Billboard is opening its album-review archives (dating back to 1948 and encompassing tens of thousands of albums in all genres) to users on the Internet at no charge. Previously, access had been…
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Billboard Magazine announced an agreement this week with Liquid Audio, a developer of secure music-delivery systems on the Internet, to make Billboard's extensive database of album reviews and audio previews available through Billboard Online. The audio portion will be provided in Liquid Audio format by the Music Previews Network, the company that provides Music Previews for Billboard Online.
The Three Tenors may have reached a global audience of 2 billion people during their performance prior to the final game of the World Cup, but they had only 80,000 fans on hand in Paris's Champs de Mars park, acording to estimates by Paris police. That number was only 10% of the anticipated 800,000, most of whom stayed away because of unseasonably cold and windy weather.
With James Levine conducting the Orchestre de Paris, the almost-three-hour-long show near the Eiffel Tower featured José Carreras, Luciano Pavarotti, and Plácido Domingo singing popular songs and operatic favorites in…
Financially, the winter months have been all over the map. Some electronics companies have reported upswings in revenue, but others are experiencing a decrease.
In mid-March, Boston Acoustics projected a previously unexpected net operating loss for its fiscal 2005 first quarter, ending May 31, 2004. (BA's fiscal year begins March 1.) Reasons included a 50% cutback in orders from an unnamed major purchaser—rumored to be Tweeter Group—whose prior business accounted for 32% of BA's net sales for the 9-month period ending December 31, a total of $41.1 million.
BA also supplies Ultimate…
Hot Licks: Add another title to UmixIt's catalog of DualDisc Enhanced DVD/CDs: Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry's eponymous solo album, his first since 1984.
UmixIt-enabled discs allow musically minded listeners to load selected songs into their PCs and manipulate the individual tracks of the studio session to create a mix that meets their criteria for sonic success—which might or might not be more "accurate" than the official release. Within the listeners' computers, the tracks are uncompressed, but only compressed MP3 files can be exported to CD-R or MP3 players.
Perry seems impressed…
The Lenbrook Group of Pickering, Ontario, Canada announced March 25 that it will acquire Sonic Frontiers of Oakville, Ontario, Canada. This acquisition, effective May 1, 1998, is an extension of Lenbrook's commitment to enhance its position in the international specialty A/V segment of the consumer electronics industry. A new company, Sonic Frontiers International (SFI), will be formed to leverage Lenbrook's strengths with Sonic Frontiers' market position in the high-end segment of the audio business.
Sonic Frontiers was founded 10 years ago by President and CEO Christopher Johnson and…
While recording the Encore CD for Stereophile, John Atkinson had to decide: "Should I add some artificial reverberation?" After much gnashing of teeth, he plowed ahead. Read about the process in "Encore," an in-depth look at the recording techniques, the artists, and the music.
Next, Thomas J. Norton takes a look at how one high-end loudspeaker company is making the transition to home theater and surround sound in his review of the Vandersteen Music-and-Cinema loudspeaker system. In the final analysis, does an audiophile company's speakers sound better with music or with film?
According to the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association (CEMA), the month of August saw hot increases in the sales of audio products. Factory sales of audio products rose 7%, to $694 million, equaling year-to-date revenues of $4.7 billion, slightly ahead of the first eight months of 1998.
CEMA reports that the portable audio category made a huge comeback in August, with sales increasing 9%, to $216 million. CEMA says that contributing to this comeback are the sales of portable CD headset units, which grew 26% in August, to $68 million. The sales of home radios and analog tape…
Late July was a volatile period for the music industry. On the 29th, Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Middelhoff announced his resignation. The "young lion" who ushered the German media conglomerate into the Internet age—and into an ill-advised $100 million investment in now-forgotten Napster—apparently had a very different vision for the future of the company than does the Mohn family, which controls 75% of Bertelsmann stock. "Shareholders had mid- and long-term development prospects that were different from mine," Middelhoff told reporters. "In this context, I had no choice but to resign."…
At its January CES presentation, Sony announced that this is the year that SACD will roll out big time to the masses. News from EMI/Capitol and Silverline Records would suggest that DVD-Audio may not be far behind, at least as far as available software is concerned.
EMI/Capitol Records announced last week that, on June 18, they will be taking "the second step" in their ongoing campaign to offer classic recordings in "advanced resolution surround sound, re-mixed to optimize playback on high-end surround systems as well as home theater systems." In addition to high-rez sound, the new discs…
The Secure Digital Music Initiative has decided to reconfirm San Diego–based Verance Corporation's watermarking technology as its choice for inhibiting piracy in digitally recorded music. The May 21 announcement was made by the SDMI Plenary after a year-long campaign to evaluate the effectiveness and audibility of watermarks from 14 different vendors. The group has also apparently decided to halt further research and development efforts, which have been widely blamed for hobbling the rollout of DVD-Audio.
"While the SDMI has decided to forego Phase II of its program, Verance is gratified…