We may be seeing more record releases from American orchestras in the coming months and if we do, we'll have a labor agreement to thank for it. The American Federation of Musicians and 48 North American orchestras have just cut a deal that's intended to reduce the upfront cost of making recordings. (Full story in The New York Times.)
With sales figures in the tank, orchestra musicians finally seem to have accepted the fact that there's not a lot of money to be made in the classical record biz. And they've recognized two truths about downloading music: 1) no one has any idea whether downloads will be profitable; 2) they're already well behind the rest of the music world in that game.
Is it a shortcoming that the new agreement covers only "live" concert recordings? I don't think so. Several orchestras have already headed in that direction, and with impressive results. Will an increase in American orchestra releases make a noticeable difference to record-buyers? That's a more interesting question.
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