Tim Worstall

The Long Tail.

OK, so finally, a record company has woken up to the implications of the long tail:

Records are normally deleted once they cease to sell in sufficient
numbers to justify shelf space in stores. It is also not economical for
firms to produce low-selling records. No such constraints exist on the
net, and both record companies and Hollywood have recognised the
advantages of digital content’s "long tail" – they can market a huge
back catalogue even if they sell only in small quantities.

Whacking up the old out of release stuff should work….once they’ve checked the contracts, of course.

However Mr Wragg said that the process was a lengthy one because of the
need for "digital archaeology", or sorting out contracts signed years
ago.

Great. We’ll get decent cleaned up versions of all that great music recorded over the decades. What do they release first?

Chris de Burgh, Man on the Line (1984)

Nana Mouskouri, Dix Mille Ans Encore (1994)

Ah. Don’t they realise that some music is deservedly forgotten?

In

4 responses

  1. angry economist Avatar
    angry economist

    Well some board member somewhere really wants to torpedo the whole idea!
    Of course this is nothing new!
    You can do this in the real world by visiting shops such as Fopp which specialise in back catalogue stuff that is carefully picked as being decent music. Often they will offer most of the back catalogue of specific artists in job lots or have monthly themes such as punk etc.
    And at cheap prices too. For punters like me to walk in and buy all the gaps in my CD collection for a particular artist for 30 quid, its great.

    Reply
  2. dave heasman Avatar
    dave heasman

    The first Fairport album is great (though it has already been digitally remastered & re-released) and the 1968 Nirvana album is OK, though. (The Graun thinks Nirvana were from the West Coast, but I recall them being from Wood Green and Chiswick.)
    Semi-seriously, I don’t think very much music is forgotten entirely.

    Reply
  3. JohnM Avatar
    JohnM

    During Kurt Cobain’s preconception phase, Nirvana (with only Greek/British membership) released 5 albums: Simon Simonpath, All Of Us, To Markos III, Local Anaesthetic and Songs of Love and Praise. All have been reissued. To confuse matters even more, the lesser known Nirvana reformed to cover Kurt Cobain’s song Lithium.
    More seriously, back catalogue stuff has been doing the rounds for many years. A whole group of record labels like Edsel, See For Miles, Ace, Bam Caruso, Rhino, Cherry Red, Gear Fab, Sundazed sprang up to remaster and reissue material. The salient point is that they were small and run by enthusiasts, so consequently they took a lot of care in comparison with the majors by including bonus tracks and extensive sleeve notes. Of course, the majors cottoned on and improved their product, which was a contributory factor in the demise (or take over) of several of the above.
    The current troubles being suffered by Sanctuary, a label focused on back catalogue, clearly shows that this is not the earner it once was. Of course, on-line sales are a way forward but that is true for contemporary sales too.

    Reply
  4. Scott Campbell at Blithering Bunny Avatar
    Scott Campbell at Blithering Bunny

    There are already a couple of sites that will sell you old sheet music in digital form for about £2 a song. (You pay to print out one copy). I’ve used them a lot myself. The catalogues are large, although only a fraction of what could eventally be in there.
    The only costs on their side (apart from the admin manpower) would be the licence, the scanning of the pages, the scoring software, and the storage. The best scoring software (Sibelius) is about £500 — a lot for an individual, but not much for a company. HDD storage is getting cheaper every year. And all modern sheet music is created in digital form right from the start, so scanning costs aren’t even an issue for a lot of music from the last decade.

    Reply

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