Classical Music Label, BIS of Sweden, Sold to Apple

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soundboy

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For SACD supporters, this bit of news may be disheartening.

BIS of Sweden, a classical music label and possibly the top SACD producer in the world, has been purchased by Apple....

Dear Friends,

A few days ago BIS Records turned 50 years old and I am immensely proud of what our small team of people has accomplished during this half-century. BIS’s specialty, while paying our dues to the core repertoire, has been to nurture young classical artists and interesting living composers and to safeguard the musical treasure that we all represent long into the future. It is to that end that, after much careful consideration, and having just turned 80, I am excited to announce the rather momentous news that we have made the decision to become part of the Apple family.

We thought long and hard on how to maintain and build upon our prestigious history and looked for a partner who would further our mission, as well as an increased global platform to bring classical music to new audiences all over the world. Apple, with its own storied history of innovation and love of music, is the ideal home to usher in the next era of classical and has shown true commitment towards building a future in which classical music and technology work in harmony. It is my vision and my sincerest dream that we are all a part of this future.

There have been numerous moves of late by Apple to further support creativity within the classical space, not the least of which was the release of Apple Music Classical earlier this year. Apple and BIS also share a fundamental belief in the importance of preserving audio quality. As you are all aware, BIS has always been about exceptional sound quality, and Apple’s dedication to sound, as well as to Spatial Audio, is something I have followed with interest.

BIS will become part of Apple Music Classical and Platoon. As proud as I am of this milestone, I am even more proud of the fact that the entire personnel of BIS, including me, have been retained. We all look forward to a future, filled with new music and artists in golden sound from this increased force in classical music.

- Robert von Bahr, Founder, BIS Records
 
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The only other time they bought a company in this sphere was Beats (largely so they could convert Beats Music, Beat’s own streaming service to Apple Music), and all reporting from that seems to be that Beats, the Headphone Division, is more or less left alone to their own devices, with the occasional mandate to add a feature here or there (like the U1 chip in most Apple headphones which allow for AirTag like finding). To date, the Beats line focuses on cross-platform compatibility, with improved support for Android and Windows… something the AirPods line does not…

I’d like to hope they’d do the same with BIS, letting them continue operations, but gently nudging them towards supporting Apple’s main goals. Apple doesn’t do big M&As, largely smaller companies that help them on R&D/Production (they bought a *lot* of optics companies for the upcoming AR headset) or services.
 

Theory #2: Apple despises music and musicians.

  • The company plans to buy up the rights to music so it doesn’t have to pay royalties to labels.
  • It will use every trick it knows to substitute the tracks it owns for competitive offerings.
  • The goal is to boost profits while reducing its cash expenditures for music—even if it lessens the quality of its offering.

I would love for Apple to do everything related to music out of a genuine love of music, but as I look at those bullet points I can’t help but think: That makes a lot of sense for a profit-driven business to do. It’s kind of (evil?) genius.

I’m not sure if that’s an “ugly reason” or means Apple “despises” music and musicians. Or maybe Ted is goosing things a bit with his word choice to get some extra attention.

In general, if I had a dollar for every time someone incorrectly speculated on Apple’s deeper motivation (beyond making money) for doing something...

I don’t own a ton of classical CDs, but there are some BIS titles in my library. I think they put out quality music. I do hope Apple has some great plans for the company that are beneficial to music lovers and musicians.

And, in this case, it’s worth reading all the way through to the shocking last paragraph.

I jumped straight to the end when I read that sentence. It’s a web page... it scrolls on my terms... I don’t have to read all the way through to get to the end.

I didn’t find it shocking to have worked Taylor Swift into an article. That’s good business when you want eyeballs on your content.

And sure... write an open letter to Swift. (I’ll refrain from a rant on what I think about open letters.)
 
Interesting! From 1980?!
This is the BIS start, but not the Apple Music start for BIS (there are already many albums streaming).

Given that the head of BIS is 80, I think this may be the best possible outcome as Apple have promised to keep all the staff. I have MANY BIS SACDs and have bought MANY BIS downloads in 5.0 from eclassical - I believe the only large scale non-DSD surround sound choice for classical music downloads (hdtracks is minimal) I do not take seriously people who claim that they KNOW that Apple wants to destroy classical music or BIS. Apple has raised interest in surround sound, so bringing the BIS expertise and connections with great recording teams should yield benefits. Let's do our best to encourage Apple to make the most of this.
 
This is the BIS start, but not the Apple Music start for BIS (there are already many albums streaming).

Given that the head of BIS is 80, I think this may be the best possible outcome as Apple have promised to keep all the staff. I have MANY BIS SACDs and have bought MANY BIS downloads in 5.0 from eclassical - I believe the only large scale non-DSD surround sound choice for classical music downloads (hdtracks is minimal) I do not take seriously people who claim that they KNOW that Apple wants to destroy classical music or BIS. Apple has raised interest in surround sound, so bringing the BIS expertise and connections with great recording teams should yield benefits. Let's do our best to encourage Apple to make the most of this.
Correct, many BIS titles on AM since the beginning of AM, all in stereo was my point.
 
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