It has been gratifying to find so much women's music available. Pauline Oliveros recently discussed an important concern regarding these recordings at the Bowling Green Contemporary Music Festival. She remarked that women's music is often found on smaller independent labels or on import labels that are not always available in classical music stores. Having been a part-time employee in a comprehensive classical music store for several years, I can explain the cause of this unavailability. Qualiton Imports Ltd. The wholesale prices on the discs distributed by these organizations are considerably higher than those on discs from mainstream labels such as Sony or Polygram, primarily due to import fees.
Classical retailers receive discounts on their orders based on quantity.
As a result, orders for smaller labels are usually made every six weeks to two months. This ordering policy differs from other orders made by retailers to mainstream labels which are usually made every week. In fact, Pauline formed the Oliveros Foundation, a distribution center for new music and literature, in order to make some of these items more readily available. Labels such as Leonarda, Cambria, Olympia, BIS, and others offer superb performances and excellent recording quality. In order to obtain this music a customer should know the company label and catalog number of the compact disc that she wants.