THE CLASSICAL CD LIVES!

posted by James Reel

    Alex Ross has posted some intriguing and sensible thoughts on the non-death of classical CDs. I trust his analysis, despite ambiguous evidence and conflicting opinions elsewhere. (See Alex’s post for some good links.)
    Coincidentally, yesterday I interviewed the head of arkivmusic.com, and our chat produced evidence to support the notion that classical CDs are alive and well. Last month, the online classical retailer polled 50,000 customers about how they prefer to store and hear recorded classical music. Overwhelmingly, the customers prefer CDs to downloads: The audio quality is better, you get liner notes, and you have a physical object whose survival is more assured than data on a hard drive or an iPod. (Arkivmusic has no vested interest in pimping the old CD format; the company exists to make money by selling classical recordings, no matter what form those recordings may take.)
    Furthermore, the retailer’s successful new “on-demand” program of licensing the back catalogs of major record labels and selling custom pressings of out-of-print discs demonstrates the importance of the Long Tail concept in classical music. That is, record companies can make money on classical recordings by maintaining a deep back catalog from which individual items may sell modestly in any given month, but those sales prove to be substantial over a longer period of time. (Mozart and Beethoven made little money from performances of their piano concertos in their lifetimes, but if they were still collecting royalties today, they’d be far richer than Bill Gates. But way too old to enjoy the money.)
    Let's sing no Requiem for the classical CD just yet.