 The site of Plaszów concentration camp, Poland |
|
| December
2007 Saturday 29th December 2007 I've recently added a couple of tracks from the film Latcho Drom to Auschwitz-birkenau.org. It's worth seeing the film, which traces the migrations of Romany groups from Northern India to Europe and the rest of the world. Below are a couple of tracks from the soundtrack. The first is the Hungarian lament Cigany Himnusz. It is accompanied by the sound of rail cars as a reminder that many Gypsies died in the Holocaust, a memory made all the more clearer by the chilling, unaccompanied Auschwitz - the second track.
Monday 24th December 2007 Wednesday 19th December 2007 ...so I'm excited to be finally acting on
my love for Eastern Europe by doing something about it. I'm moving
to Russia, starting
a job in Moscow in the new year. And this
is where you can track every step of the process, obviously, lol.
Tuesday 18th December 2007 Boys, if you're looking to launch in Russia, let's talk. DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON HITS THE RIGHT NOTE WITH ONLINE DOWNLOADS Deutsche Grammophon (DG) today announces impressive interim download figures following the launch of its DG Web Shop (www.dgwebshop.com). As a division of Universal Music Group, it was the first major record label to make the majority of its large catalogue available for download online and the response has mirrored the demand that was believed to be out there. According to Deutsche Grammophon, in DG Web Shop’s first week it saw two million page impressions and 85,000 unique visitors to the site resulting in 50,000+ music downloads. These visitors came from all over Europe, the US, Asia and South America. The top five countries being the US, Germany, UK, France and Switzerland, respectively. The landmark move from Deutsche Grammophon comes at a time when many are predicting a resurgence in the popularity of classical music. This, combined with the phenomenon that is digital downloading, makes for a desired and much needed offering. Michael Lang, President of Deutsche Grammophon, commented on this growing trend: “The uptake of portable mp3 players combined with the convenience of online shopping has driven market development opportunities for classical music, making it accessible to whole new audiences. This is a genuine cultural shift, and it’s set to grow - the future will see digital and mobile music revenue offsetting the fall in CD sales. Lang continued, “Digital delivery channels are driving music consumption to its highest ever levels as consumers demand access to music in more ways than ever. We’re also seeing a growing number of entry points for classical music virgins, who can now access the genre via multiple channels including TV adverts, classical music radio stations, compilations and feature films. Classical music is growing in popularity, and over the coming years we can expect to see it grow even more as it’s embraced by the iPod generation.” As of today and in time for Christmas, the DG Web Shop will introduce the feature of gifting downloads (albums, works, tracks) as presents to friends and family and the first 1000 customers to download an album will receive a free bonus album download of The Greatest Classical Christmas. Also, from 27th December the DG web shop will introduce its first sales promotion, with the top 100 albums available, for a limited time only, for download at a 20 per cent discounted rate. Saturday 15th December 2007 I came across the above promo for Sigur Rós from Ryan - an astoundlingly talented and very nice chap. Wednesday 12th December 2007 It's a typical example of a big record company (Mercury) elbowing a talented artist into making a really bad video to cater for the masses. Old, but an addictive tune nonetheless. tUESDAY 11th December 2007
But our relationship has recently suffered a knock. Imagine finding yourself in one of the most photogenic cities in the world; where your cherished piece of kit suddenly and unexpectedly decides to develop a fault that not only prevents you from taking any pictures, but is also - you're later told by the manufacturer - going to cost £270 to rectify. This, believe it or not, is what Epson described as the ‘minimal’ cost of getting the camera repaired, regardless of the fault. Epson - sort it out. Let me tell you about an otherwise very enjoyable few days in Moscow as I quietly seethe. I went as guest of Mmd, the leading PR, corporate comms and corporate affairs network in the Central and Eastern European territories. It was great to see Stephen as well as meeting the friendly team that work in the Moscow office. Being my first visit to Russia, the whole
experience was pretty amazing. Despite the first encounter being
with a sour-faced, aggressive immigration officer who had the most
amazing moustache I’ve ever seen. A smile and a friendly After the shock of the chilly air outside Domodedovo airport, I was greeted by an equally frosty 'no' when I asked the driver if he spoke any English as we hurtled through the snow towards Moscow. It was then I remembered one of Stephen’s blog postings from a few days before. Here it is in full:
My trip didn’t turn out to be anywhere near as exciting, but did have its highlights – such as fighting our way through a street jam-packed with BMWs and Mercedes to have a night at one of Moscow’s premiere nightspots, Galereya. Described as the place 'to see and be seen', it was a party to celebrate the 140th anniversary of Harper`s Bazaar magazine. While sipping mojitos and la-de-da-ing with the oligarchs and hoi polloi of the Russian nouveau aristocracy, we enjoyed amazing food, and a performance of Spanish group Stigmato. There was also an exhibition of front covers of the most sensational issues of the magazine throughout its history. Here are some pictures of the night courtesy of vizitor.com
And finally, here are one or two pictures I managed to take in the streets surrounding the hotel before my camera gave up the ghost.
Thursday 6th December 2007
The two videos above are from Elliot Minor, and below, from Palladium.
Tuesday 4th December 2007 Saturday 1st December 2007 It's been a busy week working on the launch of Deutsche Grammophon's brand new webshop. Here's the official blurb:
The era of poor quality downloading for the classical fan is over. Boasting unbeatable audio standards, unprecedented ease of use, and downloads playable on all portable music players, Deutsche Grammophon is the first major record label to offer downloading to consumers – via the new DG Web Shop on 28 November – the chance to explore and to purchase from its incomparable catalog of classical music.
Deutsche Grammophon has always looked to the future while honoring the past. Renowned for pioneering the most advanced recording technology year after year, DG maintains its technological edge over the competition in the emerging digital download arena: Its second to none catalog, recorded in superlative sound that is now available to the downloading consumer, means, as always, that Deutsche Grammophon continues to set the standard for the recording business. The DG Web Shop will be the first to be available worldwide in 42 countries, expanding download availability to many countries that have been neglected by the leading download retailers on the Internet. This “music boutique” is Deutsche Grammophon’s answer to consumer demand for a full-service portal online. With the decreasing number of traditional record stores, as well as limited and hard to search download offerings, Deutsche Grammophon leads the way to give the consumer every possible refinement of shopping for digital music imaginable.
Fully integrated into Deutsche Grammophon’s newly redesigned web portal, the DG Web Shop’s easy to use search functions assist any music enthusiast to find and select music for instant download. Twenty-four hundred full-length albums and box sets in maximum MP3 quality are available for to choose from. A bit rate of 320 kilobits/second (kbps) delivers to the listener musical enjoyment that is indistinguishable from a CD and significantly exceeds the usual download standard of 128-192 kbps. In addition, the DG Web Shop offers more than 1,000 downloadable album booklets, comprehensive information on the artists and composers, promotional videos and tour dates with links to the local concert-ticket sellers. The direct route to top quality Among the highlights of the DG Web Shop are almost 600 album titles no longer available as CDs, specially converted into MP3 files for the DG Web Shop and now available as downloads. Adding to the excitement is the promise of more out-of-print titles to follow. Digitizing every one of its great recordings is Deutsche Grammophon's goal. The DG Web Shop will become an unparalleled trove of music of historic artistic and significance, downloadable whenever a music lover wishes. All titles in the DG Web Shop are offered as 320 kbps without Digital Rights Management (DRM), as part of Universal Music Group’s ongoing market tests of DRM-free downloads. This means that DG Web Shop downloads will be compatible with all portable music players including iPods and Walkmans; and, of course, are burnable to CD. Visitors to the DG Web Shop have the choice of buying entire albums, collections of albums and box sets – or individual movements, complete works and individual pieces. In contrast to many other digital download services, all tracks on the DG Web Shop are available for sale regardless of length.
Now music fans without any downloading experience can enjoy the outstanding technical, artistic, and musical quality to which are they are accustomed from Deutsche Grammophon. Downloading one track costs around $/€1.29, while an entire album sells for between $/€10.99 and $/€11.99. The downloading procedure is a quick three-step user-friendly process for buying Deutsche Grammophon recordings. Moreover, the site also contains a state-of-the-art animated “Quick Start Guide” whereby the download novice quickly and easily becomes download savvy. All listeners welcome! As Christopher Roberts, President, Classics & Jazz, Universal Music Group International emphasizes, “The DG Web Shop will play a defining role in the digital marketplace – superior audio quality, easy to use and compatible with all players. Now the greatest classical music recordings are available worldwide.”
|
||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
. 
|
|