Re: Joy of Klez--unsolicited praise

[R.A.S. <richards...>]

I was just about to suggest more or less the same thing when Allen's post
came in. A more flexible alternative to PDF files might be to sell Sibelius
or Finale format files directly, thus keeping file sizes/download times to
a minimum and making it easy for buyers to extract parts. Of course, this
would have to be combined with some sort of limited use license.

Lorele Suggested burning CDs, but even this could be eliminated by making
tracks available as MP3 downloads. 128Kb/s yields more than adequate
quality while keeping file sizes reasonable.

OTOH, all such online-only solutions would leave anybody without internet
access out in the cold. Not sure just how important or unimportant a
consideration this would be in this case.



Richard


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On 07/01/2003 at 17:41 Allen Davis wrote:

>Lori,
>
>It might not work for everyone, but have you considered publishing the 
>arrangements as online MIDI and pdf files -- those who paid a fee could
get 
>a password to your web site, listen to the score or individual parts 
>(keyboard sounds only I think), and view/print out the music -- score, and

>individual parts. There would be no recording costs, and no printing
costs, 
>not to mention no distribution expense or hassles. You could market it via

>email, or through sources like Tara. For an additional charge, you could 
>customize -- transpose selected parts (using one click of your music 
>software) for instruments not scored in the original arrangement to 
>accommodate just about any band. And you could add new arrangements as
they 
>became available, maybe charging per arrangement rather than by
collection.
>
>We're actually doing something like this for our newly formed Western Mass

>Jewish Chorus, Makhela. Working with ChoralTutor.com, we're putting the 
>score and parts of (purchased ) music we're learning online for members to

>listen to and learn from, and eventually will also  work with the 
>publishers for the right to display the music in pdf format (that will
show 
>the printed music) as well so that users will be able to follow the 
>bouncing ball and learn their parts! It won't be possible to print from 
>these files, and for our purposes (in terms of copyright) that is an 
>important safeguard. But since you would own the copyright, you could 
>enable or disable that function at will.
>
>Just a thought -- having such a service would be great for our klezmer 
>orchestra, and would help enable the formation of many others!
>
>Allen
>
>
>
>
>
>
>At 04:36 PM 1/7/03 -0500, you wrote:
>>I just want to thank everyone who wrote in for the great feedback 
>>concerning Joy of Klez.  We wrote it in response to the requests of 
>>several amateur groups who asked for arrangements, but have not really 
>>heard anything since it came out, and had no idea if it was getting out
to 
>>the people who needed it or if it was working for them.  We're really 
>>happy that "it works."
>>
>>We would like to publish more arrangements, but I can't figure out a way 
>>to do so economically, especially if it includes recording a studio CD to

>>accompany the book.  There ought to be some way to be able to get 
>>arrangements and recordings into the hands of people who need them for a 
>>reasonable price.  It cost about $5,000 to launch this book/CD, which I 
>>seriously doubt we will see coming back at us.  Maybe someone else has a 
>>more innovative idea as to how to do it--or perhaps there is an 
>>organization or individual that would like to underwrite a project like 
>>this (ha!).  Anyway, thanks again for the words of encouragement--it
means 
>>a lot.
>>
>>Lori at MAX
>



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