The Future of BIS

[semloh]

I see that the Swsedish label BIS has been purchased by Apple. I wonder what this will mean for the current and future catalogue in terms of both content and formats, and in particular, of course, in relation to the less familiar repertoire. Losing Hyperion, and BIS so soon afterwards, might suggest a trend, and I can't work out whether our range of choices is broadening or narrowing. Any thoughts?

[Mark Thomas]

I guess that Apple decided that this made sense after launching their classical streaming platform and it's obviously an good exit route for BIS' 80 year old owner Robert von Bahr. There doesn't seem to be much of a clue from the press releases what the future holds for new BIS releases, all the talk is of synergy with the streaming service and pointing to the parallels with Universal's purchase of Hyperion and the launch of its own streaming platform DGG's Stage+.  If that's the way things are going, maybe Amazon are talking to Chandos, or Spotify to cpo?

[semloh]

Goodness me, it's all so unpredictable. I'd hate to think of Chandos or cpo being effectively killed off through a takeover. Classical music isn't exactly a 'big earner' and these organizations think only of the bottom line; the first area to suffer would be surely the more obscure, or unsung, that few people purchase.

[Ilja]

To be honest, I was surprised that Chandos wasn't the first to be taken over since their catalogue appears to be the most "generic" out of these labels. So I think it's a matter of time before they are scooped up by a larger entity, and Apple seems to be likely candidate. 

CPO is a somewhat different matter because of the way they are intertwined with the German cultural broadcast infrastructure. However, now that even that is being undermined in the wake of the Schlesinger scandal (and adjacent affairs) who knows?

[Mark Thomas]

I wasn't being entirely serious when I mentioned cpo and Chandos, just gazing into my crystal ball, but Ilja makes a very good point about Chandos' attractiveness to a major with a streaming service. I do agree that cpo is a very different animal and I'd be much more upset if it lost its independence than if Chandos was bought out.

[adriano]

Anybody knew this already?

https://www.macrumors.com/2023/09/05/apple-acquires-bis-records/
https://symphony.org/apple-buys-bis-classical-record-label/

[TerraEpon]

Note from Moderator:
Thanks for noticing this, TerraEpon. As you can see, I have merged the two threads.
Alan Howe

[eschiss1]

Well, Bahr claims their "ethos remains unchanged", and looking forward to a future filled with music and artists in golden sound. This is not very specific, however

[TerraEpon]

Well eClassical is still operating as usual, including daily comments on the deal of the day by Bahr himself, for whatever that's worth.

[adriano]

Sounds good, but I think we have enough Sibelius from them now :-)

[Alan Howe]

Agreed!

[Ilja]

Well, Bahr claims their "ethos remains unchanged", and looking forward to a future filled with music and artists in golden sound. This is not very specific, however

I think the outlook here is rather different than for Hyperion. Apple is actively expanding their presence in the classical market, and the purchase of "boutique" labels such as BIS makes sense in that regard. What I find (somewhat) encouraging is that they appear to focus on other things than performer celebrity (quite different from Universal's approach) and more on repertory and experience (consider the "moods" section of the app). You can clearly see them bringing their experience in the digital service industry to bear, and it'll be interesting to see where they end up. However, I don't think we've seen the last of them; and other smaller labels (Sterling springs to mind, and perhaps Dutton) may go the same way.

[eschiss1]

They're working more on Kalevi Aho than on Sibelius, judging from most recent releases.

[Alan Howe]

Well, they might need to look a little wider, then. To be fair, they're certainly doing that....

[Ebubu]

It's really hard to tell "what this will mean for the current and future catalogue in terms of both content and formats", but what this tells me at this point is that I can accesse the whole catalog of Hyperion (what they have put on streaming so far) for free on Youtube and Youtube Music... Idem for the CPO, Chandos, Toccata Classics catalogues and a few others (Warner, etc...).
Who says they're interested in SELLING recordings when they're giving them all for free ? Looks like they're more interested in drowning Deezer, Qobuz, Spotify and all the other paying platforms.