Really sad to learn (DMG weekly news update) that the label CRI is dead... Any idea what happened? Thanks, Patrice.
At 10:57 AM -0800 1/31/03, Patrice L. Roussel wrote:
Really sad to learn (DMG weekly news update) that the label CRI is dead... Any idea what happened?
Thanks,
Patrice.
Steve Smith in his Billboard columnist mode, may have more details of the industry end of things, but to me this was a train wreck that's been waiting to happen for a long time. Simply put, CRI was structured to need much more in revenues than they were able to generate from sales and grants. Many of their releases, including some re-issues of past vinyl, were only possible because the composer and/or performers were able to find funding to pay for the pressing, design, etc.so the label produced many decidedly non-commercial releases. & these discs weren't non-commercial on the level of, say, Eugene Chadbourne compared to Britney Spears. These discs were non-commercial COMPARED to someone like Eugene Chadbourne who, I'd guess, sells a fair number of recordings over the course of a year. &, as I understand it, CRI would release virtually any disc for which the artist had raised the necessary production money. But post-production costs (cataloging, storing, etc) for a label with a catalog that large are substantial and when many of CRI's discs couldn't possibly sell more than 10-20 copies a year on average (& remember that some discs sold MUCH better than that, meaning that lots of discs wouldn't sell any copies in a year, or two, or more), there's not very much cash coming in to cover expenses. I don't think CRI could have been able to serve as broad a range of composers and been able to survive financially, especially with the rise of many, many private labels that were producing recordings that in another time might have been some of CRI's bigger sellers. There's probably something to be said about the relative stability of New World, the other large non-profit label in the States (which I assume is the shadow company that's vaguely referred to as taking over the CRI catalog for CDRs on demand or some such program). While New World is also dependent on grants and donations to keep the overhead going almost everything about the label (selection of projects to release, design, promotion, etc) was more business-like than the equivalent function at CRI. That's what it looks like from here. In New York there may be more depressing details, rumors, and/or facts. Oh yeah, & here's a URL for the Kyle Gann article that Bruce mentions in the DMG e-mail: <http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0304/gann.php>. I always like Kyle's columns that talk about his youth in Texas. Bests, Herb
I see little need to add to Herb's admirably clear and cogent explanation of exactly what went down. I did, in fact, cover the story for Billboard, but there's certainly more to be said on the issue. To wit, in an article on NewMusicBox.org, Charles Wuorinen was quoted as having said that the need for CRI is certainly diminished in a day and age when more and more performers and even composers are able to run their own labels. On the face of it, that's certainly true... for a composer of Wuorinen's stature, anyway. But is it equally true for Ursula Mamlok, a fine composer whose work has thrived in the traditional establishment setting but probably would't sell well enough to maintain the mass of a private label? Not so sure. How about Marc Mellits, a very fine up-and-coming composer whose work remains largely undocumented so far? I'm just posing these as questions; I don't yet feel like I have the answers. There's another element to the CRI story, as well, namely the unrealistic expectations of sales potential on the part of certain board members. Without going too deeply into it, I was one of the people who was interviewed for the job of general manager, and even from those brief meetings, I could tell that anyone coming into the job would have a tough time meeting expectations. For example, that much vaunted and valuable new jazz series, which managed to issue three discs by John Hollenbeck, one by Matt Moran and one by Scott Fields, was imagined by the label as a serious generator of profits. Simply put, the board thought jazz was generate greater commercial returns - something that could certain not have been sensed behind the decision to issue a 3-CD set by Fields, for example. And one look at those jazz releases with their ornate, stylish packaging will give you a sense of how much money was spent on them. And Herb, yes, you're correct that New World has acquired the entire CRI catalog. Some of the more commercial things on the label (like the Harry Partch releases, which have effectively been out of print for a while now because CRI literally couldn't afford to repress them) will be issued on a New World subseries, while other things, those titles that only sold 5 or 10 copies a year, will be made available through downloads, custom burns or limited pressings made in the New World office itself. And the existing CRI stock will not be destroyed, but will remain on the market until depletion. The announcement of CRI's demise was made through a low-key announcement on the label's website in Decemeber, and came to public knowledge in a broadcast on WNYC's Soundcheck program. The show remains archived on the WNYC website, at www.wnyc.org. Steve Smith ssmith36@sprynet.com NP - Eyvind Kang, "Angel With Wings Torn Off," '7 NADEs' (Tzadik)
kind of sad to see a venerated imprint like that go down, although new World is great 'n all, but CRI was a terrific repository for cool composers without big audiences (or even a hope of a big audience), guys like Jefferey Schanzer, or, once upon a time, Charles Ives and Harry Partch. The end of an era, truly. sh NP: wall of voodoo bootleg circa 1981 or 2
participants (4)
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Herb Levy -
Patrice L. Roussel -
skip Heller -
Steve Smith