"William J. Karzas" wrote:

>First, replying to Robert Clements' characterization of Arte Nova - it is
>distributed by BMG and thus, I believe, is as available as Naxos.  I fail
>to see why it is considered just another CM label, though aimed at the
>budget market.

Agreed, somewhat.  The main difference that I detect between Naxos and
Arte Nova is in the repertoire.  Naxos has rather systematically set out
to record damn near everything imaginable whereas I find Arte Nova to be
a hodge podge of everything from Beethoven to Schnabel to collections of
Marian choral works.  They don't seem to have a consistent and well thought
out plan for what will be in their catalogue.

>Further, I am not so sure that Naxos has distribution readily everywhere.
>I recently read several posts from other countries in which Naxos prices
>were noted as significantly higher than, say Sony's Essential Classics.

All accounts that I have read indicate that you can get Naxos just about
anywhere.  I found a good selection of them in San Salvador recently.  I
have never seen them priced higher than Essential classics, nor have I
read of such.

>For what it's worth, Naxos is part of HNH International, which has been in
>business for decades, dating back to pre-CD days when they produced some
>but mostly licensed and pressed LPs which were not set for US release by
>the majors.  IIRC they sold at premium prices.

HNH International was into distributing all kinds of stuff as I recall, not
just music.

>The same company now sells the Marco Polo label at regular premium CD
>prices.

Marco Polo existed for several years before Naxos, and is a specialty
label, dedicated to covering the fringes of the repertoire.  You might
notice that the occasional Marco Polo deletion gets reissued on Naxos.

>Thus one could characterize Naxos as just another "...CM label run by
>traditional CM entrepreneurs aimed at the budget market.  "

I disagree.  Unlike all of the other budget labels, that are made up of
mostly reissued or licenced (and often of ambiguous or even dubious origin)
material, Klaus Heymann intentionally set out to make new recordings of a
broad base of repertoire.  No other label has put out such a vast variety
of music at such consistent quality, IMHO.  Heymann continues to fulfill
two major needs in the market: the need for affordable recordings of high
quality of a broad scope of literature, and the need to expose young or
lesser known artists to the international music audience.  I do not see
any of the other budget label doing this.

>What do we know about the financial condition of Naxos? Is it considerably
>better off than the traditional CM labels?

Without a doubt, it certainly must be.  The average sales per title in the
Naxos catalogue is about 10000 per year.  I know of no other label that can
boast that.  I do know that Naxos recently sent out a memo that they would
be raisng their prices by one dollar per disc, but even at that, it's still
the best deal in town.  Dallas stores have maintained the $5.99 per disc
price though to date.

>To summarize, I guess I object mostly to Mr. Heersink's so far out
>anti-elitist stance.

I am not completely sure that being anti elitist is such a bad idea.
Of course, I have many fundamentalist acquaintances that think that I, an
Episcopalian, have no shot at heaven.  Although I am certainly not in favor
of dumbing down the arts to appeal to the masses, I think that if we the
'elite' want to continue to enjoy our status, we had better let in some
of the commoners to help us pay for it.

Kevin Sutton