Deutsch Grammophon just launched a new DRM-free download store that offers the majority of its catalog. The DG Webshop offers around 2,500 albums -- including over 600 out-of-print CDs -- as 320kbps downloads for between $10.99 and $11.99. Individual tracks under seven minutes will also sell for $1.09 and up.
This should be great for classical music. But yet I am a little skepticle because the music industry in general and especially the classical labels are pretty darn clueless. They wonder why sales of classical music are down and I guess they just can't use their heads. I mean how many versions of Eine Kleine Nacht Music do I need? There's so many orchestras playing the same limited amout of music. When I find a good version of a piece that I like I am not going to buy it just because some other orchestra did it. There's not alot of good classical music being composed now so when someone has a collection of all the classical music they like, they probably won't be buying much more music. And if they already have the CD they aren't going to download it again since it is so easily ripped. It's not like before, when they got your money from reel to reel and/or vinyl, then cassette, then CD.
That's part of the problem with the music industry also. I think the continual advances in technology have left them lazy. With each advance every 10 to 20 years they can sell they same music over again so they don't really need to look for quality music. I think the record labels aren't able to get greedy like when the CD came out. Before CD's, a Vinyl record was selling for about $6.99 to $8.99. When CD's came out they were selling for $16.99 and greed is the only reason I can think of. I had my own small record label and we paid the same amount when we pressed vinyl and CD, so the final cost for a bigger label should have been even less given that they would press more copies. CD's are still way too expensive. It doesn't make sense to me that the movie companies can make a movie and release it on DVD and after a few months sell it for $9.99. Making a movie takes alot more work and involves so many more people, it should be the one to cost more.
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