Alan Stone wrote, in part:

>It is so typical of the majors attention to pr without considering their
>customers---unthinkable at bis,hnh,hyperion or other small firmsthat
>consider their customers first.

Are you quoting from the promotional literature at bis, hnh, or hyperion?

The only things that are unthinkable at hnh are:

1. Those things that cost money.
2. Those things that haven't been done before (recently) and therefore have
not already shown a commercial potential.
3. Those things that haven't already been lovingly produced and sold at
three times the price (with six times the documentation!) that hnh charges.
4. Any thing that is beautiful in and of itself. (If beauty is in the eye
of the beholder, there are no beholders at hnh or none of the beholders
have eyes.)

I assume that both bis and hyperion pay royalties to their composers and
artists and hire writers with a post-secondary education to write the liner
notes.  That presumably explains why their products cost three or four
times as much money.  If this isn't the case, then they've actually managed
to outdo hnh which is a very singular achievement from any perspective.

In every industry and among every coterie of camp followers you will find
boosters for those commercial interests involved.  These are the people who
spin the sad stories found on the back web pages of those lonely little
independents struggling to get by on their widow's mite.

Will everyone please stand and observe 60 seconds of silence for those
stout-hearted independents? Beginning...now.

Every good and perfect thing is made by an individual or a group of
individuals.  Neither the majors nor the minors have ever made a single
thing of lasting value in all of their corporate lives except money.  And
even that fluctuates from day to day.

Jesus (whom I quote on a strictly non-sectarian basis only) said it first:
"Let the dead bury their dead." Or as Dickens might have said: "Let Dombey
and Son promote Dombey and Son." Remember, Martha was in the pocket of the
multi-nationals.  It was Mary who chose to sit at Jesus' feet.  And as we
all know, she chose the better thing.  I'll bet there was music involved.

Jim Willford
(The person, not the company)