Rhino’s “Lunafied” Illustrates Catalog Potential Provided By Net
Heavy competition for shrinking self space and the fact that retailers have essentially life-time return privileges on unsold product has made selling niche music at retail increasingly difficult. But the internet has created new options for labels to re-issue low selling titles and even to re-package them in new ways.
Warner’s Rhino label is offering "Lunafied" which includes Luna’s songs originally recorded for soundtracks and as B-sides. Without the costs associated with printing and shipping online-only releases need to sell only a very few copies to make a profit. "This is the first time we’ve done this, but it won’t be the last," David Dorn, Rhino’s senior vice president of new media strategy told the New York Times
But with 90% of sales still going to physical product perhaps Rhino and others should also add limited pressing sold only via the web stores like Amazon, their own sites and special orders via retail.
Now that CD sale dwindling fast, digital climbing fast… and the whole thing jsut conspire against CD (no more exciting new product shows up in CD form, while everything hot is in digital form. )
The hottest of hottest are in digital form period.
There is not a single thing big labels can do, since they ARE the biggest digital leaker on the net.
el oh el time folks. enjoy the show, the big labels are like dinosaurs in the opening of ice age.
I give Sony/BMG 3 years to become irrelevent (merely pipeline and back catalog publisher with one or two big acts)
If an indie label were putting this out I’m sure it would press up CDs of the rare stuff, but Rhino is doing the right thing here. If not for digital distribution that material wouldn’t even see the light of day.
As for keeping it digital only, that strategy fits in perfectly with the majors’ insistance upon copy protection. The digital will have it (since Rhino titles are not available at eMusic) and CDs would not have. (Unless AllofMP3.com decides to sell the tracks.)
Squashed, I’ll post about Sony BMG in three years to let everybody know it’s still putting out popular, hit titles. (Though who can say it will still be Sony BMG?) Your doomsday prediction will not come to fruition. Not a chance.