Of the over 240 world premieres Rostropovich played, Prokofiev's Symphony-Concerto (Cello Concerto…
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"Slava" has died. The great Russian cellist, known as much for his defiance of the Soviet oligarchy as for the more than 170 compositions dedicated to him, had been hospitalized in Paris at the end of January, but chose to fly to Moscow shortly thereafter to spend his last months in his beloved homeland. He is survived, not only by his two daughters and his wife and frequent collaborator, the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, but also by the huge number of recordings that attest to his eloquence.
B&W Group North America (Equity) has announced that Doug Henderson will assume the position of vice president of sales and marketing as of April 30. Henderson has been a principal of Audtek Associates for more than 20 years. "I'm excited about this move," Henderson told Stereophile. "At Audtek, we specialized in brand building, and we accomplished a lot with some very good companies. With B&W Group, I have the opportunity to use those skills with some of the finest equipment available today—and I have a great independent sales force to work with. It's an unrivaled opportunity."
B…
Internet radio streams have received a reprieve from the US Copyright Review Board (CRB) decision to restructure the royalty fees for the format. In March, the CRB established fees, effective retroactively to the beginning of 2006, that would be ramped up each year through 2010, with a cost of 0.08¢ per performance (per listener) in 2006, going up to 0.11¢ in 2007; 0.14¢ in 2008; 0.18¢ in 2009; and 0.19¢ in 2010.
In April, the CRB denied an appeal to its initial ruling, saying the new fee structure would be enacted on May 15. Papers filed in the Federal Register on May 1 reveal that the…
It began with an email from reader Ed Hoffman. "I was looking for a Pass Labs dealer and found out that Pass Labs has dumped all of their dealers around the country. Do you have any information about what is going on?"
"Look into this," John Atkinson requested. I dialed the manufacturer's number at 9:30am EDT, which put it around 6:30am in California, reckoning that a disconnected number would tell me a sad story. The phone rang once.
"Pass Labs," chirped a cheerful voice. Not disconnected—and not shuttered either, apparently.
I spoke to marketing manager Joe Sammut and…
John Mitchell, an outside counsel for the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM), warns that Florida and Utah have passed second-hand goods legislation (familiarly known as "pawn-shop laws") that could make the buying and selling of used CDs extremely unprofitable for stores and inconvenient for consumers trying to unload music they no longer wish to own.
The Florida legislation requires that second-hand dealers apply for a permit, post a $10,000 bond with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, thumb-print CD sellers, and photocopy their state-approved…
On May 8, Harvey Electronics, with 9 stores in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, announced that it would acquire the Myer-Emco chain's 10 stores in Washington and Maryland. Both companies are consistently ranked among the top "hybrid" retail operations, meaning they have retail locations and emphasize custom A/V installation services. The new company will be called Harvey Electronics, but tri-state area stores will continue to be called Harvey and DC area stores will continue to be identified as Myer-Emco.
Myer-Emco successfully began to emphasize custom-installation services in the…
Lexington, KY–based Thiel Audio has announced that it will partner with Charlottesville, VA–based Crutchfield to offer its speakers online and in Crutchfield brick-and-mortar outlets. Thiel has been famously reluctant to go online, having established itself through its canny vetting of potential retail partners. It kept its distribution clean.
Based on conversations I've had with Kathy Gornik and Jim Thiel, Thiel's worry was that too many Internet retailers sold based solely on price, offering little customer service or authority. Those are areas of Crutchfield's expertise—one competing…
On May 10, Tweeter Home Entertainment Group announced that it has insufficient working capital to cover its long- and short-term costs and may have to consider filing for Chapter 11. The immediate cause of the shortfall is the cost of closing 49 stores and two distribution centers. This Week in Consumer Electronics reported specifically that lump sum payments to lease-holding landlords was a contributory factor.
The chain currently has about $12 million in credit and is attempting to sell its 19% equity in Tivoli. The company has not announced a timetable for declaring bankruptcy,…
On May 16, Amazon.com announced that it would launch an online digital music store "later this year" offering "millions of songs in the DRM-free MP3 format from more than 12,000 record labels." EMI, which recently announced that it would partner with the iTunes Media Store to release premium DRM-free MP3 downloads there, "is the latest addition to the store." Amazon claims that every song and album in the Amazon.com digital music store will be available exclusively as unfettered MP3 files.
The customer advantage to DRM-unencumbered MP3 files is that they play on almost every personal…
On May 10, members of several pro audio Internet bulletin boards read the following post from Gary Margolis: "It is with great sadness that I inform you that John Eargle, one of the finest audio engineers and teachers it's been my privilege to know, has passed away.
"He was scheduled to speak to an Audio Engineering Society chapter in Minnesota on Tuesday evening, and when he failed to communicate with them, his JBL colleagues went to his home and found his body.
"John had a Masters in Music from Eastman and a Masters in Electrical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma. He…