Why are British CD prices going up dramatically?

[Lance]

Have you noticed, Duttons, Hyperions, and other British CDs are among the highest priced CDs to acquire now in the USA. They can still be had cheaper from British sources, but by the time you add the mailing costs, you might better buy them here, in most cases. Is our dollar dwindling faster than I thought? Barnes & Noble, for example, sells Hyperions for a list price of $22-$23. Duttons are $21 suddenly. Even Naxos CDs from Britain run about $8.60/disc + postal fees making them almost $10 USD/disc. What goes? Are they trying to kill the market altogether?

[Corlyss_D]

It's like gasoline: people complain, but they pay.

[Lance]

It's like gasoline: people complain, but they pay.

With gasoline, we have little choice. But with CDs, you can always hold off. Do I? Hmm, no. When you're a dyed-in-the-wool collector, there are things you simply must have. But you might think twice about acquiring a disc. The question is: "Do I really need/want it?" What I suggest to anyone who does a lot of online buying ... do your order, come back in a day or two, go over the list, and sometimes you can delete a number of discs that show up on the list - especially after having rethought it. Impule-buying is an addiction.

[Mark Antony Owen]

I feel for you guys in the US - it must be tough. Here in the UK, Naxos discs are super-budget price: so, less than £6 (£5.99 to be exact, which at current rates make them $11.14 for you guys). And Hyperion CDs don't sell for a lot more, depending on where you buy them - say, £8-£11 ($14.88-$20.47). Some online etailers even drop the postage in the UK, and that's on top of other offers. Scottish-based Castle Classics, for example, offer free UK postage and packing, plus a free Naxos CD with every £35 ($65.13) spent.

It's even good for us buying from you guys: I ordered an EMI Great Recordings of the Century CD - Brahms' German Requiem, Klemperer conducting - from Amazon.com, and with postage, I'm only looking at a little over £10 ($18.59). Can't argue with that!

[Lance]

I feel for you guys in the US - it must be tough. Here in the UK, Naxos discs are super-budget price: so, less than £6 (£5.99 to be exact, which at current rates make them $11.14 for you guys). And Hyperion CDs don't sell for a lot more, depending on where you buy them - say, £8-£11 ($14.88-$20.47). Some online etailers even drop the postage in the UK, and that's on top of other offers. Scottish-based Castle Classics, for example, offer free UK postage and packing, plus a free Naxos CD with every £35 ($65.13) spent.

It's even good for us buying from you guys: I ordered an EMI Great Recordings of the Century CD - Brahms' German Requiem, Klemperer conducting - from Amazon.com, and with postage, I'm only looking at a little over £10 ($18.59). Can't argue with that!

Naxos' regular catalogue items (not the Historical series) sell generally for as low as $6 a disc, but the list price is $7.99 now, I believe. The Historical series is no longer being made available in the USA, stupidly, I might add, because you can get them from England and Europe. If you really want one, you can get it but pay slightly more plus postage. Hyperions and Dutton's full-price line are the most expensive British CDs offered here. But then we can also must of the Hyperion catalogue for $6-$7 from cut-out places. We do pretty good, actually. I have found MDT to be very pricey while JPC in Germany is much more reasonable (but not for British-issued CDs). DGGs are very reasonably priced, especially the big multi-disc sets.

Things will eventually turn around. Americans have always had it better than most in acquring material goods (and gasoline) and good prices, and and we've kind of taken it for granted. At some point, the dollar will get very strong again if we can get the right people to properly manage the country.

[Mark Antony Owen]

Agree that MDT can be pricey for those outside the UK. Over here, it's often the case that they can under-cut even Amazon.co.uk!

[Ralph]

I feel for you guys in the US - it must be tough. Here in the UK, Naxos discs are super-budget price: so, less than £6 (£5.99 to be exact, which at current rates make them $11.14 for you guys). And Hyperion CDs don't sell for a lot more, depending on where you buy them - say, £8-£11 ($14.88-$20.47). Some online etailers even drop the postage in the UK, and that's on top of other offers. Scottish-based Castle Classics, for example, offer free UK postage and packing, plus a free Naxos CD with every £35 ($65.13) spent.

It's even good for us buying from you guys: I ordered an EMI Great Recordings of the Century CD - Brahms' German Requiem, Klemperer conducting - from Amazon.com, and with postage, I'm only looking at a little over £10 ($18.59). Can't argue with that!

Naxos' regular catalogue items (not the Historical series) sell generally for as low as $6 a disc, but the list price is $7.99 now, I believe. The Historical series is no longer being made available in the USA, stupidly, I might add, because you can get them from England and Europe. If you really want one, you can get it but pay slightly more plus postage. Hyperions and Dutton's full-price line are the most expensive British CDs offered here. But then we can also must of the Hyperion catalogue for $6-$7 from cut-out places. We do pretty good, actually. I have found MDT to be very pricey while JPC in Germany is much more reasonable (but not for British-issued CDs). DGGs are very reasonably priced, especially the big multi-disc sets.

Things will eventually turn around. Americans have always had it better than most in acquring material goods (and gasoline) and good prices, and and we've kind of taken it for granted. At some point, the dollar will get very strong again if we can get the right people to properly manage the country.

*****

Many of those historical NAXOS discs can't legally be sold in the U.S. because of copyright issues. If NAXOS made them available they could be severely penalized in a lawsuit and the company was previously so threatened by both the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera.

Consumers ordering the CDs from abroad break no law and pose no threat to NAXOS.

[Lance]

I feel for you guys in the US - it must be tough. Here in the UK, Naxos discs are super-budget price: so, less than £6 (£5.99 to be exact, which at current rates make them $11.14 for you guys). And Hyperion CDs don't sell for a lot more, depending on where you buy them - say, £8-£11 ($14.88-$20.47). Some online etailers even drop the postage in the UK, and that's on top of other offers. Scottish-based Castle Classics, for example, offer free UK postage and packing, plus a free Naxos CD with every £35 ($65.13) spent.

It's even good for us buying from you guys: I ordered an EMI Great Recordings of the Century CD - Brahms' German Requiem, Klemperer conducting - from Amazon.com, and with postage, I'm only looking at a little over £10 ($18.59). Can't argue with that!

Naxos' regular catalogue items (not the Historical series) sell generally for as low as $6 a disc, but the list price is $7.99 now, I believe. The Historical series is no longer being made available in the USA, stupidly, I might add, because you can get them from England and Europe. If you really want one, you can get it but pay slightly more plus postage. Hyperions and Dutton's full-price line are the most expensive British CDs offered here. But then we can also must of the Hyperion catalogue for $6-$7 from cut-out places. We do pretty good, actually. I have found MDT to be very pricey while JPC in Germany is much more reasonable (but not for British-issued CDs). DGGs are very reasonably priced, especially the big multi-disc sets.

Things will eventually turn around. Americans have always had it better than most in acquring material goods (and gasoline) and good prices, and and we've kind of taken it for granted. At some point, the dollar will get very strong again if we can get the right people to properly manage the country.

*****

Many of those historical NAXOS discs can't legally be sold in the U.S. because of copyright issues. If NAXOS made them available they could be severely penalized in a lawsuit and the company was previously so threatened by both the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera.

Consumers ordering the CDs from abroad break no law and pose no threat to NAXOS.

I could understand if the law said that Naxos cannot make them available ANYWHERE in the world. Those of us who collect those incredible Marston and Obert-Thorn remastered issues are penalized. So what do we do, we order them from elsewhere, overseas or Canada. Don't the major companies who feel their rights are infringed realize we can still get them?

The law makes no sense to me. Most of the historical recordings Naxos is issuing are 50 years or older. I thought that was the original law ... 50 years or older. Is the date restriction moved up? I've kind of lost track of the legality of the whole thing.

[Corlyss_D]

I thought that was the original law ... 50 years or older. Is the date restriction moved up? I've kind of lost track of the legality of the whole thing.

My copyright law is real rusty, but I thought it went to 75 when we joined the Bern convention.

[Ralph]

I feel for you guys in the US - it must be tough. Here in the UK, Naxos discs are super-budget price: so, less than £6 (£5.99 to be exact, which at current rates make them $11.14 for you guys). And Hyperion CDs don't sell for a lot more, depending on where you buy them - say, £8-£11 ($14.88-$20.47). Some online etailers even drop the postage in the UK, and that's on top of other offers. Scottish-based Castle Classics, for example, offer free UK postage and packing, plus a free Naxos CD with every £35 ($65.13) spent.

It's even good for us buying from you guys: I ordered an EMI Great Recordings of the Century CD - Brahms' German Requiem, Klemperer conducting - from Amazon.com, and with postage, I'm only looking at a little over £10 ($18.59). Can't argue with that!

Naxos' regular catalogue items (not the Historical series) sell generally for as low as $6 a disc, but the list price is $7.99 now, I believe. The Historical series is no longer being made available in the USA, stupidly, I might add, because you can get them from England and Europe. If you really want one, you can get it but pay slightly more plus postage. Hyperions and Dutton's full-price line are the most expensive British CDs offered here. But then we can also must of the Hyperion catalogue for $6-$7 from cut-out places. We do pretty good, actually. I have found MDT to be very pricey while JPC in Germany is much more reasonable (but not for British-issued CDs). DGGs are very reasonably priced, especially the big multi-disc sets.

Things will eventually turn around. Americans have always had it better than most in acquring material goods (and gasoline) and good prices, and and we've kind of taken it for granted. At some point, the dollar will get very strong again if we can get the right people to properly manage the country.

*****

Many of those historical NAXOS discs can't legally be sold in the U.S. because of copyright issues. If NAXOS made them available they could be severely penalized in a lawsuit and the company was previously so threatened by both the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera.

Consumers ordering the CDs from abroad break no law and pose no threat to NAXOS.

I could understand if the law said that Naxos cannot make them available ANYWHERE in the world. Those of us who collect those incredible Marston and Obert-Thorn remastered issues are penalized. So what do we do, we order them from elsewhere, overseas or Canada. Don't the major companies who feel their rights are infringed realize we can still get them?

The law makes no sense to me. Most of the historical recordings Naxos is issuing are 50 years or older. I thought that was the original law ... 50 years or older. Is the date restriction moved up? I've kind of lost track of the legality of the whole thing.

*****

There's the little matter of sovereign jurisdiction. The U.S. or any other country can't pass laws forbidding commercial activity in other nations. There can be treaties and agreements that result in a standardized approach to an issue (such as pacts dealing with environmental matters). We see that with anti-piracy problems.

The NAXOS releases that can't be sold here probably only have U.S. copyright protection so the label is safe selling them eveywhere else. If, for example, they were also copyrighted in Liechtenstein then it would be imprudent for NAXOS to sell them in that state.

[Ralph]

I thought that was the original law ... 50 years or older. Is the date restriction moved up? I've kind of lost track of the legality of the whole thing.

My copyright law is real rusty, but I thought it went to 75 when we joined the Bern convention.

*****

Copyright Term Extension Act
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act)
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The Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998—alternatively known as the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act or pejoratively as the Mickey Mouse Protection Act—extended copyright terms in the United States by 20 years. Before the act (under the Copyright Act of 1976), copyright would last for the life of the author plus 50 years, or 75 years for a work of corporate authorship; the act extended these terms to life of the author plus 70 years and 95 years respectively. The act also affected copyright terms for copyrighted works published prior to January 1, 1978, increasing their term of protection by 20 years as well. This effectively 'froze' the advancement date of the public domain in the United States for works covered by the older fixed term copyright rules. Under this act, no additional works made in 1923 or afterwards that were still copyrighted in 1998 will enter the public domain until 2019. Unlike copyright extension legislation in the European Union, the Sonny Bono Act did not revive copyrights that had already expired. The act did extend the terms of protection set for works that were already copyrighted, and is retroactive in that sense. However, works created before January 1, 1978 but not published or registered for copyright until recently are addressed in a special section (17 U.S.C. § 303) and may remain protected until 2047. The act became Public Law 105-298 on October 27, 1998.

[Corlyss_D]

alternatively known as the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act

Are you havin' me on again? I mean the content sounds legit, but the name?

[Ralph]

alternatively known as the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act

Are you havin' me on again? I mean the content sounds legit, but the name?

*****

Corlyss,

By now you should know that I don't fool around when responding to legal questions and issues.

[Lance]

alternatively known as the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act

Are you havin' me on again? I mean the content sounds legit, but the name?

*****

Corlyss,

By now you should know that I don't fool around when responding to legal questions and issues.

Hmm, how much more "elegant" it might have sounded if it was the "Vladimir Horowitz Copyright Term Extension Act."

[Corlyss_D]

alternatively known as the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act

Are you havin' me on again? I mean the content sounds legit, but the name?

*****

Corlyss,

By now you should know that I don't fool around when responding to legal questions and issues.

I think your foolery knows no bounds.

[Ralph]

alternatively known as the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act

Are you havin' me on again? I mean the content sounds legit, but the name?

*****

Corlyss,

By now you should know that I don't fool around when responding to legal questions and issues.

I think your foolery knows no bounds.

*****

It does when it comes to answering serious questions. I think. Sometimes. Usually.