Music Vendors to Shun 2007 CES
Telarc, Classic Records, AIX, Cisco Music, Elusive Disc, Reference Recordings, and M•A Recordings have all pulled out of CES 2007, citing new restrictions on sales of merchandise that they feel to be unacceptable. Chesky remains undecided. Music Direct, May Audio, and Acoustic Sounds will exhibit, but will not sell product. Only 5.1 Marketing and Sales is currently committed to selling music.
Music Workers Unite!
Issues surrounding the music industry are heating up, and most stories revolve around the record labels, musicians, congress, consumers, and music pirates. Often lost in the noise is the importance of another major player in the business: the technical folks who make recorded music happen.
Music-Industry "Bloodbath" in Wake of Seagram/PolyGram Merger
The axeman cometh, and cometh again. Seagram Company's Universal Music Group, now the world's largest music conglomerate after last year's $10+ billion acquisition of PolyGram NV, is decimating its ranks. The company has closed the doors of several formerly independent record labels, fired hundreds of employees, and plans to unload thousands more in the next few months. Employees and artists alike will soon find themselves without labels.
Musical Fidelity Heading for Dealer Shelves
Will audio dealers be interested in selling a product that's been available so far only via mail-order? Audio">http://www.audioadvisor.com">Audio Advisor thinks so, and has created a new distribution company, WS Distributing, to begin selling the Musical Fidelity product line through "qualified" high-end audio dealers in the USA beginning May 21. Musical Fidelity has been available through retailers in Europe and Asia for years, but in the US, only from AA's catalog and website sales.
Musical Fidelity Introduces B1xi Integrated Amplifier
Musical Fidelity has announced the B1xi, a new integrated amplifier that marks the debut of its reimagined B-Series. Drawing inspiration from the original B1 released in the 1990s, the B1xi features a fully discrete class-A/B design and omits displays and wireless streaming in favor of analog simplicity.
Musical Magic at San Francisco’s Tone of Music Audio
Beautiful sound was the order of the day at Tone of Music Audio (1303 Castro Street, Suite D, San Francisco, CA 94114), as the small retailer, headquartered in the heart of San Francisco's Noe Valley, held the first of two spring open houses. Judging from what the 30 or so visitors heard at the first open house, on March 18, those who show up for the second listening session on Saturday, April 1, between noon and 5 pm (RSVP to info@toneofmusic.com), are in for a treat.
Musical Surroundings Goes Nuts in the Northwest
Musical Surroundings' Jesse Luna (left) and Garth Leerer (right) flank Nuts About HiFi's Jim Lee.
If that title hasn't gotten your attention, nothing will . . . except, perhaps, the Northwest preview of: 1) the forthcoming Aesthetix Metis linestage preamplifier (est. price $20,000$25,000), which is expected by the second quarter of 2015; 2) Clearaudio Concept Wood turntable with tonearm ($2200); and 3) DS Audio DS-W1 "Nightrider" Optical phono cartridge with dedicated phono equalizer ($8500). This tempting trio of coming outs, arranged by Garth Leerer and Jesse Luna of Oakland, CA-based distributor Musical Surroundings, took place at Nuts About HiFi, a Seattle-area high-end emporium that celebrated its Silver Anniversary in Silverdale, WA on November 30, 2014.MusicGiants Aligns With Inteset
MusicGiantshttp://musicgiants.com/">MusicGiants;, which bills itself as "the leader in HD music downloads," announced November 7 an agreement with Intesethttp://www.inteset.com/cnsmr/Products/">Inteset;, which manufacturers high-end media servers and advanced extender systems.
MusicGiants Floats High-Rez Files without DRM
Scott Bahneman, CEO of MusicGiants, called earlier this week to announce what he called big news. "Actually," Bahneman said, "we're not going to issue an official press release—yet—but MusicGiants is going to offer Windows Media Audio (WMA) lossless music downloads without DRM.
MusicGiants Offers CD-Quality Downloads
In a press conference held September 28 at Sony Music Studios on West 54th Street, MusicGiants —see Wes">http://www.stereophile.com/news/051605musicgiants">Wes Phillips' earlier story on this company—announced the launch of a new music download service that offers CD-resolution digital recordings from the major artists on the major music labels, EMI, Sony/BMG, Universal, and Warner.