Deutsche Grammophon selling MP3s worldwide
Update 2010-08-16: Deutsche Grammophon changed their online store infrastructure earlier this year. As part of the change, they limited the amount of countries they are selling to online. I am once again unable to purchase DG music from Panama. I wrote to the email address provided in their website inquiring about the situation, and their response was that they had made the change “for security reasons”. I have no idea what this means. So much for giving credit where credit is due.
File this one in the “giving credit where it’s due” dept… A few weeks ago I complained about the brain-dead policy of media companies that limit their online sales of digital media to a few “first world” countries (the US, UK, etc.) Now a major label—Deutsche Grammophon—has opened up its online store to 195 countries, including Panama. Last week I purchased a recording of two Bach cantatas, and while the site’s usability leaves a lot to be desired, I’m a very happy camper.
DG is owned by an even larger label (Universal), so there is hope for the broader industry still. (I suspect that the fact that DG focuses on classical music makes them less jittery about expanding the scope of their market; classical is less likely to be passed around than pop or rock, and probably less susceptible to long tail effects. An experiment, perhaps?)
Quality classical recordings are almost impossible to come by in Panama, and this has been an endless source of frustration to me since I moved back here in 2003. I plan to spend a lot of money in the DG store over the next few years.
