Post by dbmay75 November 7, 2007 (1 of 10)
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Hi everyone,
Although I was less than 4 years old when it was released in 1979, I'm a HUGE fan of Christopher Cross' debut album. So, I e-mailed Cross' website today requesting info about Cross putting his debut on SACD and got this response:
Christopher owns the master tapes. But Warner Brother owns the
lifetime rights to the album. They released four albums in this format
and said they might release CC's album on the second wave of
releases. But they sold so few and they lost a ton of money so they
abandoned the project. The discovered that the base of people
looking for such a product is very, very small and focuses on true
audiophiles.
It would have to be a product that meets the desires of the casual fan
in order to be profitable.
Regards,
Greg
Christopher Cross Media
Wasn't WB responsible for "Brothers In Arms" which is one of the most popular audiophile albums of all time and hasn't the SACD and/or DVD-A (which I own) of "Brothers" sold enough copies to give WB some clout to release future SACD endeavours?
Plus, Cross' debut sold 4 million copies and won several grammies as well! What more do you want?!
Your thoughts, as always, are welcome
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Post by soundboy November 7, 2007 (2 of 10)
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dbmay75 said:
Your thoughts, as always, are welcome
Hey, I like CC's music so much that I just purchased a first-pressing made-in-Germany "Target" CD of his debut album.
Regarding Dire Straits being on SACD....the band is signed to a Warner Music label ONLY in the US. Everywhere else on the planet, Dire Straits is signed to a label in the Universal Music family. And thus, the SACD outside the US and DVD-A within the US. Same situation with Mark Knopfler's solo work, Genesis, Bjork, Depeche Mode, etc. SACD for all these artists....except in the US.
I actually would like to know which SACD did Warner Music released? The only SACD titles released by any Warner label was from Hong Kong Warner Music. See the below link....
http://www.highfidelityreview.com/news/news.asp?newsnumber=15462825
In the article, it mentioned a second multi-channel hybrid SACD title. That one was to be released but the news reached Warner Music just in time for the corporate parent to crush the release. Blink....it became vaporware. Some of these have gone out-of-print and some are still readily available.
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I know I won't lose any sleep over it. Forgettable singer, IMO.
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soundboy said:
I actually would like to know which SACD did Warner Music released? The only SACD titles released by any Warner label was from Hong Kong Warner Music.
...
In the article, it mentioned a second multi-channel hybrid SACD title. That one was to be released but the news reached Warner Music just in time for the corporate parent to crush the release.
Of course. Warner,as the only content company actively involved in the DVD-Video format, has also been the main pusher (of all music companies at least) behind the DVD-Audio format.
Warner is just as unlikely to release any SACD as Sony's unlikely to ever support DVD-Audio.
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Post by The Rang November 9, 2007 (5 of 10)
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dbmay75 said:
Hi everyone,
Although I was less than 4 years old when it was released in 1979, I'm a HUGE fan of Christopher Cross' debut album. So, I e-mailed Cross' website today requesting info about Cross putting his debut on SACD and got this response:
Christopher owns the master tapes. But Warner Brother owns the
lifetime rights to the album. They released four albums in this format
and said they might release CC's album on the second wave of
releases. But they sold so few and they lost a ton of money so they
abandoned the project. The discovered that the base of people
looking for such a product is very, very small and focuses on true
audiophiles.
It would have to be a product that meets the desires of the casual fan
in order to be profitable.
Regards,
Greg
Christopher Cross Media
Wasn't WB responsible for "Brothers In Arms" which is one of the most popular audiophile albums of all time and hasn't the SACD and/or DVD-A (which I own) of "Brothers" sold enough copies to give WB some clout to release future SACD endeavours?
Plus, Cross' debut sold 4 million copies and won several grammies as well! What more do you want?!
Your thoughts, as always, are welcome
I'm not I sure I understand.
What's the point of owning the master tapes if someone else has the rights to them?
That's like having a new car but not the keys to actually use it.
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Post by Dan Popp November 9, 2007 (6 of 10)
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dbmay75 wrote:
Wasn't WB responsible for "Brothers In Arms" which is one of the most popular audiophile albums of all time and hasn't the SACD and/or DVD-A (which I own) of "Brothers" sold enough copies to give WB some clout to release future SACD endeavours?
Plus, Cross' debut sold 4 million copies and won several grammies as well! What more do you want?!
db,
Selling 4 million albums in the last century does not necessarily equate to 4- or 2- or even 1 million sales in a new format today. Tastes change, technology changes the way people think about recorded music, and the filter of time is kinder to some artists than others.
There is a similar non-correlation between the success of BIA on SACD, and the label's prospects of recouping its investment in a re-re-release of CC.
The number of Grammy®s, is of course, a total non sequitur - unless you mean the elderly women who would line up to purchase the product.
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Post by Darwin November 9, 2007 (7 of 10)
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The Rang said:
I'm not I sure I understand.
What's the point of owning the master tapes if someone else has the rights to them?
That's like having a new car but not the keys to actually use it.
Presumably WB only owns the rights to the album - the specific edits and mixes of certain tracks from the master. Theoretically someone could create another (sufficiently different to pass legal muster) album from the master tapes, and WB wouldn't have rights to that.
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Post by svafo November 9, 2007 (8 of 10)
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Yes, that album is a classic!
Songs like Ride like the wind, Sailing etc.
And it's beautifully produced/mixed. Would sound great in hi-rez.
/Svante
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Post by Palinurus November 10, 2007 (9 of 10)
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Darwin said:
Presumably WB only owns the rights to the album - the specific edits and mixes of certain tracks from the master. Theoretically someone could create another (sufficiently different to pass legal muster) album from the master tapes, and WB wouldn't have rights to that.
No, it is much more simple: CC owns the physical master tape of the album and has sold the rights to WB - so he can never make the master public without the consent of WB. When WB want to make a SACD of the album they will have to ask CC to hand over the master. I reckon that the contract will forsee in different mixes of the same album, e.g. CC will not be able to release a multichannel version without WB.
It is rather comparable with a letter that was sent to you: you own the letter (and can not publish it) and the person that wrote it owns the rights (but can not sell the physical letter). Only difference is of course that CC sold the rights...
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Post by Claude November 25, 2007 (10 of 10)
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