Chesky Records goes single-inventory SACD release schedule (1 Viewer)

[Danny Tse]

Recently, Telarc released Randy Brecker's "Some Skunk Funk" as a single-inventory hybrid SACD instead of separately releasing a CD and a SACD. Today comes the word that starting in August 2007, Chesky Records will be going to a all single-inventory SACD release schedule. Click the link and read about it.

 

[Marc Colella]

It's better than nothing I guess.

 

[Rommel_L]

An audiophile choosing to use a more superior format, not surprising news. The bigger question is, why just now?

 

[Danny Tse]

This is just a wild guess based solely on my own observation. I think production cost for hybrid SACD has come down so much that an independent music company can afford to go single-inventory. Why carry dual inventory of the same title? My previous post mentioned the single-inventory Randy Brecker SACD from Telarc....even on Telarc's own website, you can order the SACD for $15.99. Which is 20% less than Telarc's previous MSRP for its SACDs if there is a separate CD and SACD version. There are a number of small independent music companies going single-inventory....don't know why the major music companies don't follow suit?

 

[Rommel_L]

Profit margin... Major companies sell CDs that are priced MORE than the SACDs the independents sell. Never mind the fact that independents like Chesky and Telarc target a small group of audience compared to the majors...

 

[Marc Colella]

The major labels press in much higher volumes, and I'm guessing that there's limited SACD production lines - which is fine for a smaller label who won't need to press as many but for a large label they don't want any bottlenecks.

Plus the major labels know that a very small percentage of their sales go towards audiophiles, while the smaller labels like Chesky, Telarc, etc cater to the audiophile.

I don't see any major labels doing single inventory.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

double post

 

[Lee Scoggins]

"I'm guessing that there's limited SACD production lines"

This is not true. There is plenty of capacity to even major pressings, only not enough to replace redbook.

 

[Rommel_L]

Production-wise, it is much cheaper to produce redbook and 98% of the consumer market are not complaining about it's quality. CD is not going anywhere anytime soon...

 

[Marc Colella]

Well that's what I was getting at when I said "limited"... meaning limited compared to what redbook requires.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

"meaning limited compared to what redbook requires"

In that case we are in agreement.

I don't think CD is going anywhere soon it is very entrenched but we may be surprised how quickly it goes if it does go. Consumers seem to move on rather quickly and have gotten a bit used to technology shifts I believe relative to past tech changes...