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Last week, the Recording Industry Association of America released its annual demographic survey of 3051 music purchasers in the United States. "Several interesting profiles emerged in 1998, including the boom in R&B and Gospel, as well as the sharp decline in Rock sales," said Hilary Rosen, RIAA president and CEO. "Demographic shifts also continued, with women outbuying men for the second year, and a drop in purchases among 15-to-29-year-olds, contrasted by significant growth among those age 35 and older." Last month, the RIAA released its annual year-end shipments statistics, which…
Some optimists in Washington, on Wall Street, and elsewhere predicted that the Asian economic crisis wouldn't reach the United States. But in late August, the financial flu infecting that part of the world, and the ongoing monetary instability in Russia, finally affected North America. As of Friday, August 28th, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was hovering just above 8000, down from a record high of 9337.97 on July 17th. The market decline has affected the whole economy---traditional industries as well as hot-ticket ventures like Internet stocks.
The consumer electronics industry has…
For the last few months, random postings kept appearing on internet newsgroups and in my e-mail box: "Anybody know what happened to Counterpoint?" At last count there were 10,000 Counterpoint preamps, power amps, and loudspeakers fanned out across the planet, some dating back to 1977, when the company launched its first product: the SA-1 tube preamp, designed by Ed Semanko.
Michael Elliott joined Counterpoint in 1979 to design a vacuum-tube moving-coil head amp; this became the SA-2, the company's second product. In 1980 he and his now ex-wife, Laura Hendershot, purchased the company and…
A continuing proliferation of formats is as likely in the audio realm as it is in video. The analog cassette was one of the most successful formats in history, and the industry has yet to find a replacement for it. MiniDisc, a Sony-originated format, required several attempts to introduce it to the American market.
It now seems to be well-established. Sony has lowered the entry fee to $350 for an MD package that includes a home recorder, a portable player, and two blank MD discs. Several other manufacturers are offering MiniDisc recorders, including Sanyo and Aiwa, which has introduced…
For any audio company to be successful, it needs to cover what my business school teachers used to call the "Four Ps": Product, Price, Promotion, and Place. In other words, success will follow if a company can slice up its resources to properly promote the right product at the right price and make it available in the right places.
But some manufacturers have trouble keeping all four bases covered, often developing a great product while struggling to find the right distribution. Such has been the case for New Zealand's critically acclaimed high-end manufacturer Perreaux in its quest to…
Our report two weeks ago on Grateful Dead Productions and its dispute with MP3 sites was tainted by some bits of misinformation. Dave Rosenberg, webmaster at OtherOnes.net, has pointed out that his site did not receive a cease and desist order, but was asked to remove any Grateful Dead logo. Rosenberg was appreciative of the publicity the issue has received. "Thank you for publishing and making known the problems Deadabase is currently facing from Grateful Dead Productions," he wrote.
For its part, Grateful Dead Productions claims that it is going after only those sites that are…
Exhibitors at Home Entertainment 2003 (HE2003), the premier home theater & specialty audio show, are gearing up for one of the most important international events of the year. HE2003 will take place June 5–8, 2003 at The Westin–St. Francis Hotel in the heart of downtown San Francisco. This historic location will provide the perfect setting to showcase the latest in home audio/video and home theater entertainment. This will be the show's fourth visit to San Francisco—previous events were held in 1989, 1993, and 1997.
Open to the public, the three-day show gives home theater…
Audiophiles everywhere were saddened to learn of the death of Frederick Fennell on December 7. He was 90, which made him only a few years senior to the process of electrical recording—an art form in which he made quite an impact.
Fennell was instrumental (ahem) in establishing the Eastman School of Music's Eastman Symphonic Wind Ensemble, which recorded several of the most highly regarded band recordings ever made for the Mercury Living Presence record label. These performances include a flabbergasting rendition of Percy Grainger's Lincolnshire Posy—a disc that was the acid test of many…
Nowhere is the inflationary cycle spinning faster than in concert ticket prices. The best tickets for performances by major pop and rock stars this summer will be priced in the low-to-mid hundreds. No, that's not a misprint, and it doesn't include "service charges" and other bogus fees tacked on by ticket agencies. Good seats for Eric Clapton's summer tour will be more than $250 each; similar seating at Simon and Garfunkel's "Old Friends" show at the Hollywood Bowl will go for $700, according to "Parsley, Sage and $350 Seats," a revealing look at skyrocketing ticket prices by Ethan Smith in…
Echo.
It sounds like a codeword for a secret military maneuver, but it's really a coalition of heavyweight retailers who have teamed up to offer music online. Best Buy, Tower Records, Virgin Entertainment Group, Wherehouse Music, Hastings Entertainment Inc. and Trans World Entertainment Corp. (owner of the FYE, Strawberries, and Coconuts record stores) have formed a partnership to deliver "non-physical product" to consumers via the Internet.
Still in the planning stage, the online move comes as a concession to the Internet's inevitability as a major source of entertainment, and as…