A post about 5.1 releases over at The Ledge has resulted in absolutely zero response from the FM community.
That may be cause for disappointment, maybe even mild consternation, to surround folks like us.. and it is unfortunate that Fleetwood Mac fans there are seemingly apathetic towards surround mixes by their favourite band... but there are, it could be said, some artists that are so popular their sales are rather more enhanced by the kind of more dedicated (hardcore even) followers that frequent fan sites and their real bread and butter is in the masses that don't live and breathe those artists (Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Stones.. Fleetwood Mac I would suggest are on a similar level, or approaching that ilk anyway) and are only part of the equation.. there are tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands (millions even in some cases) with slightly more than a passing interest but certainly not fans that go on such sites who buy surround/Hi-Res releases by these big name acts too and that sustains these surround/Hi-res releases of those bands' work.
I can bear that out to some extent, on a more personal note, I have quite a few friends who have bought things like The Beatles' Love DVD-A set, the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds CD+DVD set, the Elton John/Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Pink Floyd Dark Side Of The Moon, Steely Dan/Gaucho, Marvin Gaye Collection & Dire Straits' Brothers In Arms Hybrid Surround SACDs, the Queen/A Night At The Opera CD+DVD set, etc..,who have never played the Surround or Hi-Res Stereo on them, never intended to play the surround or Hi-Res when they bought them and could never be considered completist or big fans of any of those artists (nor would they say they're "audiophiles"!) they picked them up because they were the currently available version, or it looked like it might be a decent value for money package with extras they may just get around to one day, or just because they're big albums by big acts and they went for that "premium looking version" or for any number of reasons.
Also, on a related tangent but kinda conversely (I don't know any but..) there must surely be big fans of artists like Yes, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, XTC, Steven Wilson who aren't bothered about Hi-Res and/or surround, who have bought the same DVD-A/V and BD-A sets us surround/Hi-res enthusiasts have just because they are big fans and/or want the other added content or have to own everything they've ever done, etc. They could sustain sales of these releases if sales to Hi-Res/surround folk are more limited.. I guess the point I'm making is, actually, no matter how huge an act is if a new release or reissue has sufficiently covered enough bases that it looks attractive to fans, audiophiles, surround enthusiasts and casual buyers alike it'll keep these things coming for the foreseeable.
Its things like Universal's bare-bones HFPA Blu-ray releases I'm more bothered about, their appeal must be more limited, they just don't have the breadth and variety of content to bring in the sales, all imho.!