News

We were surprised to readhttp://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/03/23/i_heard_it_…; in the March 23 Boston Globe that CBS Corp. had re-launched the CBS">http://www.cbsrecords.com/">CBS Records label. Our memory isn't what it once was, but hadn't we read that same story last December?

Canada has targeted your iPod and hard drive. On March 7, CBC Records, the record label of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, announced a deal with the Independent Online Distribution Alliance (IODAhttp://www.iodalliance.com">IODA;) that will make CBC's entire catalog of 400 active and archival classical, jazz, world, and rock titles available for download. The announcement comes just six weeks after major independent label and distributor Harmonia Mundi declared that it would follow">http://www.stereophile.com/news/012907harm/">follow the same route.

Amelia S. Haygood, the sound-conscious founder and president of record company Delos International, died on March 19 at the age of 87 after a 12-year battle with cancer. Survivors include pianist Carol Rosenberger, her closest friend and Delos vice president, artists and repertoire; Robert Haygood, her stepson; several nephews and nieces; and her extended family at the pioneering classical label she founded in 1973.

Over the last several weeks, one newspaper after another has made note of Nielsen Soundscan's 2006 point-of-purchase data, which showed classical record sales up 22.5%, making it the "fastest growing" category for the year. Hip-hop was down (-20.7%), R&B was down (-18.4%), alternative was down (-9.2%), jazz was down (-8.3%)—soundtracks were up (+19%), but everybody dismissed that, attributing it to the dominance of a single title, High School Musical.

On March 2, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) published a "Determination">http://www.loc.gov/crb/proceedings/2005-1/rates-terms2005-1.pdf">"Deter… of Rates and Terms," which announced an artist and recording company royalty fee structure for Internet radio based upon a "per song" structure. As it so happens, that was the model proposed by SoundExchangehttp://www.soundexchange.com/">SoundExchange;, a digital fee collection agency founded by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

(This article has been edited to reflect factual changes and comments from our learned colleague, Dr. Kalman Rubinson, Associate Professor at NYU's Department of Physiology and Neuroscience, who is careful to point out that he is commenting, not on the research, which he has not read, but only Heimburg's and Jackson's criticisms of current understanding and terminology—areas with which he has more than a passing acquaintance.)

Marquis">http://www.marquisclassics.com">Marquis Classics, a Toronto-based CD label specializing in classical, jazz, world, and crossover recordings, recently issued its second batch of "Orion">http://www.marquisclassics.com/orion.html">Orion Master Recordings." Drawn from the large classical catalog of the defunct Orion LP label, the CDs include prized rare recordings by Robert Silverman, Steven Staryk, Joel Krosnick, Leonid Kogan, and other fine artists.