Post by Castor May 7, 2012 (1 of 57)
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Sad news indeed, and I do fear that given the track record of Australian government we'll see the label quietly put to bed with nary a whimper.
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Post by pacwin May 7, 2012 (3 of 57)
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Castor said:
It would be a great loss to the SACD community if this label which has produced many fine recordings and supports SACD went to the wall.
http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/canvas-melbas-throat-must-not-be-cut-20120506-1y6sp.html?skin=text-only
It would indeed be sad, exemplary recordings, but i fear that there are deep divisions over the Melba Foundation.
http://lovedestroy.com.au/2012/04/1118-revision-2/
The maths here looks pretty challenged.
In the 2009-2010 financial year Melba recordings produced 7 CDs – They received $1 Million dollars in government funding to do so, as well as over $40 000 in patronage. From the sales of the 7 CDs they made around $3500. That’s it. That means they were making $500 on each CD and at say $20 a CD, selling only 25 of each CD. I’ve worked gigs at the likes of the Workers Club and sold more CD’s then that. That equates to $142,000 for the creation of each CD. So, if you do happen to be the proud owner of one of these CD’s, hold onto that disc. As far as the maths is concerned it’s worth $5500.
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It says:
" In the 2009-2010 financial year Melba recordings produced 7 CDs – They received $1 Million dollars in government funding to do so, as ... From the sales of the 7 CDs they made around $3500. "
That's in the 2009-10 financial year. So they produced the 7 CDs in 2009/10. Maybe the CDs were only sold after July 2010. Or in 2011. That's the nature of a record label ... you have production costs today, and a stream of revenue in the future. The statistic given is for idiots, or made by idiots. You choose.
It's like saying: in 2009, we built our new tunnel for $3billion, and it only took in $20,000 in revenues.
I have no idea if Melba spend their money wisely or not ... but the above ... quoting the cost of an investment ... and then assuming the revenue stream expires in the very same financial year ... is just piffle.
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And the new Avengers movie from Marvel Comics is poised to take in one billion dollars within a month!
Worldwide, pretty much the same scenario: Government spending on the arts and education is taking a nosedive.
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Post by Claude May 7, 2012 (6 of 57)
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A horrible article by a music critic living in his ivory tower. Surely the governement pumps a lot of money into all sorts of cultural enterprises, but subsidizinhg a record label doesn't seem a priority to me.
"Everyone agrees classical music recordings can no longer make profits. The great classical music companies such as EMI underwrite their losses with their pop product."
I wonder how much money BIS, Pentatone or Chandos receive from the governement.
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Claude said:
Surely the governement pumps a lot of money into all sorts of cultural enterprises, but subsidizinhg a record label doesn't seem a priority to me.
I wonder how much money BIS, Pentatone or Chandos receive from the governement.
I don't see much difference between funding opera ... which a tiny number of generally well-to-do people see ... and funding a record label which probably has far wider reach. The record label also offers longer term (or indeed lasting) payoffs.
I would also not be surprised to find that other 'nationalistic' labels like Dacapo also receive external funding. Bissie has mentioned that the fancy artwork on the Savall Aliavox issues is courtesy of funding from the Rothschilds or some such thing. The Bach Gardiner Cantata series comes courtesy of a whole slew of Royal, private and public funding etc etc
So, I don't have any problem with the funding ...
The problem with the Melba label would appear to be that:
a) the more successful Australian groups / soloists don't need it and don't use it ... e.g. the ACO records for BIS, the Sydney Symphony does its Exton releases etc
b) Melba appear to have limited distribution networks
c) their sales appear to be minimal.
Perhaps, the solution is not to have a national label like this, but rather to fund existing groups to make recordings with established international labels ...
BTW, Melba's govt funding *has* now been cut off.
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Post by AmonRa May 7, 2012 (9 of 57)
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pacwin said:
From the sales of the 7 CDs they made around $3500.
That means about 350 disks sold. The label gets about 50% of retail price, before VAT. Sales peak the year disk is out, so during the coming years they maybe sell a maximum of 1400 disks, spending M$1.4 which comes to $1000 per disk sold.
It really is a great wonder that anybody can record orchestral music anymore.
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Post by AmonRa May 7, 2012 (10 of 57)
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Correction: M$1.04 and $740/disk sold. Can not edit...
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