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Classical heartthrobs
Andrea Bocelli and Il Divo helped give classical music the largest percentage sales boost of any genre — a 22.5 percent increase in 2006.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070104/ap_ ... usic_sales

Note this:

Nielsen SoundScan said 588.2 million albums were sold in 2006 — a 4.9 percent decline from 2005.

For a country of 300 million, that's not many! Mainstream music is less important than it thinks it is.

burnitdown wrote:

Classical heartthrobs
Andrea Bocelli and Il Divo helped give classical music the largest percentage sales boost of any genre — a 22.5 percent increase in 2006.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070104/ap_ ... usic_sales

Note this:

Nielsen SoundScan said 588.2 million albums were sold in 2006 — a 4.9 percent decline from 2005.

For a country of 300 million, that's not many! Mainstream music is less
important than it thinks it is.

Actually, I'll take credit for some of the increase and it wasn't from buying the artists you mentioned - although my wife is into the Divo guys (go figure.)

Round of applause for our industrious little crew here, that tries desperately to stem the tide of falling classical sales thru obsessive/compulsive purchasing!

I do my best but Bocelli? Not even because he's a fellow lawyer will I buy his CDs.

Andrea Bocelli and Il Divo are NOT classical music, they are pop acts. The head line is misleading...

Imagine what could have been achieved if the major labels saw fit to do a modicum of promotion on behalf of major artists. At least in the United States, they refuse to do this. At the late (and maybe not so lamented) Tower Records, the monthly new release schedule that they posted in the stores had NO classical recordings whatsoever (not even Bocelli). I never got a clear explanation as to why this was so.

I am not concerned about Bocelli and the like. This stuff has always been around; after all, when I was starting to buy classical recordings eons ago, there was Mario Lanza. Bocelli has actually sung in more legitimate operas than Lanza ever did. Besides, I don't think that the increase can completely be attributed to crossover. Bocelli has been around for a few years, and there was nothing that happened that would have caused the sale of his recordings to increase dramatically. There are no other new huge crossover acts around.

No, what I think is happening is the discovery (in some cases, rediscovery) of this music by baby boomers, coupled with increased market penetration by the independent labels, especially Naxos and now Arte Nova (sold at Borders). This really does bode well for the future of classical recordings.

keaggy220 wrote:I'll take credit for some of the increase and it wasn't from buying the artists you mentioned - although my wife is into the Divo guys (go figure.)

I should've quoted the article, because I have no idea who the artists mentioned are. Not surprisingly they're "classical lite," because Hollywood loves to promote its own and detests anyone else. By Divo do you mean Devo, the "whip it good" folks who believed Western society was devolving? I've always wanted to like them... I just have a pathological hatred for pop music

burnitdown wrote:

keaggy220 wrote:I'll take credit for some of the increase and it wasn't from buying the artists you mentioned - although my wife is into the Divo guys (go figure.)

I should've quoted the article, because I have no idea who the artists mentioned are. Not surprisingly they're "classical lite," because Hollywood loves to promote its own and detests anyone else. By Divo do you mean Devo, the "whip it good" folks who believed Western society was devolving? I've always wanted to like them... I just have a pathological hatred for pop music

No, it is Divo, as in IL(L) Divo - brought to us by Simon Cowell of American idol fame. Apparently he thought a multi-national man-hunk quartet (one American and the rest European) singing pop-opera would get the average middle-aged woman hot and bothered enough to go out and buy their CD's, DVD's and other essentials. To test his theory he had them appear on Oprah and uh, yeah you guessed it, he was platinum selling right on the $$$$$.

keaggy220 wrote:

burnitdown wrote:

keaggy220 wrote:I'll take credit for some of the increase and it wasn't from buying the artists you mentioned - although my wife is into the Divo guys (go figure.)

I should've quoted the article, because I have no idea who the artists mentioned are. Not surprisingly they're "classical lite," because Hollywood loves to promote its own and detests anyone else. By Divo do you mean Devo, the "whip it good" folks who believed Western society was devolving? I've always wanted to like them... I just have a pathological hatred for pop music

No, it is Divo, as in IL(L) Divo - brought to us by Simon Cowell of American idol fame. Apparently he thought a multi-national man-hunk quartet (one American and the rest European) singing pop-opera would get the average middle-aged woman hot and bothered enough to go out and buy their CD's, DVD's and other essentials. To test his theory he had them appear on Oprah and uh, yeah you guessed it, he was platinum selling right on the $$$$$.

One of the members of Il Divo (Carlos Marin) has sung in a recording of an obscure 18th century Spanish opera by Martin y Soler. They are pretty good pop singers, especially the tenors. Their recordings would sound better in my opinion if they didn't use heavy pop post-production, particularly the phony reverb. Wouldn't surprise me if more of his live "serious" singing turned up now.

If you're old enough to have "lived" Nights in White Satin, it's positively wierd to hear it as an Italian love song.

John

keaggy220 wrote:No, it is Divo, as in IL(L) Divo - brought to us by Simon Cowell of American idol fame. Apparently he thought a multi-national man-hunk quartet (one American and the rest European) singing pop-opera would get the average middle-aged woman hot and bothered enough to go out and buy their CD's, DVD's and other essentials.

It's times like this that I'm glad I don't own a TV and tend to unconsciously boycott the Hollywood/big media people. I miss out on all the things I'd need to be culturally well-rounded in the culture of voidness.

I guess I can stop hiding this "Bon Jovi Live in Istanbul" CD now.

burnitdown wrote:

keaggy220 wrote:No, it is Divo, as in IL(L) Divo - brought to us by Simon Cowell of American idol fame. Apparently he thought a multi-national man-hunk quartet (one American and the rest European) singing pop-opera would get the average middle-aged woman hot and bothered enough to go out and buy their CD's, DVD's and other essentials.

It's times like this that I'm glad I don't own a TV and tend to unconsciously boycott the Hollywood/big media people. I miss out on all the things I'd need to be culturally well-rounded in the culture of voidness.

I guess I can stop hiding this "Bon Jovi Live in Istanbul" CD now.

No T.V.? I envy you.

keaggy220 wrote:No T.V.? I envy you.

I can't be the only one here...?

It's easy to not have a TV. If one shows up in the house, cut the wires. Then put a plant on it. If you're really savvy, you'll put a carnivorous plant on it, as they're more fun to watch than anything on the airwaves.

burnitdown wrote:

keaggy220 wrote:No T.V.? I envy you.

I can't be the only one here...?

It's easy to not have a TV. If one shows up in the house, cut the wires. Then put a plant on it. If you're really savvy, you'll put a carnivorous plant on it, as they're more fun to watch than anything on the airwaves.

I had a good friend and her husband throw the tv's out about 15 years ago - at the time I though they were crazy, now I fully acknowledge their wisdom.

I only regularly watch two prime time tv shows and for at least 6 months out of the year the shows are not on and I don't watch any tv. However, my wife and two little girls watch more tv than I would like them to watch, but I suppose we all need some way to escape from real life.

keaggy220 wrote:However, my wife and two little girls watch more tv than I would like them to watch, but I suppose we all need some way to escape from real life.

This is the biggest problem. I don't have an easy way around that one except lead by example

Ralph wrote:I do my best but Bocelli? Not even because he's a fellow lawyer will I buy his CDs.

Hey Ralph, this is my first time on this board in many months. How many CDs do you own now? Even more than your total number of posts I guess?

[quote="keaggy220"
Actually, I'll take credit for some of the increase and it wasn't from buying the artists you mentioned - although my wife is into the Divo guys (go figure.)[/quote]

Yeah, my wife likes Il Divo, too. Or at least their singing. Their incredibly narcissistic posing on the public TV special we watched was pretty much of a turn-off even for her.

Dirk