John Buckman from Magnatune drew our attention to
recent press coverage about the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra’s decision to eschew traditional music distribution methods and release their performance of Handel’s 1736 opera “Atalanta” exclusively through Magnatune. Apparently, the Orchestra’s decision was prompted by disappointing CD sales. Now the music can be enjoyed either by streaming at no cost, by download, by license (eg., by adding PBO to your home movie for next commercial film), or as a CD-on-demand. The Wall Street Journal quotes conductor Nicholas McGegan as saying that the Internet “has potentially given the industry a tremendous shot in the arm” letting orchestras reach “new audiences, including ones that are unlikely to hear you in person.” And of course, Magnatune supports “open music” & licenses its downloads to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.