We received contributions in 2007 totaling $12,500. That is very helpful indeed. But unfortunately it is not enough.

"Why? You're a record company. They make money."

Not any more.

The field has been in decline since 2001--which is when I stopped drawing my annual salary of $25,000. In our last fundraising newsletter I mentioned the closing of the Tower Records chain. But that was preceded by the demise of Valley Media, Pacific Coast One Stop, Musicland, Wherehouse Entertainment, Sam the Record Man and A&B Sound. A number of others more or less have stopped selling classical titles. The record world is reeling. The distributors of independent labels (including our  distributor for North America) banded together to present a united front to their labels: "We are not going to incur the losses caused by Tower's stiffing us. You are! We are going to subtract those losses from what we pay you." And they did.

The distributors are saying, "Classical music has no future."  Ours is diversifying into games, animated films for children and pop music. Yet they continue to distribute us--with the difference that in the past half year they have sent us only two checks. North American distributors market a great number of foreign labels but have treated them harshly. Partly because of conditions in the U.S., the international record world is on the rocks. Distributors are very slow to pay. Record companies are going under. 

The causes for the problems reach back 50 years. Until then many people in the U.S. studied an instrument, but that largely died out. At that time there was a thriving recital business, mostly centered on university campuses. Student-activity fees paid the bills. In the late 1950s students said, "Since we are paying, we want to call the shots." Universities handed over booking attractions to student governments. The students brought in folk singers and rock. Around 1980 music education essentially was abolished in most high schools. The result is that with infrequent exceptions younger Americans are not familiar with classical music. The audience is getting grayer and grayer. In many countries classical music--including some record companies--is subsidized. But not here.

We are doing quite a bit of belt tightening. Unfortunately one of the things we'll give up in a few days is the free Webcasts. To replace them we are beginning to offer downloads, for which the resolution of the sound is much higher. But we have to charge minimal fees.

Should we say, the handwriting is on the wall, let's give up? Not if we can help it. I feel so strongly about this that I have given the society a hefty amount of my (all-too-limited) personal funds, but I cannot continue to do so. We really need your help.  

We are sitting on a mountain of treasures: material with Callas, Di Stefano, Schipa, Leontyne Price, Marian Anderson, Tebaldi and many, many others. But to restore and issue them we need contributions.

There is also the problem of what to do as our VHS inventory becomes increasingly spotty, with more and more titles going out of print. In recent months that has been the fate of eight Gigli titles. Most of them have no English subtitles so their sales potential is so limited that there is no hope of issuing them on DVD. But there are a couple of exceptions, Mamma and Solo per te, to which we added subtitles during the fat years. These two titles, also I Sing For You Alone and Trois hommes en habit, both with Schipa, and one of the other beauties of the catalog, Evensong, with Supervia and Laye, would have sold enough to recover expenses had we released them on DVD two years ago, but now they would bring in only half their production costs. Duplicating VHS has become impractical to the point that we foresook it--although there still is some demand.  (We may have continued to duplicate VHS longer than anyone else.)

Are we really going to allow the legacies of these singers to die? Are you going to allow that? We are the equivalent of a museum--and the only not-for-profit classical DVD label. If for-profit labels survive, they are not going to issue historical footage.  Are you willing to see newcomers denied the opportunity to view these titles? 

It would be beautiful if you gave us a contribution. But if you can't do that, the following would be very helpful. On October 1 we opened our new on-line store. Since then approximately 1,100 customers have purchased something from it. If all those people would give gifts of the items they liked best, that would make a difference.

Bel Canto Society, Inc. is a not-for-profit educational 501(c)(3) organization incorporated in New York. Contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Contributions of any amount always are welcome. If you are able to donate $100 or more, we are pleased to offer the following thank-you gifts and list your name on our new Contributors Page on our Web site.

—Stefan Zucker

Click here to make a gift to Bel Canto Society.

Benefactor Level 1: $100 or more:
Your choice of any 2 titles on our Bonus Items List

Benefactor Level 2: $250 or more:
Your choice of any 5 titles on our Bonus Items List

Benefactor Level 3: $500 or more:
Your choice of any 10 titles on our Bonus Items List

Benefactor Level 4: $750 or more:
Your choice of any 15 titles on our Bonus Items List

Benefactor Level 5: $1,000 or more:
Your choice of any 20 titles on our Bonus Items List

Benefactor Level 6: $2,500 or more:
Your choice of any 50 titles on our Bonus Items List

Benefactor Level 7: $5,000 or more:
Your choice of any 100 titles on our Bonus Items List

Benefactor Level 8: $10,000 or more:
Your choice of any 200 titles on our Bonus Items List

(Benefactor Levels 1-3 may immediately choose free items in our online store. At the higher levels, it will be easier for you to contact us with your selections.)