That's not any different from what MoFi, Intervention Records, or Audio Fidelity (before it went out of business) are doing.
The Import CDs / Wow HD price would be good if it was actually in stock. It's been backordered pretty much since it came out so there's no guarantee they will ever get any to sell. I hope they do but let's not assume that non-US customers can get this for a reasonable price.
So you expect Analogue Productions to pay Sony a large sum of money to be able to release the album in the US, then pay a large sum of money to have it remastered in PCM and DSD and then just to let Sony use said new master for themselves for overseas markets completely ruining the "exclusivity" of their own release and stopping them being able to charge a "premium" for it (they need to sell at that premium to make money or else they will be the next Audio Fidelity)?
I have no idea of the fine detail of the deal between AP and Sony so can't really comment. I'm struggling with your attempt to have me say something I have not. This is your thinking, not mine at all. A sort of odd scenario really. My expectation starts and ends at a fair deal. I understand limited runs of product with licence to smaller companies. Think FNAC or Newbury. These are fine but in this instance this is a format and I fail to understand the limitations placed on it for global distribution. Any fool can see that there is a market for this, niche that it may be. But where there is a market there is profit. Where there is profit [to be ploughed back into the business] we can assume the next release in that format is guaranteed. But I fail to see why it is an "exclusive" format as you claim. As for charging, I'm sure Sony if they were to supply outside of the US would price the unit accordingly as they would have no desire to undercut AP or anyone else, especially when we talk profit. But the bottom line is and I'll keep on saying it. $60 per unit is overpriced, regardless as to where that money goes. Of course, one way around this is the bootleg market, now who makes the money and secures the next release?
I am living in the EU (but not in the UK) and have ordered shipping to the EU, applicable local tax was added to my order upon check-out.
wowhd.co.uk (I think, pasted it directly from your post above ). Nevermind even with VAT added the price is much better than local prices over here (Germany)
Got the redbook layer playing again. Sounds wonderful. Just goes to show just what a well mastered 16/44 can really do. I can't stop playing the darn thing, it's been this and this and a little Bobby Gentry and this and this again. For someone who has hardly used the CD player over the last 12 months or so its quite telling.
None of them. A book will explain how all the different deals can work. In this case, Sony licensed out the use of Axis: Bold As Love to AP to master and distribute in accordance with the agreement they reached. AP needs to pay for distribution costs for each region/country of the world, which gets expensive. They only distribute things in the US as a result. The branch of Sony that grants AP permission is not the same branch of Sony that makes SACDs. They probably don't even communicate and might as well be separate companies. So, the fact that the product is manufactured somewhere other than the US is a technicality because no SACDs are produced in the US. AP felt that the best way for them to benefit from this release was to do it this way.
Of course not! I get the general principal of the AP deal, I don't have an issue with it. The point is, Sony could have had a deal that had global distribution. As I said earlier, AP have certain limitations applied with this deal, unsurprisingly! The point about internal communication, or lack of is something I've covered elsewhere regard Sony!
The distribution in this case has nothing to do with Sony. It's only up to AP. AP is a specialty label, and these are hybrid SACDs. If Sony had done something like this on their own, I doubt there would have been the SACD component. Just a remastered CD. I don't think they would have done a remaster, though, without AP asking if they could do it. Also, regarding Sony, it isn't a lack of communication causing any problems. Those two arms of the company do totally different things. That's like yelling at a guy from the part of Yahama that makes motorcycles about the terrible quality of the drums Yamaha makes.
I ordered this straight from AP in the US......and I live on the outskirts of the globe, Iceland. I order a bunch of titles at the same time due to shipping cost. Anyway...this is by far the best version of Axis/Bold As Love I have ever heard. I have two older Redbook versions of this album and this kills them. I am looking very much forward to the Are You Experienced SACD?
I suppose another way to look at this is if EH/Sony felt there was a large market for this SACD, they would've not licensed it to AP and just put it out themselves. Perhaps they used it as an opportunity to test the waters so to speak. Compared to other major "legacy" rock artists, EH was VERY late to the high res game. I also think the fact that EH is releasing the upcoming (and arguably more mainstream) Electric Ladyland on Blu Ray instead of SACD speaks volumes IMO, especially since both DSD and Blu Ray are Sony's tech.
We don't, however I can't see EH wanting an SACD out there that competes with their upcoming high res Blu Ray of EL.
have to agree fully with this! But on the one point that Sony IF they had done this it would have been Hirez files for Blueray playback and redbook. A lot like the Ladyland release.
This Blueray issue of Ladyland is a major factor in all of this. as already shown here Sony no longer bother with SACD and put their money behind Blueray. So all of this is getting a tad muddy. Just what is "exclusive" to who and will anyone issue a counter Hirez, different mastering or not?
Indeed, there is no redbook that comes close! And yes, AYE is very much looked forward to. We do need new masterings for both of these titles [along with Ladyland] for digital mainstream. One down two to go. Well it would be once this one gets into the mainstream.
Possibly. If they did anything. I don't think 5.1 mixes would be done for Axis or AYE because Kramer has said he wouldn't go back and line up pre-bounced tapes like G. Martin did for Sgt. Pepper's last year. That means only 4 tracks to make a 5.1 mix. That isn't really enough for the first two Hendrix albums. With EL, a 12 track recorder was used, so a good 5.1 mix can be made, and that gives Sony more of a reason to release a deluxe version of that one. So, AP asked for permission to remaster the first two instead. If Sony had done it alone, I think you're right that the it would be blu-ray and not SACD.
Fixed that for you, Gordon. You forgot Band Of Gypsys and Smash Hits, seeing that AYE is now the original US album only.
