If the album was remixed by Orbital or Youth I actually enjoyed some of the remixes done for Simon's Graceland!
At least SDE isn’t locking the surround blu ray disc in a box set at excessive pricing. Paul’s pricing is more than fair. If you are concerned about not finding out in time for future releases, SDE has a list that if you give them your email you will find out immediately when a title is released.
They have just confirmed by email that they don't use the IOSS system for sales to EU countries which means one blu-ray disc will cost me (£23+£8 shipping charges) x 1.22 (Italian VAT is 22%) plus handling fees from the Italian postal service so I am not so sure about "fair pricing". They are making us pay VAT twice because they haven't set up the business to sell to their largest next door market. They close their email with "brexit is a nightmare", which is true, but at least they could mitigate the issue where possible. Obviously I am not going to buy from them unless it's something exclusive and even in that case I am not so sure.
SDE isn’t to blame for Brexit tax problems between governments but I sympathize with you. In the US we don’t pay VAT. I’m sure SDE is between a rock and a hard place with shipping / Tax pricing to various countries.
It's off-topic so I don't want to dwell too much on the point but SDE is doing business in a lazy and amateurish way because they charge VAT even when they are not paying it themselves to the British government. I see you are in the US. They are charging you the same as a British customer but in the case of the British customer they must pay 20% in taxes while in your case they are keeping the extra 20% for them. How is that fair?
As @Music Geek said, the end result is that for somebody like me, the blu-ray will end up costing more than the Hurting 3CD/DVD box set did in 2013. That's why I generally prefer the box sets as long as they're not outrageously priced (looking at you, Pink Floyd and Rush!) and they're properly released in different territories. Of course I understand in this case it's not feasible to produce another Hurting box set with a surround blu-ray added. But clearly labels consider box sets with CDs something that's possible to sell, unlike standalone surround blu-ray discs. For the same reason, I wish The Tipping Point had been a CD/Blu-Ray digipak.
The order itself cost €36,62 (£31), which I paid via PayPal. Of the original £31, £23 is the item's value, and therefore subject to import taxes. Tax rate is 19%: £4,37. At the current exchange rate, that's €4,94. Because the system to register imports yourself is still not functional (should've already been running in early 2022), DHL are doing the tax announcement and collection, and charge a €6 fee for every import. So when it arrives, I won't get it delivered, instead I'll get a notification that I can pick it up at the post office the next day, and I'll have to pay €10,94 to get it (if the rates haven't drastically changed). I've now arrived at a total sum of €47,56. The Hurting 3CD/DVD cost me €38,49 on Amazon in 2013, Songs from the Big Chair 4CD/2DVD €42,99 a year later, and The Seeds of Love 4CD/BD €45,68 in 2020.
I think the point is having products with a wide distribution so that anyone can buy locally and avoid additional charges.
I think we are lucky to be Yanks in this case. Varies by band though. German fans of Depeche Mode are far luckier with magazines, promo 7” records, etc.
While I sympathise with your predicament, this is your country’s problem, not Paul’s. This is a niche product with a tiny market and it is a luxury item, so we have to expect to pay for it. Paul is not looking for huge distribution networks. Your end price is only slightly more than I paid for the latest Steely Dan SACD on AP, delivered to Australia byWowHD (ImportCDs was higher). If I had ordered it direct from the label (Acoustic Sounds), here’s the cost for one SACD: Subtotal: $35.00 S&H Cost: $63.77 Total: US$98.77
I think that making things more expensive than they could be usually ends up being a problem for the sellers more than the buyers.
Those are pretty ridiculous sums too. I like box sets and I like getting a bit of bang for my buck, so to speak. I'm far less interested in "luxury items". One of the main points advertising the first couple of SDE BD-As was about keeping the format alive and showing the labels that there's still an interest in having physical, high quality surround releases. If you want to stem against the tide by touting the slogan "holding the music in your hands", wouldn't it be in your best interest to reach as many buyers as possible? Especially since he ditched the pre-set item number and went for the preorder window instead. Having a better system set up for people in the EU and other places would attract more buyers. Certainly there are other items in the series I was considering buying but just couldn't justify the high prices.
There are two solutions to selected countries having to pay tax/fees: use a distributor where a significant margin is added to the retail price (eg. MoFi sold via Amazon) or move to a ridiculously priced taxes-paid shipping method (eg. the FedEx example above). In both cases you’re worse off than just accepting the small additional cost imposed.
It would make much more sense for Paul to rely on companies that have the infrastructure for international sales already in place (e.g. Burning Shed). Running the thing as a family business might seem an advantage because you can make more money from each sale. What you don't see is the amount of sales you lose because your setup is more expensive to the end customers.
Wouldn't mind a 30th Anniversary of Elemental. Having not looked at the recent setlists, has any of the 90's era ever been covered with Curt's involvement?
That doesn’t sound too encouraging ( but maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised). I can think of a few Steven Wilson remix/surround/hi-res projects where he included a flat transfer of the original stereo mix. It’s a shame they didn’t go that route here.
We'll just have to see. Those projects weren't necessarily put together by SW, but he probably had an influence on the flat transfer route being chosen. Same with the original Bob Ludwig mastering of The Seeds of Love included on the box set Blu-ray. It's putting lipstick on a pig, to be coarse. The thing that irritates me is that Marillion's new album was also sold as a standalone Blu-ray (including a documentary, so not totally "pure audio") for a normal price, same as with Pink Floyd's Animals remix. So a regular release is possible in some cases and I'm not necessarily willing to just take Paul at face value when he says that it can't happen any other way. Not a lot - "Break It Down Again" is a staple of their setlists and Curt explicitly said he enjoys playing it, but that's about it. Both "Raoul and the Kings of Spain" and "Falling Down" have been in and out of the setlist, and "Creep" (which they first covered in 1993) was a mainstay until the last tour.
Some additional thoughts on this. If I ordered two copies, the postage would increase by £2, and the handling fees wouldn't increase at all, since it would be one package. So buying a second copy and selling it for the same price I paid would be possible without me losing any money. I don't know how that would work out if, say, a European mailorder like JPC or Just for Kicks would bulk purchase 500 copies and sell them. But Just for Kicks occasionally have releases from Marillion's Racket Records store and the prices aren't hugely different from what I would be paying if I ordered directly from the band's store (which is in the UK, so the tax issues apply too) - with the added benefit that I would 1) be paying everything at once and 2) I can get it delivered directly without having to wait another day to pick it up at the post office and pay the tax & shipping.
Just a heads-up - not sure if it’s been mentioned, but there’s another thread on the SDE releases: Tears For Fears "The Hurting" on Blu-Ray surround!