NOTICE - This is the translation of an original text written in french. It was created by automatic translation software and then revised. I'm well aware that it's better than nothing for people who don't speak French, but it's not ideal either. Thanks in advance for your kind indulgence!

Apple Music has just announced that it has put 50,000 digital booklets of the classical repertoire online. They are now available to subscribers via its iPhone and iPad applications. Android music fans will have to wait a little longer. Just to show them that iOS is better.

It will have taken years for this essential feature for classical music fans to reach the top of Apple's priority list. Competitors such as Presto Music and Qobuz, with far fewer resources, have been offering it for a long time.

Will the ranking of the best classical streaming services change with this new Apple Classical service?

Yes, a little.

Compared to Spotify or Deezer, Apple Music Classical clearly has a point, with the added …

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Robert von Bahr, founder of BIS RECORDS announced on his website and social netwporks that, after 50 years of virtuous labor, he too, like Simon Perry for Hyperion who sold to Universal, is selling his catalog... to Apple. Both say they're very happy. And understandably so, if they've picked up a good cheque. It remains to be seen whether their resignation is not a bad move for the independent classical record industry.

It seems that the owners of classic independent labels of a certain size are finding themselves in a quandary when it comes to retirement. For the past 15 years, economic conditions have been increasingly appalling, making it very difficult for them to maintain a reasonable business, although in this case BIS has shown itself to be particularly skilful, more skilful than others, in maintaining a policy of quality and, at least on the surface, conviction.

Transferring the business "in the trade" by selling to another independent buyer would not result in a significant pro…

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[ Some articles (only) of COUACS.INFO (A “Couac” is the French expression for a Bum Note) will now be available in English. Their title is preceded by [ENG.] The translation being done by “inhouse”, your indulgence is suggested! ] 

In the field of classical music the best reissues in CD sets are still not properly available in digital format. Why is that?

So, lately, online music services have been talking about satisfying classical music lovers. That's fine.

But the grumbling and dissatisfied user of the current services should not lose sight of the fact that the record companies in the first place also have a responsibility and work to do to improve the situation: it is their goods that are sold, so to speak, on the platforms. And if the record companies don't do their job properly, it's not the platforms that can turn mud into diamonds. 

Take the example of the big prestigious box sets dedicated to the great performers of the past that are constantly being released by almost all rec…

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[ Some articles (only) of COUACS.INFO (A “Couac” is the French expression for a Bum Note) will now be available in English. Their title is preceded by [ENG.] The translation being done by “inhouse”, your indulgence is suggested!] 

A rather convoluted press release announces that MQA Ltd is now in receivership.

I don't want to appear to be happy about the difficulties of a company, but what is surprising is not that MQA is now in trouble, but that MQA could have been in the news for so long and in such a hollow way, and find so many supporters in an industry (record companies, hardware manufacturers) that had so many other more important issues to deal with.

In a nutshell, MQA's technology aimed to offer a magic encoding for online music (download or streaming) that would allow to pass HiRes quality using less data and thus saving bandwidth, a perennial necessity that MQA seemed to believe in.Expressed in a more brutal way, MQA was thus compressing music, compressing it in a way that was…

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Some articles (only) of COUACS.INFO (A “Couac” is the French expression for a Bum Note) will now be available in English. Their title is preceded by [ENG.] The translation being done by “inhouse”, your indulgence is suggested!

Having worked hard on this subject due to my past experience at Qobuz, the first observations with the final product in hand were quick, and give a good idea of what Apple Music Classical really brings - beyond the promotional proclamations complacently taken up by "journalists" on the simple faith of a press release.

First observation, in my opinion disqualifying: Apple Music Classical (AMC later in this article) does not offer any digital booklet. This decision deprives the user of essential data about what he is listening to.

Beyond that, this pure idiocy drags down the whole business, because if Apple had demanded booklets from its suppliers, most of them would have provided them, with their finger on the seam of their pants (French ex…

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[ Ceci est une traduction du français. Merci pour votre indulgence. Toute remarque ou correction sera bienvenue, avec reconnaissance ! ]

This article will be followed by a second one in a few days, which will propose a survey of the quality criteria on which one could judge the value of an online music service in the field of classical music and more generally of any specialized repertoire.

Apple has announced the arrival of its "Apple Music Classical" application on 28 March. On this occasion, I try to lift the veil on some factual elements of the online music business in the field of classical, specialized and heritage repertoires; and on what I had to know and learn about it between 2003 and 2015, not only during the initial period when I worked on the digitisation of a vast catalog of classical music, but also as the creator of the Qobuz platform when we worked with…

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This could be seen from an industrial point of view, as a banal and inevitable market consolidation, after a technological break. But the sale of Hyperion to Universal Music, beyond the fate of a catalog that will benefit from a wider distribution and will be able to be heard by more ears by integrating the streaming platforms, is a real devastation, a kind of ignominy for the very idea that one had of the independent classical record and its role.

I take the risk of making astrological predictions, but here's what we'll probably soon hear from the buyer:

"The catalog and its development of this wonderful label which will continue its demanding policy will be entrusted to the good care of PIAS / harmonia mundi".

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