Do you buy classical music?

A <A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/29/AR201001... article</A> details the lackluster sales of classical music discs. Do you buy classical music?

Do you buy classical music?
Yes, quite a bit
47% (170 votes)
Yes, some
23% (83 votes)
Yes, but very little
20% (72 votes)
Never
9% (33 votes)
What is classical music?
1% (3 votes)
Total votes: 361

COMMENTS
Robert Jordan's picture

There are so many great performance and recordings available. I am always looking for music I have not heard before.

Chuckie Girmann, San Diego, CA's picture

Very little, if one considers movie scores classical. If not, then never. I can't get into it. It is more appealing to hear some rock, jazz, or even pop instead of classical. I simply don't find myself craving it enough to buy.

Tom Ross's picture

Less than very little. I feel poorly about this, but I might buy a used album from a garage sale once or twice a year. Tops. And then, probably never play it.

Poor Audiophile.'s picture

I'm not sure how to define "quite a bit," but I marked it anyway. I'm buying them regularly. I just bought four CDs from Reference Recordings. I also have one from Yarlung and plan to buy more. I'm also going to start buying hi-rez discs on DVD-V as soon as I buy a new player.

emiser's picture

I buy when the mood hits. I go through periods of buying, but it is hard to justify owning 10 different versions of the same symphony, or concert, or ensemble piece when there are so many other albums to buy. If I had more money I would love to delve deeper rather than cut a broad swath.

Francisco's picture

I only wish the record companies would release more of their new catalogs on vinyl and SACD, instead of only on CDs or downloads.

A.  Stock's picture

Mostly used vinyl.

Glenn Bennett's picture

I bought a little at one time, but it's been quite a while since I have purchased any classical music. My God, look what happened to Telarc!

D.A.B., Pacific Palisades, CA's picture

I do buy much classical music—there is nothing like it to soothe, heal, and to think about those entities which are greater than ourselves.

Vic DiVenere's picture

I'm too busy to get to many concerts, but I've become a headphone audiophile and I buy lots of music, mostly classical.

xanthia01@gmail.com's picture

I buy a little, but no more or less than I always have. Jazz is and has always been my primary focus.

A Canadian Dilletante's picture

I buy a lot of classical music on CD, which I then rip (lossless), in order to have maximum playback quality, an optical backup, and printed liner notes.

Lionel's picture

ArkivMusic.com gets tons and tons of my spare cash. I still miss Tower Records, but I'm still buying a few dozen classical discs per year.

Jon's picture

Discs (CD) rarely, LPs yes!

B.  Meighan's picture

Mainly SACDs that are DSD and multichannel.

Chris Thompson's picture

This article is shocking to me. I thought classical sales were one of the few genres that were not suffering terribly due to digital downloads. Guess I was wrong. I can't believe my limited number of CD purchases is actually moving the charts!

Steve NM's picture

I don't see the mystery with the drop in sales. Unless you're a collector who has to have every performance of a work, once you have a particular performance, you're done!

Surf Mark's picture

Worthy performances well-recorded, especially those available on SACD

Dave Cook's picture

I still find the number of new classical releases coming out each month overwhelming. I'm not worried yet.

Jim, SF's picture

I blame the education system for making entire generations think "classical" music only sounds like the Classical era and associating it with being stuffy and boring. Then they grow up without ever hearing the amazing work of lesser-known composers like Nielsen, Shostakovich, Glass, etc.

Eric Shook - Pittsboro, NC's picture

I buy a little, it's just hard to know where to start. And often there are so many versions of the same stuff, that if you hear of a recommended album, you have to match up five different values to make sure it's the right one.

Yun's picture

The Lebrecht-type gloomy prediction is getting tiresome. As a 23-year-old grad student of science, nearly all of my expendable income (out of a sub-minimum wage salary) goes into the purchasing of classical CDs. I shop at three sites monthly: Crotchet.uk, Arkivmusic.com, and Amazon.

P.Jay's picture

I purchase only 24-bit downloads, CD is finished as far as I'm concerned.

Dennis's picture

I sure do. Jazz as well. SACD and Red Book. My CD collection is growing rapidly. LPs also. I have a music server as well as a big rig. The only thing I ever downloaded were some HDTracks samples. I like having the media in my house. I rip my CDs for the server but play the discs on my Esoteric X03SE for serious listening.

Woody Battle's picture

Most classical recordings are just new performances of the same small group of compositions that everyone else has recorded. How many recordings of _______'s _______ do you think I need?

Daan's picture

Almost all discs I buy are classical CDs. Just listen to some of the RCA Living Stereo discs and you'll know why.

Steve Venizelos's picture

There are some classical music labels, such as Alpha, Ricercare, etc, whose CDs are of excellent quality and which one cannot download.

Dimitris Gogas's picture

I already own what I consider "must haves." Considering that I rarely have the chance to actually sit down and listen, buying music is a luxury.

Nodaker's picture

No I don't. Occasionally, if I can't find anything else on the radio I might listen to it, but the moon is usually blue when I do.

Jose Frreire's picture

In fact, only classical music!

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