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EssentialLinn
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Gilad Tiefenbrun, MD at Linn says his company is blazing a trail into high-quality digital music
“The music industry must be one
of the only sectors in the world to
have trashed the quality of its own
product,” says Gilad, “In many ways,
although the CD was more durable
than an LP, it was a technological
blind alley that meant high-quality
recordings were compressed onto a
format that was never going to take
quality music forward.”
Gilad says: “We did our best with
the format and made some really
high-quality CD players, but when
we decided to leave the format behind it was because we have
always been about quality of music and the digital age offered
us the opportunity to go in a new direction and add high-quality
to high convenience.
“High quality music fell out of fashion because it was not
promoted enough and younger consumers coming into the
market just had very little awareness of it. The idea that younger
consumers are only interested in MP3 is completely wrong, the
truth is that they have never been given a high-quality option.”
Linn made the decision to begin offering high-quality digital
content and digital playback options to enjoy them on. Gilad
explains: “Our thought process ran along the lines of, ‘We are
making high-quality recordings with Linn Records, but then they
are going out in compressed form, it does not make sense’.
We began offering downloads of Studio Master Recordings
in 2007 and from day one around 60% of all downloads from
Linn Records have been at Studio Master Level, with around
5% being in MP3 and the rest at CD level.” Gilad explains that
Studio Master downloads have risen steadily to now stand at
around 90% of total downloads since the launch of linnrecords.
com.
Gilad adds: “Our other thought was that downloading music
should not just be aimed at young people. Music fans of all ages
should be able to tap into the convenience of this format and
with the level of quality they want as well.
“All of these aspects of our thinking were fed into the
development of our DS playback systems, we wanted to deliver
all the convenience of the digital age, but with the Linn stamp off
high-quality firmly embedded in the concept, so everything was
developed in house to enable us to control the whole process.”
The strategy raised plenty of eyebrows in the industry, in
particular the company stopping the production of CD players
(although the company does still produce SACD discs).
However, Gilad says the journey has been well worth it: “The
first Linn DS products have gone really well because they are
format independent and completely up-gradable over the air.
In many ways it is like a return to our true roots as the Linn DS
products are like our iconic LP12 turntable product. Classic in
design, but up-gradable as improvements come and dedicated
to the very best in audio reproduction.”
Sound advice Linn Records (linnrecords.com) has of course been a key
part of the company’s recent success and being able to offer
both music and hardware, makes Linn unique for a company
of its size. Linn’s own artists can be found on the site and a
growing number of other independent labels are using the site
as well.
The investment to create Studio Master Recordings was a
considerable one for the company, but one that does produce
stunning results, as just a few minutes listening to some of the
Linn artists proves in the company’s demo room. Linn is also
confident that the recordings will get better and better as more
is learned about how to get the most from the technology.
Gilad explains that Linn is currently in talks with major labels
as well. “Someone needs to lead the journey towards high-
quality digital, you can be sure Apple will not, so if it falls to
us, then so be it. We are explaining to the major labels how to
achieve the same quality we do with our own label and so far
the reception has been very encouraging. It is in all our interests
that the majors adopt a more quality driven digital strategy.”
Gilad adds: “I was recently at an Atlantic Records event
in New York and we were able to show them first-hand how
we can take studio masters and create a very compelling
product. Atlantic are very keen on developing this opportunity
and companies like this are beginning to see that the argument
should be a choice between high-quality or low quality, not
analogue verses digital.”
The next few months will indeed be interesting to see which
major’s instigate high-quality download programmes, the word
is that Atlantic is already taking a look at its back-catalogue with
Led Zeppelin and Neil Young strong candidates to be among
the first to have studio level digital recordings made available
and it is also strongly rumoured that Warner is working on its
back-catalogue as well.
Gilad argues that the case for MP3 is running out, with
download speeds and storage capacities increasing all the time,
companies will be able to create high-quality and convenience in
the same product.
Gilad concludes: “At Linn we have created a genuinely
end-to-end system where digital music and playback systems
can develop together to provide end-users and installers a really
compelling proposition for many years to come.”
More information: Linn +44 (0)141 3077 777,
www.linn.co.uk; www.linnrecords.com
1
SOuNDS LIke A PLAN!EI talks exclusively with Gilad Tiefenbrun, MD at Linn, to
discuss how the company has equipped itself to lead the
AV industry into the 21st century.
EI_Jul11_Gillad.indd 1 12/07/2011 12:22