I've just bought the x3 Stereolab vinyl reissues which have 3 discs in each. A total of 9 discs for.....£75. These aren't shabby products. The cost of these new Prince physical products is constantly off-putting and gets in the way of looking forward or enjoying these. I may just go with CD for this. If I got the vinyl box I'd be attempting to also source digital copies from "elsewhere" on the net
Spot on. Sexual assault and rape have never been acceptable. But then neither has owning a gun and killing someone with it, yet a hell of a lot of songs characterise this and even glorify it. Fast forward 20 years to when guns are taboo (we can wish) and you'd be asking for Bob George to be banned.... (I still think those 2 tracks should be released though, maybe if only on download only. They exist after all, we are talking about them, you can't just re-write history and pretend to forget they existed)
99% of the people that buy the physical version won't give a thought to how the set is packaged...that's a SHF problem and discussion point. They'll buy it at Target or Barnes and Noble or wherever and play it and enjoy it. ...and the rest of the world will stream it. No scratches required.
The cost to license Prince vs Stereolab for reissue isn’t even in the same ballpark. Comparing the two is silly as of course Prince product will cost more..and I say that as someone that has the new Stereolab reissue sets on the way to me today.
Has anyone heard the mono promo edits? I have two Madonna promos like these and the "mono" side is actually very narrow stereo. And for the record I am very happy to see all of these 7" edits are being included.
I don't care about that. Why should something nearly x3 times the price be passed onto me? That's a contractual thing, not a consumer concern. When new albums are released there aren't different pricing structures depending on the artist, never has been. How much did a Bowie album cost me when it came out, maybe £10. How much did a Sonic Youth album, maybe £10. Etc. The cold hard facts are: They are charging A LOT more for these since he died. Pressed on purple vinyl? Why not add another tenner to that
If 99% of the world, as we are led to believe now, are just streaming, then the 99% of people that are still buying physical are a small, niche, select-few who will give a damn about cheap crappy packaging being sold at a premium, and the labels should know this and start treating them with respect, especially in large and expensive remastered boxsets.
You can’t reissue something without paying a licensing fee. The licensing fee for Prince would be astronomical compared to Stereolab. This is why AF/Mofi etc couldn’t do SACDs of bands that were super popular..so you think AF wanted to reissue Mannheim Steamroller if for the same licensing cost they could reissue Led Zeppelin?
This isn’t a new album..it’s a reissue which means licensing fees. I am sorry if you don’t understand the business of putting out reissues but it’s not a hard concept to grasp. The more popular the artist or album is the more they can charge the record company to use it. Simple.
I don't know the ins and outs of the archival/reissue process, but I've never heard it described this way. I'm sure there were a lot of new business deals struck in the last few years in regards to how to get this stuff released and who gets paid how much, but the way you described it just seems off. I believe when Prince struck his new deal with Warners ~4 years ago, he re-acquired nominal ownership of his masters (of the non-soundtrack material), so in this case you might be right (that any Prince reissue needs to "license" the material from the artist's estate). But that same thing can't be said of Stereolab, right? Usually the label still owns the material when it comes time to reissue, so I'm not sure who they'd be "licensing" from. And furthermore, "I'm sorry if you don't understand X; it's not a hard concept to grasp" is a supremely rude way to respond to an honest question.
In 1992, "Cop Killer" caused so much outrage that Time Warner stock dropped, the album was recalled, and Body Count was dropped from their contract. I'd say that's more than an "eye blink." Of course, a few years earlier, record store owners were arrested for selling copies of an ALBUM with dirty words on it. (2 Live Crew's As Nasty As They Wanna Be) No violence... no rape.... just some sexually explicit lyrics and a lot of F-bombs. That was enough to put people in jail. So don't act like the United States is only suddenly puritanical now. People have ALWAYS had issues with song lyrics. Prince only got away with his incredibly racy stuff because he was under the radar.... Once he sold 20 million, even the word "masturbating" was enough to start a Congressional inquiry (and the eventual "Parental Guidance" warning on CDs).
I don't know what Warner does in Europe with this style, but in the US, the discs are shoved in the sleeve part of the gatefold using glued cardboard. The discs are scratched and almost impossible to get out. Exactly the way to kill off the declining customer base who actually pays a premium for this. They wonder why people don't pay for it....
For once Amazon Canada has the best price...check out the SDE widget for links. Act fast as I'm sure it will go up.
It's certainly a very good price. And I was tempted to order it there. Until shipping costs to the Netherlands were added and then the difference isn't that big with other retailers. (For the Dutchies here, the 5CD+DVD set is €65 on Bol.com, which is lower than most Amazons (apart from Canada) bol.com | 1999 - Super Deluxe Edition 5CD+DVD, Prince | Muziek )
Maybe better to post in this tread, as that's where the Sony releases are discussed: Prince Estate Signs Deal With Sony Music to Re-Release 35 Catalog Albums
Oh Thanks. Yeah, I recall seeing that thread now but never reading it Oh well, suffer the little children and all that...
Yes, a declining amount of customers. Make a properly durable, saleable product or people will only buy it in part through downloads/steaming, not in full. Why spend the money, to get problems? Value proposition 101. Common sense.
I never had a problem with this design - especially if the use inner sleeves like the Bowie sets. Small footprint that keeps cost down - I’m for it.