Naxos buys Ondine

[Brian]

Yes, "buys." The long and short is that Naxos will distribute Ondine CDs worldwide and Naxos International will become the new owners of the Ondine label. I am assuming that Ondine will still operate under its own name, having seen no evidence to the contrary. The Philadelphia Orchestra is presumably not in a hurry to become a Naxos artist.

News story: http://www.sequenza21.com/index.php/1354

On June 9, 2009 the prestigious Finnish classical recording label Ondine announced a change in ownership to Naxos International. Additionally, the label will be distributed in the U.S. and in Canada by Naxos of America beginning on July 1.

Ondine was founded 1985 by Reijo Kiilunen in Helsinki, where the Finnish classical label is still based and today offers an extremely eclectic catalogue of both Finnish contemporary music and recordings with major Finnish and international artists. "I'm extremely excited that Naxos was keen to become our owner," said Reijo Kiilunen, Managing Director of Ondine. "Naxos shares our solid commitment to classical music. Ondine will benefit from its extensive and professional international organization and distribution network as well as its highly advanced digital business models. In addition, joining forces makes us the strongest classical player in the domestic Finnish market. All this made me realize, that from a number of interesting alternatives, Naxos was the best choice of owner in facing all the challenges within our business world."

[Catison]

Yes, "buys." The long and short is that Naxos will distribute Ondine CDs worldwide and Naxos International will become the new owners of the Ondine label. I am assuming that Ondine will still operate under its own name, having seen no evidence to the contrary. The Philadelphia Orchestra is presumably not in a hurry to become a Naxos artist.

News story: http://www.sequenza21.com/index.php/1354

They already distribute many small labels, so this isn't something completely off their radar.  I am happy that more of them will be under one roof though.  It makes it easier to get special orders, etc.

[jlaurson]

This is very good news, indeed.

I just hope that Naxos' catalog doesn't get too large for their own good. A bit of focus has never hurt anyone. I now a few labels the could easily drop. Uh, well... Ondine is in any case strengthening their distribution portfolio, not watering it down. Apparently they had not been happy with Universal, where they were, distribution-wise, for the last year.

[CRCulver]

Not a bad acquisition. At least Naxos is dedicated to classical music, even obscure composers and state-funded recordings. After Ondine's predecessor label Finlandia was bought by the Warner Music Group (basically Warner wanted to snatch up Finnish pop music publishing rights, but Finlandia happened to come along), that large multinational completely killed it.

[Brian]

Naxos Twitter account (    ) just confirmed to me that Ondine will continue to release music under its own name and operate independently - they'll just be owned by Naxos (sort of like the Da Capo deal?).

[Coopmv]

At least it sounds much more promising than WarnerMusic buying out Erato and Finlandia when the American corporate bureaucrats who knew next to nothing about classical music managed to smother all creativity these two small European labels used to have ...

[eyeresist]

Is this why Naxos prices have risen lately?

I hope this might mean some of Ondine's back catalog will see reissue under the Naxos label.

[Coopmv]

Is this why Naxos prices have risen lately?

I hope this might mean some of Ondine's back catalog will see reissue under the Naxos label.

Naxos may well continue to issue previously recorded Ondine recordings under the Ondine label.

[Henritus]

Is this why Naxos prices have risen lately?

You don't mean the stock price, yes?

[Coopmv]

You don't mean the stock price, yes?

Naxos is a German company?  No?  Shares in record companies are generally poor investments anyway.  I have owned TimeWarner shares for over ten years and am still sitting on paper losses ...

[Brian]

Naxos is a German company?  No?  Shares in record companies are generally poor investments anyway.  I have owned TimeWarner shares for over ten years and am still sitting on paper losses ...

Naxos is a privately held company based in Hong Kong, I believe.

[Coopmv]

Naxos is a privately held company based in Hong Kong, I believe.

But it is not a Chinese-owned company.  I thought I read an article when Naxos first started out and the founder was German ...

[Brian]

But it is not a Chinese-owned company.  I thought I read an article when Naxos first started out and the founder was German ...

Yep, Klaus Heymann runs it.

From their site -

Naxos is the brainchild of Klaus Heymann, a German-born entrepreneur and music lover based in Hong Kong. To boost the sales for his electronics equipment company, Heymann began organising concerts of classical music in Hong Kong sponsored by Bose and Revox. When visiting artists involved in the concerts discovered that their records could not be found in Hong Kong shops, record distribution became an additional enterprise of Heymann's company.

Another result of the classical concerts was Heymann's marriage to Takako Nishizaki, a world-class Japanese violinist. Heymann decided to make recordings with Nishizaki, one of the first recordings being The Butterfly Lovers Concerto. The recording met with immediate success and sold hundreds of thousands of copies across Asia, compelling Heymann to start HK, a record label devoted to Chinese symphonic music. Success continued, and the desire to record Western repertoire blossomed into Marco Polo, a label offering primarily rare symphonic repertoire composed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Also -

The Naxos group of companies is based in Hong Kong and is comprised of two main holding companies. Naxos Rights International Limited owns all the rights and intellectual property of Naxos. Naxos Global Distribution Limited has the world-wide distribution and commercial exploitation rights for the Naxos catalogue and intellectual property. It has partly or wholly owned subsidiaries in the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Australia, Denmark and Finland.

[71 dB]

Is this why Naxos prices have risen lately?

Have they risen somewhere? Not in Finland anyway. Normal price of Naxos dics is still 8 euros.

[Brian]

Have they risen somewhere? Not in Finland anyway. Normal price of Naxos dics is still 8 euros.

US from $7 to $10. Britain from 5 pounds to 6.

[Bulldog]

US from $7 to $10. Britain from 5 pounds to 6.

The above doesn't mean much without knowing the time length involved.

[Coopmv]

Yep, Klaus Heymann runs it.

From their site -

Naxos is the brainchild of Klaus Heymann, a German-born entrepreneur and music lover based in Hong Kong. To boost the sales for his electronics equipment company, Heymann began organising concerts of classical music in Hong Kong sponsored by Bose and Revox. When visiting artists involved in the concerts discovered that their records could not be found in Hong Kong shops, record distribution became an additional enterprise of Heymann's company.

Another result of the classical concerts was Heymann's marriage to Takako Nishizaki, a world-class Japanese violinist. Heymann decided to make recordings with Nishizaki, one of the first recordings being The Butterfly Lovers Concerto. The recording met with immediate success and sold hundreds of thousands of copies across Asia, compelling Heymann to start HK, a record label devoted to Chinese symphonic music. Success continued, and the desire to record Western repertoire blossomed into Marco Polo, a label offering primarily rare symphonic repertoire composed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Also -

The Naxos group of companies is based in Hong Kong and is comprised of two main holding companies. Naxos Rights International Limited owns all the rights and intellectual property of Naxos. Naxos Global Distribution Limited has the world-wide distribution and commercial exploitation rights for the Naxos catalogue and intellectual property. It has partly or wholly owned subsidiaries in the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Australia, Denmark and Finland.

Brian,  Thanks for this info.  I actually bought this CD mentioned in this write-up.

[Coopmv]

US from $7 to $10. Britain from 5 pounds to 6.

This is a price increase of over 40% in the US ...   

[Brian]

The above doesn't mean much without knowing the time length involved.

Since I started buying Naxos CDs ... I guess that would be five or six years ago? As late as 2004 I got a Suppe overtures CD for $6.99 at a Borders in Michigan. I think they went from 1990-2004 or 2005 at the five-pound price level before increasing it and citing the global economy. The US price went up a dollar or so about a year ago, which is when I stopped buying physical copies and started downloading new releases from eMusic.

[Coopmv]

Since I started buying Naxos CDs ... I guess that would be five or six years ago? As late as 2004 I got a Suppe overtures CD for $6.99 at a Borders in Michigan. I think they went from 1990-2004 or 2005 at the five-pound price level before increasing it and citing the global economy. The US price went up a dollar or so about a year ago, which is when I stopped buying physical copies and started downloading new releases from eMusic.

My download experience is practically nil.  I downloaded eight freebies (concerts) from RCO a while back and really have not even listened to all of them.  I am too old to go for the download or eMusic ...   LOL