Album Reissues: Exploiting Our Cultural Heritage
Reporter Fiona Sturges has penned a rather thought provoking article where she poses the question as to what happens when the major labels begin focusing too much on re-releasing, deluxe edition granting, and ultimately living off the back catalog, as opposed to actually investing in new artists and releases. She paints an interesting perspective of what happens if financial incentives align towards catalog and away from new artists, at a time, when the likelihood that they will be able to recoup the initial investment has been greatly diminished. The takeaway:
"re-issuing old albums is, essentially, money for old rope, and certainly a safer financial bet than ploughing millions into a young and untested newbie. But it's not enough to re-release the same old songs every 10 years in a pretty new case and with a bonus track. Artist back catalogues are part of our cultural heritage, something to be cherished and preserved, not degraded and exploited. Reissues should honour both the artist and their fans, both artistically and financially. If they don't, then perhaps they would be better off left in the vault." (Read the rest.)
Wicked good read, thank you.
Thanks for the discussion opportunity! Good catch.
It’s unfortunate, because there are ways that re-issues could present new artists an opportunity for wider exposure. Take the “Exile on Main Street” week that took place on Jimmy Fallon a couple of months ago. Let Phish come on for a night to make sure folks are tuning in. But throwing Sheryl Crow up there to sing “All Down the Line” instead of a new artist? Really?? An emerging artist covering the Stones promoting a re-issue that hit #1 on a Late Night show would have been an excellent opportunity for record labels. I can’t imagine that Ms. Crow gained very many new fans that night.
Interesting article. I do see the value in remastering the vinyl-era releases. Even with iTunes “sound check” feature (which is supposed to normalize the volume of the songs in your library) older CD’s are so much quieter that it makes it hard to listen to a mix. I recently purchased Mission Of Burma’s remastered/deluxe “Signals, Calls and Marches” and the sound quality is MUCH better, aside from the volume issue. I listened to the new/old CDs back to back and it is pretty amazing.
The article did do a great job pointing out the ridiculous trend of re-packaging NEW releases a few months after they hit stores, and I’m sure that record labels will try any angle they can come up with to get more cash.
Trying to stick to the “artist DNA” equals creative stagnation for an artist. For example, I don’t care if U2 try to look like Placebo or HIM (Bono’s eyeliner for the “No Line On the Horizon” album) or the Village People (the “Discotheque” video), but when they try hard to sound like “The Sweetest Thing” for the duration of 3 consecutive albums, things get too boring for this listener. So I’m glad to accept Elvis in his jumpsuit as an artistic development – as long as the singing and the music the band plays are great and show progress.