Sony pulling out of SA-CD?

Justin Lane · 01-13-2004, 11:57 PM

Found this quote interesting regarding Sony's position on SACD from the follwing HFR article:

http://www.highfidelityreview.com/ne...umber=17205662

Quote:

More telling (and perhaps more contentious) were the remarks made by David Migdal, Director of Corporate Communications for Sony Electronics Inc. when I caught up with him in Las Vegas. When asked whether he was aware of the rumours about Sony Music pulling out of SACD, David confirmed that he had indeed heard “whispers”, and went on to say that Sony Music was, like other labels, considering “the viability of the format”, but that as far as he was aware no decision as to continuing support had been made let alone announced.

Looks like the higher ups at Sony may be questioning the viability of the format as well. In tough financial times it is understandable that a company may be looking to ax those outfits which are not making money.

J

Marc Colella · 01-14-2004, 09:08 AM

From the quote, I don't think there's any reason to be alarmed.

I'm sure Sony has always questioned the "viability of the format". With any "new" format (or product) companies have to make a decision based on consumer reaction towards the product and it's chances of growing and being profitable enough to make it all worthwhile.

SACD has been around for about 5 years now, and I think that's enough time to base a decision on. So perhaps Sony thinks it's time for their next move (whatever that may be).

It doesn't necessarily mean they will kill off SACD, but perhaps Sony will gear their efforts towards the niche market and forgoe the efforts for mainstream acceptance.

I guess we'll have to wait and see if anything changes.

Perhaps it's time that Warner also makes a decision, since they don't seem to be doing much with DVD-A.

Lee Scoggins · 01-14-2004, 10:03 AM

Quote:

From the quote, I don't think there's any reason to be alarmed.

Especially since the Sony press team issued an immediate denial as follows:

Quote:

In a statement issued to me late last week, Sony Music’s John Mckay commented: “Sony Music Entertainment has released over 240 SA-CDs over the past four and a half years, and the company remains fully committed to the format. Frontline multichannel SA-CD titles released during the fall and winter of 2003 covered a wide variety of genres, ranging from David Bowie’s ‘Reality’ to The Thorns and Barbra Streisand’s ‘The Movie Album’. In addition, the company recently released a wide variety of classic catalog titles in the SA-CD format, including the critically acclaimed Bob Dylan reissue series. The response to the format among audiophiles has been nothing short of phenomenal. Multichannel SA-CDs slated for release during 2004 include titles from Beyonce and Stevie Ray Vaughan.”

The big news here is official discussion of the Stevie Ray Vaughan albums.

And you people wanting more current stuff can at least find Beyonce. There are now a few hip-hop and R&B albums out in Super Audio.

Quote:

Perhaps it's time that Warner also makes a decision, since they don't seem to be doing much with DVD-A.

And since they are under new ownership. I wonder what Bronfman's team is thinking about hirez. They may be re-examining the whole deal. It should would be nice to have one format with everyone behind it.

ElevSkyMovie · 01-14-2004, 11:45 AM

It should would be nice to have one format with everyone behind it.

Since the number of dvd players sold versus sacd/dvd players sold is probably 100 to 1, let's go with dvd-audio. Let's end this arguement once and for all.

Danny Tse · 01-14-2004, 12:08 PM

On the other hand, Channel Classics goes SACD only. From their website....

Quote:

"All releases are Super Audio, recorded in Super Audio as hybrid CD’s to be played on your normal CD player if you do not have a SACD player. We are not [releasing] a separate normal CD anymore. They take too much space in the warehouse and a good deal of our distributors are only taking SACD only releases."

See the quote here.

**HTF Ads**

Justin Lane · 01-14-2004, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Especially since the Sony press team issued an immediate denial as follows:

Press announcements have nothing to do with what is going on behind the scenes. The most intriguing part is the fact that David Midgal, a higher up in Sony openly stated that he has heard whispers that Sony may be moving away from the format.

When you look at SACD from Sony's perspective, it is quite obvious that they have yet to turn any kind of profit since the format's inception. Between subsidies to artists and labels, start-up of new plants/pressing lines, lower margains on hardware sales, and advertising SACD from their standpoint has been nothing but a loser.

J

Jeff Adams · 01-14-2004, 01:04 PM

Just my opinion but I think that both SACD and DVD-audio will only be around for a couple of more years. I hope that I am wrong but as someone has stated, SACD has been around for about 4-5 years and other than more titles available, it really has not done too much.

01-14-2004, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Looks like the higher ups at Sony may be questioning the viability of the format as well. In tough financial times it is understandable that a company may be looking to ax those outfits which are not making money.

The suits in Japan would never allow that to happen. Unless Sony Electronics was going to abandon a format, they'd never let any of their divisions abandon.

The whole point of Sony buying both Columbia music and Columbia TriStar was so that they'd have software for whatever formats they introduce (and for easy in film product placement).

Ken_McAlinden · 01-14-2004, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Since the number of dvd players sold versus sacd/dvd players sold is probably 100 to 1, let's go with dvd-audio. Let's end this arguement once and for all.

...but then again, since the installed base of CD players outsrips the number of DVD players, let's go with hybrid SACD.

Regards,

Lee Scoggins · 01-14-2004, 02:17 PM

Quote:

he has heard whispers that Sony may be moving away from the format.

I'm not sure that's what was reported exactly. They are just always looking at the economics and viability of new formats. That's standard operating procedure. Sony is looking at the costs and benefits of their business units and the SACD team is one of them.

I think its unlikely they would drop it anytime soon or easily since they derive lost of different revenue streams from the format: disc royalties, hardware licenses, publicity and brand awareness, grass roots audiophile support that can be of value to future hardware sales, etc.

Quote:

...but then again, since the installed base of CD players outsrips the number of DVD players, let's go with hybrid SACD.

There are billions of CD players and hundreds of millions of DVD players. So it's 10 to 1 in favor of Super Audio.

Rachael B · 01-14-2004, 04:20 PM

It's obvious Sony has put SA-CD on the backburner. They've never been this financially stressed out ever before either. A measure of their desperation is the aggreement they signed with Samsung for joint LCD research and production. In the past Sony never would of stooped to signing an aggreement with a "lesser" company in their hemisphear like Samsung. Note, that most of their big aggreements were with Europe's titan, Philips, on the far side of the world from them. Japan, in general, is in a tough spot. Anything they can make, Chinese companies can make for half as much. Sony will have a hard time ever regaining their former status, me thinks.