Breaking news

From reader Lang Thompson I've just heard some striking news -- that Columbia House (one of the two big record clubs) has stopped selling classical music. Here's what Lang wrote me:

A little over a month ago I went to place an order for some items that included classical and those weren't there. In fact the whole classical section was no longer listed. I emailed Columbia House and after a few days they replied that since they can't provide the "level of customer service" that they would like then they've discontinued all the classical and suggested I contact another company (whose name I would have to look up). Obviously this "customer service" issue just means money because really there isn't much customer service in a business like that, at least not the genre-specific type. They aren't, after all, discussing with customers the merits of various Beethoven recordings, if only because they usually offered just one.

And indeed this is true. Go to the Columbia House home page, and click the "join the Music Club" link (I can't link there directly to save you that step). You'll see a long list of musical genres to choose from, and classical isn't one of them.

Lang later told me that the club -- never announcing openly that it had cut out classical -- does address the problem on its FAQ page. This is something else I can't link to from here. To find it, you have to click "join the Music Club," then scroll to the bottom of a very long page, and click "Club Help" in the very fine print way at the bottom. Once you've done that, you can read what follows. When you're a member of the club, you pick a favorite genre, which you then have to stick with. Apparently classical music members got a surprise:

8. I am a member of Columbia Music Club and receive classical music. I cannot log on to my account. What happened?

 

Your membership with the Columbia House Music Club has been transferred to the Musical Heritage Society. You will not receive any future club mailings or automatic shipments from Columbia House.

Rotten corporate behavior. Columbia House stopped selling classical music, and (as Lang's experience confirms) never even told its members. They even reassigned club membership, without asking permission (something members probably agreed to in advance, without knowing it, by signing off on some fine print when they joined).

But of course the bigger issue is that Columbia House gave up on classical music. Add this to the red flags going up in so many places -- classical music, in some ways, is fading. For what it's worth, you can still buy classical music from the BMG Music Service, the other major record club and Columbia House's chief competitor. Of course Columbia House didn't send any members there!

(Musical Heritage, which only sells classical music, isn't a bad operation, and maybe is the best choice for people who only want classical. But back to rotten corporate behavior -- suppose you want a full-service record club, so you can buy both classical and pop? Columbia House shunted you down the all-classical track, without offering a choice, or even a warning. Musical Heritage, by the way, offers its own FAQ for Columbia House members, which doesn't say much more than the Columbia House one does.)