Wednesday, November 30, 2005

The BBC and Bach

BBC Radio 3 is planning a broadcast of the complete music of Bach. They plan to make these available, just as they did with their wildly successful Beethoven symphony fest, this music available as free downloadable mp3's.

And wouldn't you know it, the record labels are already squealing like stuck pigs.

Read all about it here.

The "Open Rights Group" is lobbying Radio 3 to reconsider caving into pressure. Check 'em out here.

And, in related news, you'll likely find this of interest as well: "if file sharing essentially shifts sales away from established acts toward unknown acts, this has potentially very important implications for how talent is developed and distributed in the industry." More here. And on distribution changes there this to consider.

And Bach, Download, independent distribution? That all reminds me to point you to pianist Mei Ting Sun's site on CD Baby. You can download some deliciously played Bach and Schumann. And
if you like it, you'll want the whole CD. Check it out here.

1 comment:

Hucbald said...

The traditional recording industry feels threatened - and rightly so - and are reacting like spoiled little children who would rather take their toys and go home than play along with the new rules of the game. Thus, you get the Sony/BMI spyware implant fiasco, the terrorist laws aimed at illegal downloaders (Puh-lease!), and instances like this (And, I did hear that the Beeb IS going to limit downloads quite a bit versus the previous Beethoven extravaganza).

Large corporate entities are not well designed for rapid adaption to profound paradigm shifts such as have transpired over the past few years in the music industry, so they strike out in fear in the only way they know how, rather than taking on the tactic of the survivor: Adapt. Or die.

I have NO IDEA how this will sort itself out, but the industry dinosaurs have had their world shattered by the gigantic asteroid of internet file sharing, and their environmental support network of traditional record outlets is dying.