Concert halls bespeak sophistication, but they don't have much advertising value. In the US, the real action is in sponsoring sports stadiums and the rowdy events held in them. So chalk up another one for the inimitable Noel Lee. On Monday, September 27, Lee's Monster Cable Products, Inc. announced that it had signed a four-year deal with…
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There's a certain commercial symbiosis between audio companies and public performance spaces. Tokyo has its Yamaha Hall; New York has its Avery Fisher Hall (1, 2), named for the hi-fi pioneer whose products were among the best available in the early 1960s.
Will the European Union extend copyright protection to new digital media? That question was still unresolved Friday, May 26, after extended talks between ministers of the EU's 15 member nations failed to produce a coherent result. Meeting in Brussels, the ministers have been discussing how best to protect the interests of copyright holders while allowing consumers adequate leeway to use and reproduce legally purchased music, movies, video, and computer software.
The draft of a new law entitled "Directive on Copyright and Related Rights in the Information Society," intended to reach a…
Although it first appeared as an infant technology more than 20 years ago, digital audio amplification may finally be coming of age. Recent months have seen announcements from several companies, including news of Apogee's DDX technology (see previous report) and Cirrus Logic who recently purchased their Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) digital amplification technology from B&W Loudspeakers (see previous report).
Texas Instruments has also been in the audio news this year with its acquisition of Toccata Technology, developer of the "Equibit" digital audio amplification approach used in…
Two years ago, music business insiders were predicting that the industry's "Big Five" would eventually become the "Big Four," or possibly the "Big Three."
These predictions are nearing fulfillment as the industry enters its fourth year of declining sales. Some major labels have cut their workforces by as much as 20% and are engaged in discussions to merge their operations to salvage what profits remain in the recorded music business.
In early September, Bertelsmann AG's Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) continued discussions of a joint venture with Warner Music Group (WMG), a division of…
Today marked the opening of Home Entertainment 2004 East, held at Manhattan's Hilton Hotel on 6th Avenue in Midtown. By long tradition, the first press conference in The Home Entertainment Show's busy press day has always been occupied by Sony and this year was no different. As we entered the Sony Suite, we were greeted by a wall display of over 2000 SACD titles—surely enough to be considered a down-payment on the critical mass that will be necessary for any high-rez format to survive. But any hopes that Sony would address SACD were quickly dashed in the press conference itself, which was…
A ticket to Home Entertainment 2003—The Hi-Fi and Home Theater event, to be held June 5-8, 2003 at San Francisco's Westin–St. Francis Hotel will offer attendees a chance to hear over a dozen live musical performances from great artists performing contemporary jazz, blues, rock, and classical music.
Concerts at HE2003 are available to ticket holders on a first-come, first-served basis. Unless noted otherwise, all concerts will take place in the Westin–St. Francis Hotel's Colonial Room.
Concert Schedule
Thursday, June 5, 2003
Delphi XM SkyFi and XM Satellite Radio…
If you're a retailer harboring visions of including Klipsch Audio Technologies' products among the offerings in a deep-discount website, forget it. Likewise, reconsider if you've been tempted to buy Klipsch products at unbelievable prices from such a site. And if you're a Klipsch dealer with some overstock, don't take the bait if someone with a website offers you cash for a bulk deal, don't even think about it—because Klipsch is one company that takes the gray market seriously.
On April 1, the Indianapolis-based audio giant announced the successful conclusion of litigation begun the first…
In the record industry's ongoing battle against its customers, score one for the consumer. Amid recent industry rumors that Universal Music Group has retreated from its position of adding restrictions to all of its new CDs, a lawsuit over a Charley Pride release has been settled in California, paving the way to alert the public to playback restrictions on discs.
Last September, Californian Karen DeLise sued restriction technology company SunnComm along with Fahrenheit Entertainment and its record label, Music City Records, on behalf of the General Public of the State of California, "to…
Although the Tweeter Home Entertainment Group's rate of expansion has slowed, it shows no sign of stopping. The Canton, MA electronics retailer will open six new stores during the month of November.
Next month, Tweeter will open new stores in the Philadelphia and Washington, DC areas, two in Nashville, and one each in Spartanburg and Charleston, SC. The Charleston store will be in the suburban town of Mt. Pleasant. Tweeter is also relocating its store within the Dallas, TX Galleria, where it will emphasize custom installation and system design services.
Tweeter operates 168 stores…
The bad news for the music industry: Teenagers bought less music last year, according to a recently released survey commissioned by the Recording Industry Association of America. The good news: Middle-aged folks bought more, according to the same survey.
The poll, released June 25 and reported by both Bloomberg News and Dow Jones Newswire, indicates that music sales to consumers aged 19 and younger fell from 25% of overall sales in 1998 to 21% last year. Music sales to consumers over 45 years of age rose from 18% of the total market in 1998 to 25% in the same period.
The decline in…