iclassics on demand

[David Ayers]

iclassics on demand offer legitimate CD-Rs (without artwork) of OOP Universal Classics titles.

This is an interesting development. Has anybody used this or a similar service?

The service costs $10 per disc - and yes, I do know you can make them yourself for less!

I can imagine such a service for (e.g.) OOP Mosaics...

[Claude]

I can imagine such a service for (e.g.) OOP Mosaics...

Mosaic wouldn't have the licensing rights to sell CD-Rs. When a set is not longer available, it means that the license has expired.

But Blue Note could offer copies of OOP CDs.

Edited October 15, 2004 by Claude

[David Ayers]

Yes, I mean the original copyright holders could. I have also been touting the idea that Mosaics which have returned to the original copyright holder could be reissued as box sets in paper sleeves with only a discographical booklet, in a format similar to that used for reissues of classical recordings.

No-one has taken me up on this yet! In classical music there is an established market for these sets which are sold at budget price, and in some cases are not even reissues but newly edited sets. It may be that jazz sells less, or it may be that the companies realise that they can keep the unit cost higher for jazz than for classical (because the perceived value is higher), but for whatever the reason the (legitimate!) budget box has yet to come to jazz.

In fact, I think the readiness of jazz collectors to pay a premium for CD versions of LP titles is a notable feature of the jazz reissue market.

[Claude]

I don't think "iclassics on demand" can be that successful, because they are mainly offering CD-R copies of OOP CDs from the 90's. It's not about rare material from the vaults. Many recordings from the last 15 years have gone OOP without anybody caring, because the same compositions are available on multiple other recordings.

Who really needs Ashkenazy's Beethoven piano concertos or von Dohnányi's Mahler? The selection of so much mainstream material is strange.

But for jazz such a service would be much more interesting, even though it could also only be offered for albums that were already released on CD at some time. No label will take tapes from the vault just to make CD-R copies on demand. With already existing CDs it is very easy to do. Royalty issues need to be solved of course.

[David Ayers]

Well, you got me there. It isn't a thrilling selection! But I was thinking on the same lines as you, that such a system could have application in jazz where material has already been transferred for CD but the CD is no longer in print.

On the topic of releases in the 1990s - it is quite true that everybody at that time complained that standard repertoire was being released right left and centre by everyone, and that quite often the new versions were redundant because they were less impressive than earlier recordings. However, the last five years have seen very limited releases of standard repertoire from the majors, and I wonder if people will look back to the 90s as a time when at least records got made. Do we need Ashkenazy's Shostakovich? Well we need some new Shostakovich recordings, and some reflection of the fact that all modern orchestras play this material.

Edited October 18, 2004 by David Ayers