NEWS

JOB OPPORTUNITY

SALES CO-ORDINATOR

A vacancy has arisen in our sales office for a full-time Sales Co-ordinator.

The successful applicant will be expected to answer telephone calls from UK retail outlets, process orders on a daily basis and perform general customer service duties. You will be part of a busy team but work on your own initiative. You will be computer literate with a good telephone manner and a knowledge or appreciation of classical music.

The package includes a competitive salary plus private healthcare and company pension after a probationary period.

Please send your CV to:
Liz Baker, Chandos Records, Chandos House, Commerce Way, Colchester, CO2 8HQ, or email applications@chandos.net Fax: 01206 225201.

A Superior Species is emerging
A survey has revealed that the under 25s use their thumbs so much more, and in a new way due to mobile phones and gaming, that they are taking over as the digit of choice.

Over 40s still use their index finger as the digit of choice.

BMG & Napster
The ailing file-sharing/swapping service, which has been surviving off handouts from BMG is likely to be bought out by the large major record company. Although BMG have a significant share in Napster, they are said to be rather cool about the whole deal as Napster needs BMG more the BMG needs Napster.

The deal will result in about 30 redundancies at the doom-laden service.

Orchestra Ejected from Flight
Members of the St Petersburg Philharmonic were taken off a flight from Amsterdam to Los Angeles after their behaviour was considered disruptive to other passengers.

London's South Bank Permission
The Royal Festival Hall has been granted planning permission for a £54 million renovation which will include imporvements to the auditorium and the establishment of a new education centre.

ART DIRECTOR LEAVES

Cass Cassidy, Chandos' Art Director is leaving Chandos to go back home to New Zealand. We will be sorry to see him go. This does mean that there is now a vacancy for a senior designer at Chandos.

Interview with Cass Job description

Chandos to Record Long-Lost Danish Composer
Chandos continues to search out and release unfairly neglected or forgotten composers and is proud to announce that - alongside other Nordic series including Nørgård, Langgaard, Berwald and Gade - it will record and release music by Esrum-Hellerup.

See Press Release

Chandos Awards Loyalty Points
Chandos now awards loyalty points to all direct customers. An accumulation of 100 points allows the customer to choose a single CD of their choice absolutely free.

For details click here.

EU to Ban Noise in Music
The European Union is to introduce legislation to place a limit on the sound-pressure levels in the workplace. This will include orchestras who would therefore be unable to rehearse or perform such works as Berlioz and Verdi Requiems and Belshazzar's Feast which exceed the proposed noise limit of 87 decibels by peaking at over 110dB.

A Health and Safety Executive spokesman said 'Noise is noise. It doesn't matter whether it's Tchaikovsky or a power-drill'!

Noise and Speed
No, not more news on the dead-before-it-has-arrived broadband issue, but scientific research that concludes that the speed and volume of music at which a driver listens can increase their heart rate and the speed at which they drive. Research has shown that a driver listening to fast music is twice as likely to have an accident as those listening to slower tracks.

Previous research had shown that a link between loud music and accidents exists. Monitoring the heartbeat of drivers listening to any music shows that the heartbeat varies less than with no music at all, which shows that drivers are distracted by music.

Web-Wise
Internet use in the US is down - hours and minutes spent on-line are fewer but the time spent on-line is spent more productively. The average session time has fallen from 90 minutes to 83 minutes. This may be more of a change of attitude and browsing may be less prevalent whilst its use for work or personal finance more widespread.

Principal Trumpet Player Beaten by US Police
Rodney Mack, Principal Trumpet of the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra was beaten so badly that he had to cancel a US tour with the orchestra. The under-cover officers attacked him because he broadly fitted the description of a car thief. Although he showed them ID and his car with trumpets in it he was arrested. He plans to sue for assault and wrongful arrest.

Maestro Menotti
A composer who has been at the centre of much of Chandos' activities over the last few years lives in a large and elegant Robert Adam house set in rolling parkland in Scotland, he lives in and uses all of the house which boasts a ballroom and chapel. Although a successful composer he still feels the need to enter the UK National Lottery draw every week and sends one of his staff to the local village shop to buy tickets 'for the Maestro'.

He is well-known locally as 'The Maestro', but also, in local Scottish shorthand, as Mr McNottie!

Susan Graham Photo:Erato

Pirates Move On-Line
Internet-related music piracy is on the increase according to MCPS, which according to its findings says it has doubled in the last year. More raids now involve counterfiet CDs that are sold and advertised over the internet. The trend is reflected in the pirate's move away from factories and warehouses to non-stock-holding domestic operations in which stock is produced on demand.

Classical Label with a Difference
A new label has appeared! 'Avante', the brainchild of Simon Foster (ex of EMI Records UK and founder of Virgin Classics) and Melanne Mueller formerly of BMG Classics, is picking up musicians who have been left 'high and dry' by the recent merciless cuts in contracts by the majors' restructuring antics.

The company will operate on behalf of these musicians who will retain the copyright of their recordings and release their recordings under the umbrella of Avante. It is a novel idea which turns the traditional ownership model on its head! The first eight discs will be released in March.

DVD's Replacement unveiled - Already!
The world's 'big nine' electronics companies have joined forces to develop a new standard called blu-ray for record and playback onto the - outwardly - similar silver disc. In the process they are stealing the thunder of some member's new record/playback DVD formats which are just going on sale.

The new format uses a blue laser as opposed to the red and infra-red lasers of CDs and DVDs. The blue laser can be focussed more tightly onto the playing/reading surface and this new format can store up to 27Gb of computer data, compared with 4.7Gb on a single-sided DVD. Thus it can store 2 hours of HD video and stream fast enough to be able to support HDTV

Two Grammy Award Nominations
The success of the Chandos recording of the Vaughan Williams 'A London Symphony' continues unabated. It has just been nominated for two Grammy Awards, including the most prestigious prize of 'Best Classical Album'. The other nomination is for 'Best Engineered Album', another feather in the cap of our Senior Engineer Ralph Couzens.

Life After Nimbus
Since the demise of Nimbus Records and the distributor Complete Record Company in October of last year, new distribution deals are taking shape. Harmonia Mundi UK will take over the retail representation of Warner Classics UK, while Independent Distribution, part of the Apex group, has taken on the likes of Dutton, Testament and NMC.

The distribution side of Priory has taken on Meridian and Ivory Classics and are being approached many times a week by other labels.