Being the altruistic person that I am, I am compelled to put in my two cents worth. I think it is a terrific idea for the IHS to offer an online download of the first "rendition" of a commissioned work and perhaps a download of moderated "submitted" works where no royalty is required. It doesn't have to be in the highest resolution file. (Many of our members seem to think YouTube performances are quite adequate for dissemination of their talents. How poor is the sound in those performances?). Charge whatever it costs to support keeping the file on the server plus a little extra. When the IHS commissions works, perhaps make it a requirement for receiving funding. Of course, or at least generally, one gets what one pays for. Having played for years in a volunteer community orchestra I well know how painful some concerts are, especially those by modern composers. Regardless, we often make recordings and we occasionally distribute them (but only when we have permissions and have paid the royalties). We are fortunate that we have many local private and public recording studios that will record our performances essentially pro-bono. So our production costs are minimal. It can be done. As far as quality, as one of our staunchest supporters told me once, "One never knows what to expect. Sometimes you are very very good, sometimes you are very very bad but, always, you are entertaining." I think one has to take the attitude that the music will not be perfect and whomever plays it might just turn into the laughing stock for the professional music world at large. Personally I long ago accepted the fact I would never play acceptably well in the eyes of most professionals. But it bothers me little. I still love to play and do so, often making a fool of myself regardless. But back to the subject at hand, it seems to me the need is to have a permanent place where works for horn can be kept over the long term. The goal is to get the word out that the (lesser known) music is available and to let the interested person decide for themselves before purchasing the music and perhaps playing it for royalty. Hopefully, if the music is actually written well, the listener will hear beyond the clams and recognize the music as being worthy to purchase. If we take the attitude that nothing can be distributed unless there is lots of money to be spent (or made), many good works will most likely go by the wayside. Somewhere there might actually be a middle ground that benefits the interested horn player and the owner of the music. More to the point is whether the IHS has the interest and ability to do such a thing.
Dan Beeker > Message: 2 > Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:29:37 +0200 > From: Hans Pizka <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [Hornlist] using the hornlist for good/ unrecorded music > To: The Horn List <[email protected]> > Message-ID: <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1; format=flowed; delsp=yes > > Well, I?ll try to answer, even partially: > > 1. Costs of the recording depends on several factors: technical > difficulty of the piece (complicated rhythm, complicated notation as > often done by contemp composers), number of musicians involved > excluding the soloist, say moderate honorarium of 50.-$/hour. One > should calculate a 3 hour session for a Mozart-like concerto of 15 > min. duration and according much more time for a complicated contemp > concerto, and more musicians, eventually two or three sessions. This > would drive the orchestra costs up so much, that an economic > calculation must fail. Say a Chamber orchestra of 64321 string setting > (6 = six first violins), plus 2 percussionists, five winds & piano > perhaps or harp, which makes 24 players at 50.-$/hour resulting in > 1.200.- $/recording hour, multiplied by two sessions three hors each, > resulting in 7.200.-$ minimum. > > You forgot to ask for the royalties, which are 8% from the list price > & have to be paid in advance for the whole pressing, no matter how > many you can sell. Say list price 12.-$, 8% makes 0,96 $ royalties, > total of 480.-$ for a minimum pressing of 500 copies. > > It is cheaper to do it "on demand" with single copies done on the home > computer. But who want to take the burden. > > This is just for a 15-20 min. concerto, which does not fill a CD. > > 2. This depends on the total costs, which have to be paid from one > third of the list price of the CDs sold, as the two other thirds of > the price would be consumed by advertising & distribution, if you find > a distributor. > > If you record three modern concertos on one CD, you might have > recording costs (orchestra alone) of 20.000.-$ roughly, plus > engineering (1.000.-), glass master (300.-), pressing (500 copies) & > assembling 500-600.-$, conductor (free ???), soloist (free ???), > booklet printing 150.-$. Makes all together a sum near to 25.000.-$. > All to be refinanced by the sales. The 500 copies would yield about > 2.000.-$ to the producer. So you would break even with a sale of 6.000 > - 7.000 copies. NO WAY !!!! > > 3. Electronic files sale would need the same number of sold electronic > files or more, as they must be cheaper than the pressed CD. The > advantage of electronic files sale would be, that the three concertos > could be sold separately. But this would never enhance the sale. The > files would (if at all) be copied uncontrollable. > > 4. It depends if you get the recordings free of charge or if the > soloist receive it in exchange for the honorarium. If so, the break > even point might be met with a sale of 1.000 + copies, but still > around 5.000.-$ must be financed beforehand. Only the costs for the > orchestra & perhaps conductor would be reduced to zero - 3.000.- > (nominal) $, perhaps, if you are lucky. > > 5. I answered to that just above (free soloist, free conductor, etc.), > much volunteer work. > > 6. As far as I know from my 18 years on the board of the IHS, we never > discussed such, but we paid a lot for commissioned compositions. The > IHS would not be able to participate on financing recording projects. > > 7. Have to ask back: what means guaranteed pre-sales ?? How many ? > 2.000 copies or more. > > 8. Who of the IHS would be willing to organize such undertaking ? > There is nobody in any position, to organize that. This kind of > activity remains with those who are interested producing such > recordings (composers perhaps). The IHS would surely assist in > providing mailing labels or by accepting paid advertisements for the > HORN VCALL as usual. But did you ever calculate how much a one time > mailing of flyers would cost, some 5.000+ flyers ???? And did you > consider that 80 - 90 % of the flyers arrive unread in the garbage bin. > > Hope that helps. > > -- Dan Beeker _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
