Is Recession Affecting Home Electronics Sales? – Nope, according to Sony Electronics rep Rick Clancy. He says as economic times get tough, people are staying home, but they’re doing it in luxury. “They call it a stay vacation where instead of going out traveling people are staying home and surrounding themselves with some pretty cool electronics. The whole area of home entertainment – maybe it’s cocooning with these economic times – seems to be more prevalent,” said Clancy. A hot trend is connecting your broadband Internet to the big screen. Sony’s Bravia has a wireless connection from the Net to your living room space. The number of programs is limited right now but Sony considers it the wave of the future. However, unlike Sony’s Style stores, many retail consumer electronics stores are seeing a drop in sales.
Koch to Distribute Russia’s Melodiya Catalog – Koch Entertainment Distribution, via its Canadian label Analekta, announces it is now distributing the major Russian classical label Melodiya for the first time in North America in 15 years. The first 21 titles are now available at many retail stores in the U.S. and Analekta will release ten additional titles monthly via Koch. Melodiya was the Soviet Union’s state-owned record label, established in l964 and using recording studios and manufacturing facilities thruout the USSR. The formats then were vinyl records. By 1973, Melodiya had released some 1,200 LPs and was exporting to more than 70 countries. [Most of the LPs sounded terrible, but the CD reissues are improved and recent recordings are up to international standards…Ed.] Melodiya’s recordings of Russian works, including rarely-heard operas, have long been prized by collectors. Their archives contain much historically significant classical music. Analekta’s president Mario Labbé said “We are very proud that thru our U.S. Distribution Agreement with Koch, American music lovers will now have access to this dream vault of over 60,000 masters.”
