Bernard Gregoire wrote:

>It seems the me that that the record industry has now yet learned the
>economic basis of commerce.   Price it fairly and they will buy!  Nineteen
>bucks for stuff that costs $3 to produce is not only unfair to consumers
>it is stupid on the part of the get rich quick artists.

There seems to be many factors to consider, Naxos is probably the major
one. They own their own world wide  distribution which virtually assures
them of some return in sales. If they pay an artist, it is up front.
Many fund their own recordings.

My guess is that another major consideration is the backcatalog of fine
performances.

US orchesras aren't recording, major artists have no recording contracts,
musicians (when they are paid) get paid upfront and in many instances
get only a handful of promo copies of their own work, what orchestra
recording that does get done is hired out to the "former soviet union
orchestras of starving musicians."

Day before yesterday I was visiting with Paul Olefsky. For about 5 seasons
he was first chair cello of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He said they
made many recordings during those years, as it was the beginning of the
LP era and Columbia wanted to cover the standard repertoire in the new
LP format.  He said that recording sessions paid for his cello. Gone are
those days...unless your orchestra wants to be hired out to back Michael
Jackson.

Karl