Rounder Records Signs Net Deal with Liquid Audio
The Rounder">http://www.rounder.com/">Rounder Records Group, one of the largest independent record labels in the US, has signed on with Liquid">http://www.liquidaudio.com/">Liquid Audio for digital music distribution on the Internet. As of April 28, Rounder will offer a substantial portion of its catalog for sale by digital download.
Roxio Pouring All into Napster
Received wisdom has it that putting all your eggs in one basket isn't a good business plan, but that's exactly what Roxio, Inc. intends to do with its Napster online music service.
Royal Academy Honors Dolby
Dolby">http://www.dolby.com">Dolby Laboratories founder and chairman Ray Dolby has been formally inducted into Britain's Royal Academy of Engineering.
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.
Rudi Gassner, New President of BMG Entertainment, Dies at 58
Music industry veteran Rudi Gassner died Saturday, December 23 at his vacation home in the Bavarian town of Samerberg. Recently appointed as president and chief executive of BMG">http://www.bmg.com">BMG Entertainment, Gassner had yet to assume the helm at the record label. The cause of death was a heart attack, according to a statement issued by his family. Gassner was 58.
Rundgren: Musicians Will "Fish" for Fans on the Internet
In the age before recordings, music was a service business. Composers wrote for their patrons, and musicians performed for money. In the days since Edison's inventions, music has become a commodity business in which record companies stockpile large inventories and attempt to move them into the market of music lovers through a dense network of distributors and retailers. For established artists, the service aspect of music---playing for pay---now exists primarily to support the commodity business. For developing artists, public performance is a form of self-promotion to aid the search for a recording contract.
Russia Teams up with IFPI
Russia has a new organization that will promote a legitimate music industry and fight industrial piracy, according to mid-May reports from the International">http://www.ifpi.org">International Federation of Phonographic Industries.
Ruth Laredo: 1937–2005
Ruth Laredo, a classical pianist whose style combined passionate ferocity with refined elegance, died May 25 of ovarian cancer, which she had battled for four years. Her last performance was May 6 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in one of her long-running performance/lecture sessions known as "Concertos with Commentary," a format that was so popular that she had begun to offer it in other venues around the world.
Rutherford Audio named TADL’s consumer distributor for Canada and the US
Technical Audio Devices Laboratories, Inc. (TADL) has appointed Rutherford Audio Inc. as distributor for its hi-fi consumer products in Canada and the US.
SACD and Video?
The music industry is clearly redoubling its efforts to market DVD-Audio, with the proposed">http://www.stereophile.com/news/080904dualdisc/">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.