BIS Records taken over by Apple

[71 dB]

BIS and eclassical.com were closely related already years before the sale to Apple, and I wound up on eclassical.com's mailing list after purchasing a BIS disc through bis.se. In fact, I always assumed that Robert von Bahr was one of the founders of eclassical.com.

Oh, that explains a lot. I didn't know/care about eclassical before this Apple thing. I wonder if my BIS password works in eclassical?

[71 dB]

Does it matter for how long? I mean aren't you content in knowing that you have some of their recordings in your collection?

Yes, it does matter for how long. This is not about being content or how many BIS releases I have in my collection. This is about whether there is anything for me in the World or not. In my youth I didn't mind the World changing, because I mistakenly thought the World will almost always change for the better. I also thought I would change with the World. However, now that I am 53, I have seen how the World does not always change for the better. Often it changes for the worse. Also, I don't change with the World almost at all. Instead I linger in the past feeling nothing but nostalgia for older things. New things are mostly boring and depressing. I don't know what to think about AI for example.

What if in the future fundamental islamic religion becomes dominant everywhere and music altogether is banned? I fear the future. I fear change. Mankind has lost its way of making progress a good thing.

If BIS went under right now, I wouldn't be surprised, because the music business in general has become so prone to sea changes that I'm not phased nor worried about what's next for a label. I live in the present and, as I wrote previously, I'm grateful that I was able to acquire so many of their recordings through the years.

World where BIS exists and releases music on physical formats is the World where I want to live.

They are (were) an outstanding label that have done some incredible work, but nothing lasts forever.

Bad things tend to last long...

[AnotherSpin]

Yes, it does matter for how long. This is not about being content or how many BIS releases I have in my collection. This is about whether there is anything for me in the World or not. In my youth I didn't mind the World changing, because I mistakenly thought the World will almost always change for the better. I also thought I would change with the World. However, now that I am 53, I have seen how the World does not always change for the better. Often it changes for the worse. Also, I don't change with the World almost at all. Instead I linger in the past feeling nothing but nostalgia for older things. New things are mostly boring and depressing. I don't know what to think about AI for example.

What if in the future fundamental islamic religion becomes dominant everywhere and music altogether is banned? I fear the future. I fear change. Mankind has lost its way of making progress a good thing.

World where BIS exists and releases music on physical formats is the World where I want to live.
Bad things tend to last long...

The world does not stand without change for even a millisecond, change is permanent. Not for the better, and not for the worse. "Better" or "worse" in the mind, accordingly to previous rigid conditioning, and nowhere else. Don't mind what happens, take it as it comes, and every little thing gonna be alright... :-)

Of course, your true Self doesn't change and couldn't. It is here and now always, take solace in it and give no importance to the circus around. You have no means to stop it, shift your attention inward.

[Madiel]

The main thing that doesn't change is that people have been anxious about the world changing, for literally thousands of years.

Some of us are more prone to mourn the losses than others. But we all have to learn how to keep navigating. You've got this far. Keep going.

[Florestan]

@71 dB  @AnotherSpin  @Madiel  and to all whom it may concern

Mihai Eminescu (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihai_Eminescu)

Gloss

Days go past and days come still
All is old and all is new,
What is well and what is ill,
You imagine and construe;
Do not hope and do not fear,
Waves that leap like waves must fall;
Should they praise or should they jeer,
Look but coldly on it all.

Things you'll meet of many a kind,
Sights and sounds, and tales no end,
But to keep them all in mind
Who would bother to attend ?...
Very little does it matter,
If you can yourself fulfill,
That with idle, empty chatter
Days go past and days come still.

Little heed the lofty ranging
That cold logic does display
To explain the endless changing
Of this pageantry of joy,
And which out of death is growing
But to last an hour or two;
For the mind profoundly knowing
All is old and all is new.

As before some troupe of actors,
You before the world remain;
Act they Gods, or malefactors,
'Tis but they dressed up again.
And their loving and their slaying,
Sit apart and watch, until
You will see behind their playing
What is well and what is ill.

What has been and what will be
Are but of a page each part
Which the world to read is free.
Yet who knows them off by heart ?
All that was and is to come 
Prospers in the present too,
But its narrow modicum
You image and construe.

With the selfsame scales and gauges
This great universe to weigh,
Man has been for thousand ages
Sometimes sad and sometimes gay;
Other masks, the same old story,
Players pass and reappear,
Broken promises of glory;
Do not hope and do not fear.

Do not hope when greed is staring
O'er the bridge that luck has flung,
These are fools for not despairing,
On their brows though stars are hung;
Do not fear if one or other
Does his comrades deep enthrall,
Do not let him call you brother.
Waves that leap like waves must fall.

Like the sirens' silver singing
Men spread nets to catch their prey,
Up and down the curtain swinging
Midst a whirlwind of display.
Leave them room without resistance,
Nor their commentaries cheer,
Hearing only from a distance,
Should they praise or should they jeer.

If they touch you, do not tarry,
Should they curse you, hold your tongue,
All your counsel must miscarry
Knowing who you are among.
Let them muse and let them mingle,
Let them pass both great and small;
Unattached and calm and single,
Look but coldly on it all.

Look but coldly on it all,
Should they praise or should they jeer;
Waves that leap like waves must fall,
Do not hope and do not fear.
You imagine and construe
What is well and what is ill;
All is old and all is new,
Days go past and days come still. 

(Transl. by Corneliu Popescu --- the Romanian original here, if interested: http://www.romanianvoice.com/poezii/poezii/glossa.php )

[71 dB]

The world does not stand without change for even a millisecond, change is permanent. Not for the better, and not for the worse. "Better" or "worse" in the mind, accordingly to previous rigid conditioning, and nowhere else. Don't mind what happens, take it as it comes, and every little thing gonna be alright... :-)

Of course, your true Self doesn't change and couldn't. It is here and now always, take solace in it and give no importance to the circus around. You have no means to stop it, shift your attention inward.

In my youth I expected a lot of change to happen, but the World has changed very differently from what I anticipated and that has been very disappointing and depressing. I feel 90 % of the change has been negative for me. I feel I don't have a place in the World anymore. The rights of LGBT+ community has been advocated a lot which is good, but how about us autistic people? We are still totally misunderstood and ignored. We are really struggling in this damn World of social media. I have become totally invisible to others because my brain in incompatible with social networking and getting millions of followers on various online platforms. I don't understand dance videos on Tik Tok! I am on a planet I don't understand anymore! Likewise other people don't understand me.

I have shifted my attention inward. It is just that if I participate, this is what I have to say about things.

I am not the only one worried about the future of physical media be it music or movies. There are many other, but we are still a minority and capitalism rather serves majorities...

[AnotherSpin]

In my youth I expected a lot of change to happen, but the World has changed very differently from what I anticipated and that has been very disappointing and depressing. I feel 90 % of the change has been negative for me. I feel I don't have a place in the World anymore. The rights of LGBT+ community has been advocated a lot which is good, but how about us autistic people? We are still totally misunderstood and ignored. We are really struggling in this damn World of social media. I have become totally invisible to others because my brain in incompatible with social networking and getting millions of followers on various online platforms. I don't understand dance videos on Tik Tok! I am on a planet I don't understand anymore! Likewise other people don't understand me.

I have shifted my attention inward. It is just that if I participate, this is what I have to say about things.

I am not the only one worried about the future of physical media be it music or movies. There are many other, but we are still a minority and capitalism rather serves majorities...

I don't know much about autism, practically nothing. However, I'm pretty sure that people with these symptoms can be in perfect balance and peace, like others, and they have just as much freedom available to them as anyone else.

[ritter]

We're straying really off-topic. Just sayin'

[Florestan]

The ever-vigilant on-topic master Rafael! 

Good day, captain sir!

[ritter]

El peso de la púrpura, ya sabes...

[Florestan]

El peso de la púrpura, ya sabes...

Every GMG moderator carries an emperor's scepter in his knapsack. 

[Le Buisson Ardent]

Yes, it does matter for how long. This is not about being content or how many BIS releases I have in my collection. This is about whether there is anything for me in the World or not. In my youth I didn't mind the World changing, because I mistakenly thought the World will almost always change for the better. I also thought I would change with the World. However, now that I am 53, I have seen how the World does not always change for the better. Often it changes for the worse. Also, I don't change with the World almost at all. Instead I linger in the past feeling nothing but nostalgia for older things. New things are mostly boring and depressing. I don't know what to think about AI for example.

What if in the future fundamental islamic religion becomes dominant everywhere and music altogether is banned? I fear the future. I fear change. Mankind has lost its way of making progress a good thing.

World where BIS exists and releases music on physical formats is the World where I want to live.
Bad things tend to last long...

Okay, now you've taken what I said and pushed it off a ledge. I'm not getting into your personal troubles and, honestly, they have place in this thread.

[Le Buisson Ardent]

It would be nice if people would keep politics out of the music threads. This is one of the reasons why I left this forum to begin with. I got tired of the berating from other members because they don't believe what the other believes.

Let's keep it about music folks!

Rant over: Back to your regularly scheduled programming...

[DavidW]

I wonder how BIS decides what packaging to use on cd boxes?  The Pettersson and Mozart PCs are lackluster but the Suzuki Bach set is exceptional.

[Le Buisson Ardent]

I wonder how BIS decides what packaging to use on cd boxes?  The Pettersson and Mozart PCs are lackluster but the Suzuki Bach set is exceptional.

Yeah, I agree with you about the Pettersson. The front cover looks like something anyone could do, but the booklet is fantastic and, of course, as is the content. I'm not sure who is in charge of their graphics department, but I suppose Robert von Bahr has the final say? Your guess is as good as mine.

[Spotted Horses]

Yes, it does matter for how long. This is not about being content or how many BIS releases I have in my collection. This is about whether there is anything for me in the World or not. In my youth I didn't mind the World changing, because I mistakenly thought the World will almost always change for the better. I also thought I would change with the World. However, now that I am 53, I have seen how the World does not always change for the better. Often it changes for the worse. Also, I don't change with the World almost at all. Instead I linger in the past feeling nothing but nostalgia for older things. New things are mostly boring and depressing. I don't know what to think about AI for example.

What if in the future fundamental islamic religion becomes dominant everywhere and music altogether is banned? I fear the future. I fear change. Mankind has lost its way of making progress a good thing.

I'm not a Buddhist, but I find a lot of wisdom in one of the central ideas, as I understand it. Duḥkha (variously translated as pain, suffering, dissatisfaction) comes from being attached to impermanent things, and everything is impermanent. I remind myself to let go of things, and look for new things. I remember the delight of going to my favorite record store, "The Record Hunter," on the corner of 42nd street and 5th avenue in New York, and finding those unique BIS CDs. I still listen to FLAC files from some of the BIS CDs I bought there, such as Jarvi's recording of Sibelius' fifth symphony. That particular pleasure is gone (the last time I was there, years and years ago, it's former location was occupied by an H&M clothing store). But there are so many new ways to experience music, on much better equipment.

Robert von Bahr is 80 years old. BIS, as we know it, is going away. Not because Apple will decline to press SACDs, but because von Bahr is mortal, and the fact that he sold BIS to Apple indicates that he is letting go of things that can't be held on to forever. If von Bahr can let go of BIS, I think I can too.

[AnotherSpin]

I'm not a Buddhist, but I find a lot of wisdom in one of the central ideas, as I understand it. Duḥkha (variously translated as pain, suffering, dissatisfaction) comes from being attached to impermanent things, and everything is impermanent. I remind myself to let go of things, and look for new things. I remember the delight of going to my favorite record store, "The Record Hunter," on the corner of 42nd street and 5th avenue in New York, and finding those unique BIS CDs. I still listen to FLAC files from some of the BIS CDs I bought there, such as Jarvi's recording of Sibelius' fifth symphony. That particular pleasure is gone (the last time I was there, years and years ago, it's former location was occupied by an H&M clothing store). But there are so many new ways to experience music, on much better equipment.

Robert von Bahr is 80 years old. BIS, as we know it, is going away. Not because Apple will decline to press SACDs, but because von Bahr is mortal, and the fact that he sold BIS to Apple indicates that he is letting go of things that can't be held on to forever. If von Bahr can let go of BIS, I think I can too.

Sounds good to me.

[71 dB]

Robert von Bahr is 80 years old. BIS, as we know it, is going away. Not because Apple will decline to press SACDs, but because von Bahr is mortal, and the fact that he sold BIS to Apple indicates that he is letting go of things that can't be held on to forever. If von Bahr can let go of BIS, I think I can too.

Back in the old days retiring business owners left the business into the hands of their sons and daughters. Does RvB have any children?

[AnotherSpin]

Back in the old days retiring business owners left the business into the hands of their sons and daughters. Does RvB have any children?

Today's sons and daughters rarely know what they want and least of all their parents' businesses. It used to be the elders and families who made the decision, now for some funky reason someone has decided that teenagers, who have no idea of responsibility, can and should choose everything for themselves, from their gender to their path in life.

[Spotted Horses]

Back in the old days retiring business owners left the business into the hands of their sons and daughters. Does RvB have any children?

RvB shares some thoughts this article

https://gb.readly.com/magazines/bbc-music-magazine/2024-01-23/659ce149f39eba640babe544

He has seven children, non of which are prepared to take over BIS. He views the deal with Apple as guaranteeing BIS's survival after his inevitable exit.

Simon Perry took over Hyperion upon the death of Ted Perry. That didn't guarantee the continuation of Hyperion as an independent label.