Although I've been at Linn for over 6 years, this was my first ever business trip to Manhattan... and I was nervous as hell! I find the place intimidating to visit even as a tourist, so the idea of presenting Linn DS to a room full of high-powered, straight-tawking New Yorkers filled me with fear.
Here's a sample of what my "normal" hi-fi audience in Manhattan looked like:
- Owner of private equity investment company
- Portuguese first secretary to UN
- Entertainment lawyer to the stars
- Owner of chain of diamond jewelry retailers
- Deputy state governor (retired)
- Hedge fund manager
and
Craig Kallman, head of Atlantic Records, the most profitable record label in the world, which sold more records than anyone in the U.S. in 2008. Craig's a Linn customer, and he popped in to say "hi". Elliot Fishkin, owner of Innovative for over 35 years, has a personal friendship with Craig Kallman through supplying him with hi-fi equipment over the years.
Hats off to owner Elliot and his manager Scott Haggart (from Scotland, who drinks Scotch!), for the wonderful environment they've created below street level on E58th Street; a truly innovative use of space in an over-crowded, expensive city.
Craig has one of the largest private record collections in the world >300,000 vinyl (!) and a passion for great sound. He owns Linn, SME and Wilson: you can read this excellent interview he did with Stereophile for more info.
Here is a young, visionary leader of a record label, taking the fight to the Majors, unafraid of the digital future, embracing change and delivering success to his artists.
If proof were needed of Craig's commitment to high quality audio reproduction, he has bought a full floor of his apartment building in New York's upper east side which he's in the process of converting into top-spec listening rooms for Atlantic recording artists. He wants his artists to hear their music at its best. Expect to hear more about this come the new year.
Back to the evening itself. Sticking to my main presentation theme of the last few months, I talked about the improvements we're making to the recording process at Linn, and to demonstrate I played a sample of the latest studio masters from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Claire Martin. To my surprise, I was asked to make a straight Majik CD vs Majik DS comparison, which told me it was DS Day One for most people there. Having been expecting a confrontational audience, I was pleasantly surprised that everyone heard and agreed the improvement of the DS over the CD player.
As is often the case at Linn DS musical evenings, the conversation turned to the music industry itself, and whether Linn and other specialists were alone in fighting for the higher quality of digital music. Luckily, I could point to Mr Kallman as evidence of a mass-market future for high quality downloads.
Leave a comment