Neil Young Announcement - Blu-Ray is the way

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Last I heard it's still supposed to be 24/192, but no mention of whether that's stereo, mc or both.

I would expect it to be Stereo, possibly mono but unlikely to be surround, unless theer was an already existing mix.

neil does not really seem to be into surround if you look at his previous Hi Rez releases the older and archive discs baring Harvest have all been stereo.
 
Neil Young’s announcement today should serve as a wake-up call to major recording companies as how to get back to making money selling their back catalog. For the love of god, the records have been paid for decades ago and Generation Xers and Baby Boomers have proven they will spend to buy them over and over again, but not when the resolution is at CD quality or in the case of an “HD download” a mere one quarter of CD quality. That won’t fly. Selling entire volumes, entire catalogs, and entire genres of music in HD is a path to success for the music business. Ask companies like Vizio with who have gone from zero to two billion dollars in sales doing nothing but selling HD if they think there is anything to the idea of selling people content in HD.

<sigh>

Another so-called "home theatre writer" who doesn't understand the first thing about the music industry.

Comparing a company like Vizio, which makes low-cost HD televisions to HD music content is particularly bizarre. Talk about false equivalency.

His statement about downloads being "a mere one quarter of CD quality" is particularly ignorant.

It's been empirically shown over and over again that most of the music buying public doesn't care about "quality" or "fidelity" once a certain baseline of quality has been achieved.

I have seen the market research data. I have seen the sales numbers. I have seen the harsh light of SoundScan data.

The cold reality is that consumers who value super-high fidelity are a very small minority of the music buying public - so small in fact that it is very difficult to break even catering to this market.

Now I'm not say that small independent labels and producers can't survive selling high-res albums; but for the major music companies it doesn't make a lot of sense. The resources that majors have are limited, and in the end the ROI just doesn't look that good.

Maybe that will change one day, but today for 99.9 percent of the music buying public an iPod Nano works just fine.
 
<sigh>

Another so-called "home theatre writer" who doesn't understand the first thing about the music industry.

Comparing a company like Vizio, which makes low-cost HD televisions to HD music content is particularly bizarre. Talk about false equivalency.

His statement about downloads being "a mere one quarter of CD quality" is particularly ignorant.

It's been empirically shown over and over again that most of the music buying public doesn't care about "quality" or "fidelity" once a certain baseline of quality has been achieved.

I have seen the market research data. I have seen the sales numbers. I have seen the harsh light of SoundScan data.

The cold reality is that consumers who value super-high fidelity are a very small minority of the music buying public - so small in fact that it is very difficult to break even catering to this market.

Now I'm not say that small independent labels and producers can't survive selling high-res albums; but for the major music companies it doesn't make a lot of sense. The resources that majors have are limited, and in the end the ROI just doesn't look that good.

Maybe that will change one day, but today for 99.9 percent of the music buying public an iPod Nano works just fine.

Why can't companies like UMG create a small division, something like Rhino Handmade, and sell HiRez, surround, and specialty releases directly to the consumer. Create a limited number of titles and pressings, charge a fee that will compensate the company for the production, and see what happens. They could just contract with a small company (like the old days of MFSL and DCC) similar to the way Porcupine Tree releases their stuff on DVD-A.

Sure, you're not going to make a killing, and there will always be folks who complain that things cost too much, but there is a silent majority (of the minority) who would willingly spend the bucks for titles like this.

Those "missing Eltons" would be a great place to start! :D
 
<sigh>
It's been empirically shown over and over again that most of the music buying public doesn't care about "quality" or "fidelity" once a certain baseline of quality has been achieved.

I don't think that this release is aimed at the general public. Expecially at the price that it has been pegged for it.
 
Why can't companies like UMG create a small division, something like Rhino Handmade, and sell HiRez, surround, and specialty releases directly to the consumer....

Those "missing Eltons" would be a great place to start! :D

UMG does have a "specialty" label. It's called Hipo Select. They use it just like Rhino Handmade... for those limited edition items like a 6 disc Joe Cocker "Mad Dogs And Englishmen" set.
 
I don't think that this release is aimed at the general public. Expecially at the price that it has been pegged for it.

For those that don't know, the prices are set as:

Blu-ray - $299
DVD - $199
CD - $99

Taking the blu-ray for example, that's $29.90 per disc - too much if you ask me and I'll be passing on this set. I think $199/$149/$99 might have been a bit better value and a more reasonable price point.
 
...... but for the major music companies it doesn't make a lot of sense. The resources that majors have are limited, and in the end the ROI just doesn't look that good.

One more thought for Jimby. With regards to "specialty" stuff, like maybe the rest of the Elton surround titles, be they released as SACD, DVD-A, DTS, DVD or Blu-Ray (at this point, it doesn't much matter if they could possibly be released).

Does a big company think that they would have less of a demand (thus less profit) than product like the Elton John Red Piano release on LP that you can get at Best Buy (and other places)?
 
Blu Ray will remain prohibitively expensive for ALL releases that are not major studio Hollywood titles.
It is simply too expensive to produce - and if you don;t believe me, go ask anyone who set up to author them.
Most - around 99% - are losing money on a $250,000 investment in software, hardware & annual AACS site licenses/BluRay logo usage fees (yep, this is also a mandatory annual fee)
and the gear is sat there doing nothing because it is too expensive by the time all the mandatory AACS/BD+ and other crap is factored in.
 
Yeah, I'm kinda excited too! But no way do I buy the whole set for $300 bucks. That said, I see where the discs will also be sold individually; so I'll very likely pick up one or two of the best reviewed ones.
 
Does a big company think that they would have less of a demand (thus less profit) than product like the Elton John Red Piano release on LP that you can get at Best Buy (and other places)?

Ah, but Lps are actually selling again! They've become a hip item for the 20-something crowd reared on lossy MP3 music. Many of them go apeshit when they hear the warmth of vinyl, and there is a measurably expanding market for Lps once again.
 
For those of us who have been waiting for this set since 1992, looking at the track listing, I'd have to say:

It's. Just. Not. Worth. It.

I think we were all under the impression Neil would be pulling his finger out of the dike holding back his dozens of unreleased songs. This is just a glorified greatest hits album with a tiny sample of previously unheard stuff.

The biggest anti-climax I could possible imagine. "Down by the River" in "high-res." Yawn.
 
I figure if I could spend $200+ on a Genesis SACD/NTSC box, then I can certainly spend $300 on a Blu-Ray Neil young 10 disc set. "Bring it on!"! :D
 
Ah, but Lps are actually selling again! They've become a hip item for the 20-something crowd reared on lossy MP3 music. Many of them go apeshit when they hear the warmth of vinyl, and there is a measurably expanding market for Lps once again.

LPs are selling better but measurably expanding market isn't how I would describe it, it is a tiny niche market, nothing more. I still have hopes that Blu-ray will amount to something for the high quality recorded music enthusiasts.

Chris
 
What makes this even less value is that it appears that 2 of the discs are repeats of the Archives already released.

Make that three of the discs.

I count, maybe, 12 both desirable and unreleased cuts. Worth even $99 for the CD version? I think not.
 
I saw in the latest Rolling Stone that Neil's new album'll be coming out in the blu ray format in the not too very distant future.
 
Yup! If you pre-order it from his website, you will get an advance release Blu-Ray disc with an exclusive content 45! (Of course, I had to fall for that :D)

[PS - "clean" link - not spam or ad laden]
 
Man, what a great message and trailer too. Put me over the edge and I ordered it too.

I could hem and haw for a better price later on or lament I missed it. This feels like an exciting release; perhaps the preorder is a gauge of interest to know how many people are clamoring for it and how many sets to press up. So I added my voice to it to be sure it's counted. I still remember seeing Jouney Through The Past at the Ken Cinema at 1am and I had the soundtrack album LPs in my stack to convert now I won't have to. I held back from buying the Massey Hall DVD and such etc, so this is all going to work out swell.

And on top of all that, June 2nd's my birthday so there you go! :smokin:
 
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