oldies sales thrive on the web

[blue2blue]

LA Times:

 

On the Web, oldies are golden again

 

 

 

Easy access to vintage hits creates new fans for artists from bygone eras.

 

 

 

After the Beatles arrived on the scene, Frankie Avalon, whose hit "Venus" was the last No. 1 song of the 1950s, watched sadly as fans ditched syrupy pop for rock 'n' roll.

 

 

 

"I figured that was over," the 66-year-old crooner said about his recording career.

 

 

 

Avalon went on to star in movies of the beach party genre. His music was relegated to discount bins in record stores and the playlists of oldies stations.

 

 

 

Almost 50 years later, Avalon's work is enjoying a digital renaissance, thanks to Apple Inc.'s iTunes, RealNetworks Inc.'s Rhapsody and other online stores and subscription services.

 

MORE: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-oldies8may08,0,2517964.story?coll=la-home-business

[doug osborne]

Thanks for posting this.

 

This is not a story about Frankie Avalon and Fabian.

 

This is a story of the survial of the music industry, and issues that the industry should have addressed a decade ago.

 

Every work of recorded music should be available without DRM from a variety of competitive retailers on the web for 50 cents each, with higher-resolution, surround, etc., versions for more. And these should be available for playing on subscription-streaming services.

 

The income from lapsed-artists like Frankie Avalon and Fabian, and from works that have fallen into the public domain, can help fund the development of new music, so music, and it's industry, can have a future.

 

Every work recorded over the last century+ has value.

[blue2blue]

For a guy who's owned at least 8 hardware synths (I think I might be forgetting a module or two) and I don't even know how many v-synths, I listen to a lot of old music. (Of course, my first all electronic music album I bought in 1967. So...)

 

And I do not mean 20 or 30 years old. (Though I listen to that, too.) I mean 60, 70 years old and sometimes more.

 

I do it via my 700 CDs, or so, but more frequently through my collection of Mp3s (all non-DRMs bought through the old eMusic all-you-can-eat plan) and mostly via my online streaming subscription service.

 

The ability to pick and choose through truly great music spanning 80 or more years strikes me as utterly extraordinary.

 

You can keep your Trapt, Coheed & Cambria, Switchfoot, Shinedown, et al...

 

... I'll take Duke Ellington or Pops Armstrong or Billie Holiday... and on... decades of truly great music... instead of ephemeral fluff 'n' forget...

[LiveMusic]

Honestly, this is the first good news I've seen in a LONG time since downloading began. Thanks for posting.