Listening makes the collector - who is the main audience for many types
of classical music - make a *different* decision than they otherwise would.
Given that the collector is going to spend every available dollar on
classical music, the only way someone making a *different* decision is
going to be advantageous is if there is a chance to get someone to buy.
It is only once one has gotten all of the sales to the hard core, that it
is worht pursuing ohter sales.  Face facts boys and girls - a recording of
Wourinen is not going to attract general interst.  On the ohter hand, that
is no reason for those people who are interested in a recording of one of
his works or song cycles to be able to make an informed choice.  But as a
recording artist, allowing informed choice is only advantageous when the
sales of an informed public are going to be larger than the people who pick
up almost every CD or every late serialist CD reflexively and then decide
whether they like it.

There are really two types of purchaces - the "I want this because I
have made up my mind" and "I want to hear this so I can make up my mind."
It is to the advantage of the artist selling to the first to give as
much exposure as possible, it is to the advantage of the artists selling
primarily the second to give publicity, but very few listening chances.

And the sad truth is that at the very low end of recording sales, it is
likely that there are more collectors who will buy a particular work in
their area of interest than one could generate true sales.  Hence the
prevelance of "buy it to try it" approaches to selling.

- - -

This problem is not limited to contemporary music - how many of us can
honestly say we had heard a large section of the last Beethoven cycle we
bought? The last complete set of Mozart Concerti? The last mega pack of
Bach cantatas? How often does the "tried and true" get recorded simply
because there are many artists who have a better chance of simply being
picked out of the bin of Chopin Nocturnes randomly, simply because you
wander in saying "I have got to get around to buying them" and there is
are two choices - as opposed to being sought out?

As is usually the case - the problems of dissemination of modern music
are merely slight variations of patterns facing classical music as a whole.
The only effective long term solution is for the major reviewing outlets
to place compressed excerpts on CD with their magazine - a single CD of
MP3 excerpts could hold roughly a hundred samples large enough to make a
decision by.  The carrot they offer is wider dissemination, the stick isnot
reviewing or giving preferential treatement to those artists who will allow
excerpts to be placed on the monthly CD - better than giving preference to
payola.  Call it a return to the shareware philosophy for music.

Think about it - with a bit of know how one could even select ones
specialty for the CD to coem with a subscription.  CDs focusing on
particular styles could be compiled, and the subscriber, perhaps for a
small extra fee, could get 100 extracts from the area of classical music
they are most interested in.  And on the general CD surely no one could
object if, out of 100 selections there were 25 or so set aside for the more
arcane sections of the classical world - medieval music, experimental,
historical live recordings etc.

Stirling S Newberry
Mp3s: http://www.mp3.com/ssn
War and Romance Radio: http://stations.mp3s.com/stations/8/war_and_romance.html