LATEST ADDITIONS

Billy Joel has decided to clean out his warehouse. Next month, the veteran rocker's almost-30-year-old collection of musical instruments, recording equipment, and stage gear will be put up for public auction by <A HREF="http://www.ssi.sony.com/">Sony Signatures</A>, his merchandising company. A portion of the gross from the "Billy Joel Memorabilia Auction" will be donated to <A HREF="http://www.vh1.com/">VH1</A>'s Save the Music Foundation, according to Dan Cooper, Senior Vice President of Sony Signatures' music division.

One might think that the publisher of "The Largest Marketplace in the World for Audiophile Equipment" would have a vested interest in encouraging trading activity among his readers. One would think that such a publisher might take a neutral stance regarding fluctuations in the world market for used equipment. One would think that he would credit his readers with sufficient intelligence to decide for themselves whether any specific purchase, sale, or trade was a good deal.

<I>Caveat: This article is written by a non-audiophile. I own and listen to several thousand recordings through about $2500 worth of a rather motley assortment of audio components. Though very well informed musically, and a disciplined listener, Audiophilia remains for me a storied land. Various desultory discussions with Larry Archibald and John Atkinson, some going back almost two years, about the possibly refreshing, certainly outr&#233; (for these pages) outlook of a certified Audio Ignoramus, have finally borne astringent fruit in this diversion of an article.</I>

The <A HREF="http://www.webnoize.com">WebNoize</A&gt; three-day conference took place last week in Los Angeles, mixing record-company executives with Internet geeks, all trying to find profitable ways to distribute music online. Tom Roli, publisher of the Webnoize website, set the tone for the event, stating that "the industry is facing great change and uncertainty due to emerging technologies, shifting global markets, and media revolutions."

MP3-formatted audio files are considered to be the most popular streaming technology on the Internet, but the major record labels have so far shunned the format, which doesn't offer as much security and pay-per-download options as they'd like. Several announcements last week coincided with the <A HREF="http://www.webnoize.com">WebNoize</A&gt; conference in Los Angeles and revealed what a few of the labels are thinking.

In the age before recordings, music was a service business. Composers wrote for their patrons, and musicians performed for money. In the days since Edison's inventions, music has become a commodity business in which record companies stockpile large inventories and attempt to move them into the market of music lovers through a dense network of distributors and retailers. For established artists, the service aspect of music---playing for pay---now exists primarily to support the commodity business. For developing artists, public performance is a form of self-promotion to aid the search for a recording contract.

<B>VARIOUS ARTISTS: <I>Los Super Seven</I></B><BR> Radv/RCA Nashville 67689-2 (CD). 1998. Dan Goodman, exec. prod.; Steve Berlin, prod.; Dave McNair, eng.; Fred Rennert, Steve Gamberoni, asst. engs. AAD? TT: 41:36<BR> Performance <B>****?</B><BR> Sonics <B>****</B>