Music Notes
Concord and Fantasy: Berkeley, CA–based Fantasy Records has been sold to Concord Records of Beverly Hills in a deal valued at $83 million, according to a December 4 report from Billboard. The music enterprise of film producer Saul Zaentz and partners, Fantasy is well known for its huge catalog of works by jazz greats Count Basie, John Coltrane, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Ella Fitzgerald, Thelonious Monk, Joe Pass, Oscar Peterson, and Sarah Vaughan, as well as soul and blues stars the Dramatics, Isaac Hayes, Albert King, the Staple Singers, and Johnnie Taylor.
Music Notes
New York's ailing Bottom Line music club has attracted some heavyweight help. Rock icon Bruce Springsteen and Viacom president Mel Karmazin have joined a campaign begun by New York–based satellite radio service Sirius">http://www.siriusradio.com">Sirius Radio to save the legendary venue.
Music Notes
Bronfmans bid Vivendi adieu: On Wednesday, December 3, Edgar M. Bronfman and his son Edgar Bronfman, Jr. officially resigned from Vivendi Universal's board of directors. The move followed an announcement by Time Warner that it would accept a $2.6 billion offer for its Warner Music Group (WMG) from an investment group led by the younger Bronfman.
Music Playback via PC is Increasing
Is it merely the tip of the iceberg, or a temporary diversion? Hard to say just yet, but a recent report from the Consumer">http://www.cema.org">Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association (CEMA) suggests that increasing numbers of folks are using their PCs in place of, or in addition to, regular audio systems.
Music Promotes Brain Growth
Want your kids to grow up smarter? Have them study music. Want to hold off the mental ravages of old age? Listen to music. Want to get high (legally), feel ecstatic, make your pain disappear? Music is the cure for what ails you.
Music Publishers Sue Bertelsmann
In October 2000, during Napster's prolonged courtroom agony, Bertelsmann">http://www.bertelsmann.de">Bertelsmann AG alienated fellow music industry plaintiffs by investing $50 million in a strategic partnership with the file-sharing upstart. At the time, Bertelsmann hoped to leverage Napster's technical expertise and fame to give Bertelsmann Music Group the inside track with Internet music distribution.
Music Retailers Converge
The music industry is facing its toughest business climate in recent memory, and slow sales are hurting not only the record labels, but music retailers as well. In the face of continuing sales declines, store closings, mergers and consolidations, layoffs, and seemingly intractable digital distribution issues, the industry came together last month for its annual National">http://www.narm.com">National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) convention and trade show in Orlando, FL.
Music Retailers Sue Sony; Virgin Demands Bigger Margin
The inclusion of "hyperlinks" in music CDs that direct music lovers to Sony-affiliated online sales sites has angered the National">http://www.narm.com/">National Association of Recording Merchandisers, a trade organization representing more than 1000 music retailers. NARM has filed suit against Sony">http://www.sonymusic.com/">Sony Music Entertainment and Sony Coporation of America, seeking an injunction against the use of hyperlinks and charging that the practice of including the links in CDs is a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. Asking retailers to sell discs with such embedded links is the "equivalent of asking Tower Records to put posters for rival Musicland in their stores," said NARM president Pamela Horovitz.
Music Retailing Changes
A recent study by analysts Customer Growth Partners has found that department stores, specialty retailers, and other chains that fill US shopping malls accounted for just 19% of total retail sales in 2002, down from 38% in 1995. Mall-based retailers accounted for 22% of 2001's retail sales.
Music Sales Continue Slide
Sales of recorded music declined by 9.2% on a monetary basis and 11% on a unit basis worldwide during the first half of 2002, according to recently released figures from the International">http://www.ifpi.org">International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). The drop is a continuation of a long slump that began in the mid-1990s, blamed by many music industry executives on the widespread use of CD burners and the popularity of downloading tunes on the Internet. Others acknowledge that increasing competition for consumers' time and money—especially films on DVD—is eating into music industry profits.