I feel a little differently. While many record companies have had an annoying habit of being short-sighted over the years when it comes to what and how to reissue back catalog, they are by no means the only problem. Let's look at three artists--and Doors, Moody Blues, and Elton John--to illustrate the importance of the artist being caring and involved to make such reissues a reality.
Obviously, the surviving Doors wanted their catalog out in 5.1 and remixed stereo. Elektra, knowing that the Doors are a brand name and will sell to some degree no matter what, went along, and you know the rest. Similarly, after Justin Hayward expressed interest in remastering the old quad albums, UMe went along with that, too, not least, one might assume, because the band still records for the company. On the other hand, after the first, great batch of 5.1 releases, the plug was pulled on further Elton reissues of the type. Had Elton wanted those albums released badly enough, does anyone doubt that they wouldn't have made it to us? Of course they would, and Elton not only has clout but still has validity as an artist, so if he'd really wanted them released, this most certainly would have come to pass. That they didn't make it out should tell us something about the nature of projects like this. As much as number-crunching can be useful, the fact remains that the reissue market has always been fairly modest compared to 'new' music and artists. This is understandable, but whereas in the 1980's labels desired their back catalogs on CD--not least because they were trying to phase out tape and vinyl--there is no such urgency today. The world has changed, and my hunch is that if an artist really wants his or her catalog available, it'll be available. If they don't really care or don't want to put it out--think Bob Seger's early Capitol material--it'll stay locked away.
ED
Im not sure how I feel about what exactly happened with the Elton SACDs.
Here's my take on it. See if I've missed anything..
Sometime in the early 2000's, Greg Penny remixed some of the Made in England album (which he originally produced in '94/'95) into 5.1 surround and liked the results.
Elton somehow heard it, liked what he heard and told Greg to remix GYBR.
Elton loved Gregs' 5.1 GYBR and so it was chosen to be released as part of the 30th Anniversary package of the album.
Elton then told Greg to go ahead and remix "the lot", i.e. all his classic albums was /is the perceived wisdom.
The GYBR SACD set sold well as did the first batch of Elton's.
The next batch was announced, including ROTW, Blue Moves, DSMIOTPP and Caribou. We all got excited!
Tidbits of news trickled in, we could look forward to some genuinely new bonus material and extras like the previously unreleased "Ducktail Jiver" on the upcoming SACD of "Caribou", for which Greg had even gone to the expense/effort of getting Davey Johnstone to record a new guitar part to finish that particular track off (the so-called demo of "Ducktail" I have bears this out as it only features acoustic guitar but otherwise sounds pretty complete and so was unfinished, rather than a demo.).
There were further rumours floating about that either The Here & There Live set or Live in Australia were to be remixed into 5.1 for inclusion in a Third batch of surround Elton.
Then, just as batch 2 was going to be released, UMG pulled the plug - we lost the rest of the Steely Dan 5.1's in the process.
All throughout the process I never heard or saw or read a peep out of Elton about the 5.1 versions of his albums, beyond his initial green-lighting to Greg to "do the lot".
I doubt Elton even knows they weren't released.
I believe the stopping of the 5.1 Eltons' was all UMG's doing.
Why!? God only knows.
I asked Laura Croker, the editor of eltonjohn.com, the last time I saw her if she knew what had happened to the next set of Elton SACDs, why they had never come out and if/when we could expect them?
Her response (get ready! this wonderful lady has been at Elton's right hand for decades so I imagine she has her finger on the pulse of a lot of Elton-related activity, she's certainly known her onions on everything else I've ever asked her about regarding Elton..!)..
"Oh, I thought they had all been released already!?".
