Hello Jim
i have just read the entire thread and it's wonderful to have some "insider" perspective. There are several issues that need a bit more consideration about the whole dvda/sacd demise.
The issue is this: Any deep dive into the vaults for the purpose of releasing old quad material would probably require some sort of consent from the artist or artist's estate, depending on the contract. Unlike movies wherein the studio essentially has a buy-out of the movie and owns it completely, music contracts are different. For well-known artists the label likes to work with the artist for a release; the last thing you want is an artist publicly unhappy with a release. And so that means listening to the mix and evaluating it, and many of these old mixes show their age and flaws, stuff that wouldn't be allowed out today. Most probably many artists wouldn't want some of this material to be released. So that's one problem.
The other problem is that there is no demand for this material. Believe me, if the label thought they could sell it and make money, they would be inclined to go in that direction. But the reality is that the demand just isn't there. Now if and when there is a real demand for multichannel material, I am sure the labels will step up and dust off the old mixes, but it's hard to make a case right now to the artist and label management that reviving this material will result in anything other than a fruitless exercise in expense and hassle. The ecosystem that supports multichannel content has collapsed, and it needs to be rebuilt before you'll see content being released in any quantity.
Rewinding nearly 15 years, the first "digital multichannel music" that came around were DTS CD done by Brad Miller, and they did a 5.1 repurposing of some good old quad mix and some brand new ones. This when there was no dvd-a or sacd on the horizon. A niche market that stopped only by the Majors refusing to license other titles when the number crunching were becoming something decent. Maybe the Rhino CTA release is a step in this kind of direction. Too bad it's only available via the Website, while old DTS cd's were available at least on hi-fi stores or also to some big retailers.
That happened at the begin of the "multichannel ecosystem", or better, they started it.
A very BIG (and i mean BIG) problem started when dvd-a or later sacd tried to appeal the "general consumer Joe-sixpack" to mch music. Things went on and off without a decent coordination. Many of the things that i list below are deep buried in thread done years ago. I'm writing from a europe perspective, probably a market which isn't has been considered at all.
- Start of the dvd-a in 2000. Initial releases were very few, so it was already a problem. The point raised by another one is valid: CD had at its start nearly 100 titles to choose from.
- Marketing of the dvd-a was nearly zero. Despite being into hifi by a long while, just few "esoteric" stores carried one dvd-a player, and usually didn't restock. My first dvd-a player was a JVC that was advertised as dvd-v only, not as dvd-a, and was collecting dust on the shelfs because it had one terrible flaw: it didn't read cdr media. Of course it does plays wonderfully dvd-a and has all the logos and stuff.
- Getting the discs has been the most problematic aspect of tghe whole story. Nowadays we're lucky to have internet and web stores, back in 2001-2002 the only way to go was Brick&Mortar. The problems, raised also by Neil, was:
- some didn't know how to consider this dvd-audio: put it in the music? in the dvd? It was problematic to find them, but at least they were there, somewhere and usually in the oddest places.
- most didn't carry it at all;
- distribution itself went berseker: titles listed as available in Europe, usually Warner, were extremely hard to get by. The very same discs, treated as "imports", were available on the same hifi stores that carried once DTS CD. Lack of coordination, at least, and a big problem if the intention was to build a market;
- thanks God in some odd ways it was still possible to get Warner dvd-a; other labels were in a situation much much worse, Capitol titles being the worst. As someone else said before, it's hard to buy something if no one carries it.
- odd & sobs: the authoring itself has been a problem. Dvd-A went out in all the possible configuration: without menu and stills (Elvis RCA), with a decent menu (many titles), double-sided discs (some), with a very cumbersome menu. Problem is, why i do need to get on a screen to listen music? That has been a crucial point: some disc were a true pain in the neck just to play it, and this showed all its drawback when car players started to appear: pop a disc in and play, no clicks on "next, next, next then play" stuff. That point killed a lot the usability for Mr. Joe Sixpack.
With all this mess goin around, enters the SACD. Well, in theory it could had been a decent idea; pratically,
- at first stereo-only and single layer
- then add multichannel
- then add the cd layer and make a hybrid disc.
Confusion over confusion isn't a good way to win a market. Also, marketing for SACD was no better than DVD-A; one launch in 2002 then disappeared from the radar, at least here. Few players, some h-t all in one units with sacd capabilities and no disc to play. In USA the whole "rolling stone" story has been even bitter: after the only decent campaign for a mch format you just... pull the plug?
The final joke for sacd: getting a car unit from Sony in... 2008, after all the sacd production has nearly stopped.
There has been big mistakes by both dvd-a and sacd camps (IMHO sacd was the worst one) but this lack of coordination and clear ideas on the market of the specific product was a real killer for both: now sacd survives only in japan as a esoteric stereo thing, dvd-a survives elsewhere as a hobbist work. There was a potential market for ONE mch music system, the total confusion about the Big Ones shattered it. Maybe it was better if they just continued to license the titles for DTS CD and let the things grow little by little.