Just received this email from the BSM mailing list:
Greetings from Vinyl HQ... first and foremost I want to apologize for becausesoundmatters.com failing to initially live up to even my own expectations of what the store could be. Plain and simple, we were not ready on the back end and the site instantly required more time than the 2 of us had to stay current. The goal was to have an on line store for selling direct to you, have site exclusives, provide early information about releases, create a community for vinyl and music fans, and especially focus on sound. Obviously part of making all that happen was also to produce the vinyl, both new and catalog in order to drive the site. To a very large degree that part has happened, especially with current releases... nearly all of our current records come out on vinyl. All sound great regardless of source etc.
The catalog part is also about to hit stride, the way we always wanted it to. Titles announced many months ago are REALLY about to come out. As part of Warner Bros. Records 50th year in the music business, we are creating a WB 50th Anniversary Archive Series. Rickie Lee Jones, James Taylor, ZZ Top, Eric Clapton, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Marty Paich, Green Day, The Replacements, and many , many others will be represented.
The brand new R.E.M. album, "Accelerate" LP+CD and The Black Keys new album "Attack & Release" LP+CD will both hit stores the same date as the CD, April 1st. We have announced an entire reissue campaign of the Metallica catalog on vinyl, both 331/3 standard weight and 45 rpm 180 deluxe versions. The first 2 titles, "Kill Em All" and "Ride The Lightning" hit April 15th.
So where does that leave our beloved brainchild on line record store, becausesoundmatters.com?
Over the next couple of months you will see an entire revamp of the site, every aspect will become what I always wanted it to. I now have a whole staff of vinyl loving helpers to make this site an incredible destination. In the short term every title will be up for sale in the current store, pre orders will begin to appear, special offerings will be made available, release information will be posted there first, I am starting an ongoing vinyl blog, along with many more exciting developments.
I must say in advance that the DVD audio portion remains challenging for numerous reasons but as time permits I will continue to work on that aspect. For those of you that are so passionate about the format, please bare with the site and we will do our best.... but in general DVD audio will be on the back burner and I wanted to say that up front so there isn't any confusion. If vinyl is your thing, you are going to be in heaven!!!! I will be announcing more cool news on the site very soon.
I hope this e mail clears up any confusion and that you will be checking out the site as it REALLY now will blast off!!!!
Over and Out from Vinyl HQ.
Certainly does seem to confirm that there won't be any more developments from WEA on the DVD-A front. Sure does sound like it took even the guys behind the site by surprise, though.