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Philharmonia Online

"Well it has finally happened," esteemed classical recording engineer Tony Faulkner wrote me in a recent email. "I have engineered my first live webcast and MP3 download-only release."

On April 23, Faulkner engineered the live webcast and recording of the Philharmonia Orchestra, considered the first-ever "rich media webcast" by a UK orchestra. The event was primarily sponsored by European Internet provider BT (British Telecommunications) and took place as part of the launch of the Philharmonia's new music education website, The Sound Exchange.

Web connection bandwidth permitting,…

The Musical Truth

The record biz is in a world of hurt and doesn't mind broadcasting the news far and wide. But while the source of its woes will be debated in business schools for years to come, studies are starting to emerge that document the demographics of music buyers and their changing behaviors.

The NPD Group recently released the results from its comprehensive 2002 survey, which includes roughly 100,000 consumer music transactions comprising the NPD MusicWatch panel as well as the MusicWatch Digital panel made up of 30,000 individuals who have agreed to let NPD monitor their computer use.

NPD…

Added to the Archives This Week

As John Atkinson points out in his "As We See It" from last month, Trumpets to the Back of Me?, there appears to be a long, hard road ahead for audiophiles as record labels struggle to make something out of the multi-channel future. As JA puts it, "The last thing I want is to have trumpets and drums attacking me from behind, yet almost without exception, that is what record producers seem to feel is an essential part of the DVD-Audio and SACD experiences."

Next, we have JA's 1996 examination of the $9495 Mark Levinson No.31.5 Reference CD transport. Atkinson sets the scene: "If there is a…

SACD and Video?

The music industry is clearly redoubling its efforts to market DVD-Audio, with the proposed launch of the DualDisc format. Adding either video content or high-rez audio or both to a standard CD looks to be the new strategy for adding value—an acknowledgement that just offering non–CD-compatible high-rez audio is not enough.

SACD has always been compatible with CD players, assuming that a label chooses to release an SACD/CD hybrid disc. But unlike the proposed DualDisc, what an SACD doesn't have is video.

CS2CD says it can remedy that by adding what it calls "DVD playable video" as an…

IBM, NARAS Join Forces on Grammy Website

The official website of the 41st Annual Grammy Awards was launched earlier this month with the help of a media team from the Atlanta division of International Business Machines. The Java-based site provides background information on the artists and events of the music-awards extravaganza, taking place Wednesday evening, February 24, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

1999 is the fifth year that the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences has covered the Grammy Awards on the Internet, but it is the first year that IBM has participated. This year, IBM is a partner in the…

Royalty Rates Set for Webcasters

Some Webcasters were given a stay of execution in late June, when the Librarian of Congress announced that they would be required to pay royalties at half the rate proposed by an arbitration panel last winter.

The new rate, announced June 19 by James H. Billington, will be .07¢ per song per listener, and will apply to pure Webcasters as well as over-the-air radio stations that put their programming on the Internet. Royalties will be retroactive, levied from October 1998 until the end of 2002. A new, and still undetermined, rate will be instituted by New Year's Day, 2003. The US…

iTunes: Music Biz Panacea?

Apple's unexpected initial success with its iTunes subscription music service shocked and pleased many in the music industry—and appears likely to prompt a rash of imitators.

Launched May 2, iTunes sold more than a million individual songs in its first week of operation, vastly exceeding the projections of Apple executives and their counterparts in the music industry. It boosted the value of Apple's stock by approximately 50%—the share price closed at $18.30 on May 9, a huge leap from its 52-week low of $12.72 on April 17. It also caused a surge in demand for Apple's sleek iPod portable…

Wherehouse Buys Blockbuster Music for $115 million

Up from the deep: Torrance, CA-based Wherehouse Entertainment announced last week that it will purchase Blockbuster Music from Viacom Inc. for $115 million. The merged operation will have 598 stores throughout North America, second only to Minnesota-based Musicland. The deal comes at the end of a prolonged slump for the music industry, one that was particularly hard for Blockbuster.

Wherehouse recently emerged from bankruptcy, and during its court-mandated restructuring period closed its marginal stores. Blockbuster Music had its own difficulties after churning its upper management and…

Added to the Archives This Week

Michael Fremer investigates the Parasound Halo JC 1 monoblock power amplifier, exclaiming, "The 5-to-1 ratio of cost to retail price suggests that the "raw" cost of the JC 1 is about $600—a number almost impossible to believe, given the superb build quality and sheer heft of this powerhouse monoblock." And then there is the sound.

John Atkinson points out that he's been glowingly reviewing KEF loudspeakers for years, and so looked forward to his time with the KEF Reference 207 loudspeaker. True to the breed, the latest effort from the Kent, UK manufacturer gave JA plenty to admire.

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US Music Shipments Drop Again

Recorded music as a packaged-goods commodity continues to decline, according to figures released March 4 by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Shipments to retailers from record labels in 2003 dropped 7.2% from the previous year's level, the trade group reported. A total of 798.4 million units in all formats (CD, DVD, cassette tape, and vinyl) were shipped in 2003, compared to 859.7 million units in 2002. The decline followed a 7.8% drop in 2002 from the previous year. On a dollar basis, shipments from record companies to retailers went down 4.3% in 2003 versus a 6.8%…