BARBERSHOP CONTEST RECORDINGS DOWNLOADABLE FROM INTERNET

If you happen to be one of those music fans with eclectic taste ranging from the latest by rap artist Nelly to a barbershop rendition of “Wait ’Til the Sun Shines, Nellie,” your downloading dreams have come true. Barbershop harmony singers are joining the ranks of today’s most sought after artists by taking their music to a wider audience via digital downloads.

The Barbershop Harmony Society, in an arrangement through Naked Voice Records, has made available original recordings of songs performed at the Society’s annual competitions. These competitions feature the best barbershop quartets and choruses from around the world performing at their peak.

Several factors led the Society to initiate the new distribution channel. Barbershop harmony is enjoying a renewed popularity with the current generation of young musicians and fans. Many college campuses have barbershop quartets and groups like Westminster Chorus in California are composed of mostly twenty-something singers. With younger music fans relying mostly on digital downloads for their music libraries, Society officials wanted to make barbershop harmony one of their choices.

Every year’s contest performances eventually will be available for download. The catalog of barbershop music is available on iTunes, Napster, Musicmatch, eMusic, Rhapsody, BurnLounge, SonyConnect and approximately 25 other sites for as little at 99 cents per song. Individual barbershop groups also have joined the listing.

“People are often surprised to learn of the wide appeal of barbershop music,” said Ed Watson, executive director and chief executive officer of the Barbershop Harmony Society. “Digital downloads are a means to share some of the stellar performances we hear every year at our conventions with a worldwide audience—and specifically with a younger audience. The ringing chords of barbershop harmony should not be limited by geographic boundaries or targeted to select audiences. Now they are not.”