was not used until c. 1903.
Other statements seem to be ok but are in the wrong eras. I've not read it
thoroughly, just a couple of segments.
Important stuff is left out- i.e, the Jones patent, the 12" record, the 14"
record, competition with the cylinder interests (touched on, but not
properly explored), a lot more.
We really need a good outline which explains and links these elements,
particularly the international ones. People assume that because it was this
way in their country, it was the same in others. Sources should be cited.
Etc.
Steve Smolian
-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Fine
Sent: Friday, November 23, 2012 11:05 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [ARSCLIST] Interesting history of DGG-Polydor-Polygram-Berliner
Studios-SACD-etc
http://www.emil-berliner-studios.com/en/chronik1.html
I'm not vouching for 100% accuracy, but Peter Burkowitz is not ill-informed
or ignorant, so I'd give
him the benefit of the doubt.
Another interesting written piece by Berkowitz is his 1977 AES Journal
article, "Recording, Art of
the Century?"
http://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=3311
In the timeline linked at the top, interesting vector of how the classical
music business went off
the rails in the 1995-2005 period. First they glutted the market with
product, then started nickel
and diming all the most-qualified people to death, then the megaglomeration
and resultant
consultants (ie "fire anyone who costs anything, in other words anyone with
experience or historical
knowledge" and "why do you have all those slow-selling old CDs in print? cut
them out" -- which
shows a complete ignorance of the lucrative "long tail" aspect of a
classical catalog), then the
outsourcing (what is now called Decca Classics no longer oversees its own
archives, no longer owns
mastering facilities and no longer owns manufacturing plants, so it's more a
production company than
any traditional notion of a record company). Sony has followed very much the
same route, but I think
they own at least some of their manufacturing still, and they do have
remastering operations,
small-scale compared to the 90's, in NYC and Japan. EMI has had a similar
but somewhat less drastic
trajectory (we'll see if Abbey Road and Capitol Studios end up staying under
the UMG umbrella). The
result is much less new product, but a last-ditch bonanza for collectors of
back-catalog (all of
those wonderful $2-or-less-per-CD box sets of recent years).
-- Tom Fine
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