The German-owned BMG has just turned in its best-ever half-year performance, much of it due to streaming.
Also growing fast is vinyl, which overtook CDs in sales value.
Classical implications?
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BMG LPs took over CD sales in value not necessary in CD sales quantity. The profit margins from LP sales are probably better than in CD sales.
“Sales value” means what exactly? I’d be more interested in “Units sold”. But personally, it could mean that there’s someone out there who might want my pristine LP collection that I have trouble getting rid of!
I may be interested. What music are you getting rid of?
Try an auction house if you do wish to sell
Your pristine classical vinyl collection.
Pop and rock music sounds far better on vinyl. For classical the quiet background of digital is important.
“Pop and rock music sounds far better on vinyl.”
And how much of it is analogue throughout the chain?
Audiophile idiocy (eg £899 for a speaker cable to listen to music that was recorded using hundreds of feet of sensibly priced, professional cable) has a lot to answer for. Unless a conclusion can be verified by double-blind testing, I’m not interested.
BMG, overall, “manufactured” one million LPs. That’s for all of the music they sell recordings of. I don’t think there are any implications for classical music other than a continued decline in sales. Think of it this way: the Gorecki Symphony #2 sold over a million units for Nonesuch Records. That’s one work on a relatively small but might label within one of the major record companies. So, let’s do the math…if classical is around 2 percent of sales, then BMG will be selling possibly 20,000 LPs total….cough….
Classical implications? Of the resurgence of vinyl chez BMG?
Seriously?
Take.the.Money.and.Run!
If well-heeled audiophools possess the wherewithal to indulge in a bit of scratchy, dynamically compressed, fragile and perishable nostalgia, let them shed their shekels.
The only thing classical about them is the time-honoured haze of gullibility.
For who’s to benefit? Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. KKR. The raider, strike that, investment and private equity firm. With whom BMG have formed a surely disinterested partnership, pour l’amour de l’art:
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2021/03/24/bmg-kkr-catalog-agreement/
Vi$$i d’art€…
CDs last well with a little care. So how do record companies persuade audiophools to part with more cash? Replace perfectly good CDs with vinyl for that nice, warm analogue sound (which, for some strange reason, digital sources can mimic).
dynamically compressed? So other than vinyl what is your preferred way of listening to recorded music?
In other words: they just didnt sell CDs…
Normal and logic. the object of a lp is more beautiful than a very cold cd. It’s a fact. Some companies managed very well this changes with the 180g like Warner (all Previn!) and Decca. But sometimes the result of the new edition could be very disapointed; I remember a 180g redition of the DG Martha-Ravel concerto with a sound bad. I plan to buy the box LP Solti-Chicago-Decca I hope the sound will be good.
“Normal and logic. the object of a lp is more beautiful than a very cold cd. It’s a fact.”
Following your logic, LPs should always have sold better than CDs. And…. they did not.
So, what changed? Music streaming. People who want to own a physical copy seem to be more inclined to buy LPs. Be it nostalgia or they “feel” it sounds better (probably their disc player just has a cheap DAC). People who don’t need a physical copy just stream their music. Hence more LPs are sold.
I’m at a bit of a loss! Should I wait for 78s or wax cylinders to make a comeback?
The idiots running the music corporations apparently forgot a tiny tiny detail about their business: Over decades, according to market research, more than half of the units sold, were bought as presents for someone else.
Now kill physical, and you kill over half of your revenue. Or does anyone give coupons for online streaming as a present?
The recording business.
So smart. (not)
Digging down into sales reports sees overall revenue much less than in 1995. Streaming revenue has not returned the profitability seen 25 years ago. So a bad report. With LP’s selling for $26 and cds selling for $11-$12, of course LP sales overtook cds for BMG.
Keep in mind that in the US selling 200 cds in a week gets you a #1 classical record.