The MusicWeb Message Board: Re: Sleeve notes

An interesting topic - and quite rightly so; notes are as essential to a classical release as they are non-essential to a "pop" release. Where a company releases music in physical formats, there simply is no excuse for not providing notes. As Nick says, the nub of the problem is the rise of digital media, wherein a booklet note must necessarily also be a digital product. In music streaming, the provision of a physical booklet is just not feasible, although I can see no valid reason why, even here, a digital note should not at least be available.

Like Nick, I don't relish sitting at my PC to peruse the booklet. Yet, there are alternatives. Most obviously, you could print out your digital booklet. This would be OK, except that digital booklets are rarely if ever in a suitable format. To me, a far more promising option is for digital booklets to be formatted for printing onto A4 paper. Better still, why not provide notes formatted (like web pages) for reading on a smart-phone or tablet - or even as EPUB files that you can simply pop onto an e-book reader, or a tablet running an e-reader application?

Previous Message

In complete agreement with these posts. I think though that this reflects our collective ages (and not just as it relates to eyesight!). If you grew up in the glory years of LP - regardless of whether you were listening to Classical or Rock - the LP cover/book/gatefold was an integral part of the listening experience. Part of the "status" of a disc/set for me was the scale and quality of the liner. Even early CD iterations of say classic operas came with a pleasingly chunky book in a substantial cardboard box.

But now, with the move towards predominantly digital media and streaming by definition the written word associated with that recording is marginalised. Where I have bought downloads I must admit I rarely read the accompanying digital booklets because I don't want to sit in front of a computer screen while listening to the music. So I imagine that for some companies creating an intelligent booklet is almost perceived as a waste of time preferring instead a gushing artist biog and some moody pics - DG with their A list artists are particularly prone to this. Perhaps labels such as SOMM who are more repertoire than artist facing still believe in the importance of a well-written liner....?

Previous Message

Mike, like you I fall into the bracket of being "of a certain age" and my eyesight is not what it once was.

I completely agree with your comments. I firmly believe that the documentation is a key element in any release, considered as a package, and that's why I invariably comment on the quality of the booklet in my own reviews, including comment as to the legibility - or otherwise - of what is provided.

You're right to say that quality varies. I agree about Naxos and Chandos. My experience is that very often it's the smaller independent labels that set the standard - SOMM and Albion are among the best. The so-called 'majors' are usually sub-standard.