B&W Music Club offers 24-Bit Versions

B&W Music Club albums now available in super high quality 24-bit versions. Even better sounding recordings for streaming. Members have more choice than ever before. 16-bit versions still available for burning to CD and uploading to iPods®.

The Peter Gabriel-curated B&W Music Club is expanding its campaign for high-quality music downloads by offering all new albums in 24 bit FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec). These incredibly high-quality music files get listeners closer than ever to the sound the artist heard in the studio.

Starting with an exclusive first opportunity to hear the new album from Mercury Music Prize nominated Portico Quartet, all B&W Music Club albums, which are specially recorded at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios, will be available in this format.

This means that subscribers have a choice of three formats for download. The new 24 bit FLAC format, a 16bit FLAC version and a 16bit Apple Lossless version. The new file format is also available for people on a free trial, who can download an EP of 24 bit lossless music.

Even with this improved choice, the decision making process for which format users should download remains a simple one: iTunes users should stick to the 16bit ALC format; people wanting to burn the file to CD but use another music program can choose the 16 bit FLAC file. However, if you want to experience the benefits of 24 bit audio, then you can download the 24 bit FLAC file and listen to it either direct from your computer, stream it wirelessly using a device such as the Sonos system, or burn the file to DVD for playback in a disc player.

Since it's launch in May 2008, B&W Music Club has brought members a wide variety of different musical styles, all from exceptional artists: Gwyneth Herbert; Dub Colossus; former Suede frontman Brett Anderson; guitarist Tom Kerstens; 16-year old piano prodigy Benjamin Grosvenor and an exclusive lossless EP download from Dave Stewart. Future releases include the new album from Dengue Fever, a band that blends Cambodian pop music with West Coast psychedelic rock.

B&W offers free trial memberships via its website, where users can download a four-track EP a month for three months. Full membership of B&W Music Club allows you to download the full album each month, and costs $39.95 for six months or $59.95 for a year, which works out less than $3 an album.

For further information please visit www.bowers-wilkins.co.uk/sos.

Posted by Nicoll Public Relations, Inc. on Saturday, February 28, 2009

Music club, le téléchargement de musique haut de gamme

par Denis Poillerat, Digitalworld.fr

Quand un fabricant de produits audio haut de gamme s’associe à des musiciens renommés pour proposer du téléchargement de musique, cela donne forcément un service basé sur la qualité. Music Club est en effet une offre conçue par le Britannique Bowers & Wilkins, en association avec les studios Real World de Peter Gabriel.

Pour un peu plus de 40 € par an (33,95 livres), ou environ 30 € pour 6 mois (23,95 livres), Music Club propose aux membres inscrits de télécharger un album chaque mois, soit un coût de revient d’environ 4 euros par opus. On est donc très loin des catalogues plus étoffés des grandes maisons de disque.

Et pour cause, l’offre lancée par B&W est principalement destinée aux audiophiles. D’abord parce que les fichiers sont à télécharger pendant un mois, dans un format dit « lossless », c’est-à-dire, sans dégradation du son par rapport à l’enregistrement original – rappelons que le MP3 est un format compressé et donc de moindre qualité, quel que soit l’échantillonnage.

Enregistrement inédits et absence de DRM

C’est justement sur la qualité de l’enregistrement que Music Club se distingue : les albums des artistes partenaires (citons pêle-mêle Grindhouse, Little Axe, Dub Colossus…) sont directement enregistrés dans les studios Real World de Bath (Angleterre), propriété de Peter Gabriel, avec un « matériel d’enregistrement excellent » selon l’ancien membre de Genesis. Un mois après leur mise à disposition, les albums ne seront plus disponibles et retourneront dans le giron des artistes. Une manière pour Peter Gabriel de ne pas les enfermer dans Music Club.

Enfin, l’absence de protection numérique (DRM) est également un atout important pour Music Club, qui permettra, entre autres, aux utilisateurs de graver leur musique. D’ailleurs, la jaquette de l’album est fournie pour se constituer un véritable objet musical.

Bowers&Wilkins accompagne le lancement de Music Club d’un nouveau site, Society of Sound, pour accéder à des contenus complémentaires (blogs, interviews, vidéos, etc.).

B&W Peter Gabriel's presentation and video

What’s the link between a recording studio in Wiltshire and a giant spaceship? “I was thinking about the film Close Encounters,” says Peter Gabriel, “and the way we make a connection with the aliens through melody. That may be a little fanciful. But at the Real World Studios we get musicians from all over the world, who often can’t talk to each other. We give them the technology to make noises, and they start making noises, and suddenly there’s a common language. That’s when things take off.”

see the presentation and the video !

B&W, Peter Gabriel Launch Music Club

Home Theater News By Mark Fleischmann

June 10, 2008 — British loudspeaker maker Bowers & Wilkins has teamed up with Peter Gabriel to offer subscribers exclusive music in DRM-free lossless surround.

The B&W Music Club launched last month. The online community commissions and records music in Gabriel's Real World Studios in Bath and then offers it online. It also offers blogs, feature stories, and video interviews with the likes of Gabriel, James Newton Howard, Cassandra Wilson, Dave Stewart (of the Eurythmics), and others.

This may be the most artist-friendly online venture ever. The Music Club foots the bill for studio time and mixing, but two months after the initial online Music Club distribution, the rights revert to the artists. They can then release their own CDs, set up their own download arrangements, or re-license to a record company. Initial recordings will feature Little Axe, Grindhouse, Gwyneth Herbert, Dub Colossus, and Tom Kerstens and G+.

The subscription fee is £23.95 for six months or £33.95 per year (that would be $42 or $67 at current exchange rates). That may seem a bit stiff, but we're talking about music never heard before, in lossless surround, and free of DRM, so you can convert it and use it on any device. Visit the site at www.bowers-wilkins.com/sos.

B&W Launches Music Community

The audio manufacturer partners with Peter Gabriel to offer lossless music downloads.

Music Club launches at Real World Studios with live performances from featured artists, including blues guitarist Skip McDonald’s Little Axe collective.

Who knew the guy that dressed up as a giant flower some 30-plus years ago would become such a driving force behind the music?

Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios has partnered with Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) to launch the B&W Music Club. Designed for audiophiles, the online community will offer some exclusives, as well as lossless tracks, boasting CD-quality sound.

Memberships are available in 6- ($39.95) or 12-month ($59.95) increments, which will score you one DRM-free “specially commissioned album each month, recorded in dedicated live sessions at Real World Studios in Bath.”

Artists are invited to come in and recorded sessions, which will be available to Music Club members. Two months after, the artists will retain all rights.

Other features include blogs, articles, podcasts, video interviews, and plenty of good old conversation—via message boards, that is.

“This collaboration with B&W is unique as far as I know and it’s going to allow a lot of interesting projects to happen,” said Gabriel. “For artists, Music Club is a dream proposition because they get some great time in the studio, access to really good recording facilities and can experiment without being committed to anything or anyone beyond a month with B&W.”

by Rachel Cericola