Double dipping on CDs due to retailer-specific exclusive tracks?! (1 Viewer)

[EricSchulz]

Mike, I ALWAYS think of you when this topic comes up!

 

[Mike Frezon]

It's all that stinkin' Diana Krall's fault.

No...wait. I can't blame her...

It's definitely the evil money-grubbing anything-for-a-profit record executives. Yeah. That's the ticket.

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The thing is...Amazon is one of the ones crying foul here...and they often get their own retailer exclusives, too. At least I know they do with DVDs & BDs.

"We believe fans should have the option to buy the same music at their preferred retailer, on the same date, and unfortunately that is not always the case." Craig Pape, director of Amazon Music, said in a statement.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I'll come clean and admit that a month or so ago I purchased an amazon exclusive title of Brian Wilson Disney covers.

When I found out about it, I knew I really wanted it and figured "what's a guy to do?" At least it's not like I found out that there are alternate tracks available at other retailers...yet.

So much for amazon crying foul over retailer exclusives, huh?!?

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And today I picked up Michael Buble's new Christmas CD..which I came to find out had a Target-only version which includes three bonus tracks. At least I found out before I had purchased the CD somewhere else.

 

[Mike Frezon]

My latest run-in with retailer exclusive CDs:

I was in Target several weeks ago and picked up a CD of new Christmas music...the 25th anniversary of the "Very Special Christmas" series. It was just $11.99. I buy new Christmas music every holiday season.

Then, a couple weeks later, I see the same title in best Buy's flyer as...you guessed it...an EXCLUSIVE there--with six extra tracks for $13.99. I went through the process of returning the (luckily) still unopened Target disc and buying the Best Buy version.

PITA.

Oh. And even though it was featured in their flyer, a BB employee had to go in the back and find me one of their 16 copies.

Luckily, I never found any retailer exclusives on the new Diana Krall CD of Glad Rag Doll when it was released a few weeks ago...

 

[Paul D G]

Oh, I'm with you on this Mike. But my problem is much more expensive. Most of the artists I collect are British. Some albums take months to come out in the US (if they do at all), so I have to import them. Then there's the iTunes exclusives. It gets worse when the singles have different tracks in different countries so I have to import the British single (usually 2 separate discs), AND the German single (from a different site so extra shipping charges) to get all the material. Then there's the issue with the Japanese bonus tracks which can cost more than double the price of an imported album from the UK. Often for one song. I swear, there have been times when I've dropped over $100 for a single album and accompanying singles.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Oh, I'm with you on this Mike. But my problem is much more expensive. Most of the artists I collect are British. Some albums take months to come out in the US (if they do at all), so I have to import them. Then there's the iTunes exclusives. It gets worse when the singles have different tracks in different countries so I have to import the British single (usually 2 separate discs), AND the German single (from a different site so extra shipping charges) to get all the material. Then there's the issue with the Japanese bonus tracks which can cost more than double the price of an imported album from the UK. Often for one song. I swear, there have been times when I've dropped over $100 for a single album and accompanying singles.

Remember when artists constructed an album in such a way that it flowed--intentionally--from one track to another? And the album itself (the specific tracks in a specific order) was considered to be a work of art on its own--from the individual songs as its building blocks?

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I JUST ran into this again last night.

I stopped at Target to pick up my copy of Django Unchained and as i was walking down a music aisle I saw one of Target's dreaded EXCLUSIVE stickers slapped on the cover of The Avett Brother's last release "The Carpenter." "Two Bonus tracks." I had no idea such a thing existed. I just don't have enough time in my life to be an expert on every CD release that comes down the pike.

It's enough to almost make a grown man cry.

 

[mattCR]

I've run into this repeatedly with several artists I follow (I have about four different versions of CDs because of "exclusive" tracks only from one retailer or another.

In the end, I can't see this as doing anything except encouraging piracy.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I've run into this repeatedly with several artists I follow (I have about four different versions of CDs because of "exclusive" tracks only from one retailer or another.

In the end, I can't see this as doing anything except encouraging piracy.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I finally caught a break on the "retailer exclusive" front this week.

I was in a Target store last night...killing some time in the media section while my wife was shopping elsewhere. I saw, on an endcap, a new release by Barenaked Ladies of which I was totally unaware. On the front of the package, the ominous Target Exclusive label that the disc contained three bonus tracks.

So, with the knowledge that I was supporting a heinous activity--but nevertheless glad that I had secured any extra material--I made my purchase.

[BNL has suffered greatly artistically since the departure of Steven Page...but I still support the boys in their drive to move forward.]

 

[Malcolm R]

Not music related, but on the issue of retailer exclusives I saw my first retailer exclusive on a hardcover book today. The new Brad Thor novel has a special version available from Costco that features an exclusive extra chapter with an expanded/alternate ending.

 

[Ron1973]

I'm bumping again! Not entirely on the subject but similar.

I'm a major fan of Hank Williams. When Polygram started releasing the individual CD's in the 80's that became known as The Collector's Edition, I bought them whenever I saw one available. Their "mission statement" was to release all known studio masters of Hank's plus well-known non-session recordings. Some of the non-session recordings were simply Hank and his guitar while other songs were presented in the overdubbed forms that had appeared after Hank's death as MGM still had a high demand for Hank's music. The claim was that these overdubbed versions were all that was available and was probably all Hank fans could hope for.

Fast forward to the 90's and Mercury Nashville came out with The Complete Hank Williams, a title that was certainly a misnomer if there ever was one. Magically all but three non-session titles were in their original form and Colin Escott telling how MGM had bought the rights to the songs after Hank's death. In other words, they were sitting in the vaults. They had pulled that antic on the previous release on a song claiming their "joy" of finding it to be able to put on the release. The problem was, it had already been released in 1976 on a Polygram release in England!

 

[MielR]

I remember when I used to collect all of Cheap Trick's Japanese CDs because they always contained bonus tracks that the US CDs didn't. The imported CDs were outrageously expensive and it used to really tick me off. It got to the point where I just stopped buying their US-released CDs altogether, and waited until I could get the Japanese copies. It was bad enough that the imports were so pricey; I didn't want to end up buying the albums twice.

 

[jcroy]

Back in the day, I use to buy vinyl 12" singles (or EPs) which frequently had non-album tracks on side 2.

By the time music cds were ubiquitous, I largely didn't care anymore.


Though the few times I picked up a cd album again, was typically when there was an extra cd (or dvd) with stuff like: unreleased albums, live concerts, unreleased demo tapes, etc ...

 

[Mike Frezon]

Have I given up?

Or, am I simply facing the reality of the situation?

I got a notice from Amazon that I would want to know about the upcoming new release by Diana Krall. And wouldn't you know? The Amazon edition contains four new bonus cuts.

Pre-ordered! I guess now I just need to know if there are going to be different bonus tracks somewhere else. Or a high-rez release.

Diana looks pissed about this whole bonus track situation...

 

[Mike Frezon]

And now Amazon is telling me the Diana Krall release has been pushed back to February 3rd, 2015.

And to rub salt in the wound, I just got an e-mail from amazon.uk that the CD is still available on October 13th--but without the bonus tracks.

 

[andySu]

Have I given up?

Or, am I simply facing the reality of the situation?

I got a notice from Amazon that I would want to know about the upcoming new release by Diana Krall. And wouldn't you know? The Amazon edition contains four new bonus cuts.

Pre-ordered! I guess now I just need to know if there are going to be different bonus tracks somewhere else. Or a high-rez release.

Diana looks pissed about this whole bonus track situation...

Mike, do you have the dts 1999 demo 5.1 that features exclusive Diana Krall "They Can't Take That Away from Me" and many more tracks track4, Mars: "Bringer of War" is cool with some lows below 20Hz. I like the coolness of the track 2 Diana Krall.

Had this dts CD since 1999.

I'd prefer if all the today's CD well from many years so few back in Dolby / dts 5.1 sick of paying same prices of DVD or bluray and CD only offers stereo - matrix surround. I want discrete film soundtracks.

Diana Krall does look pissed off.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I don't have the DTS CD demo disc, Andy. But I do have the multi-channel DTS cd of Krall's Love Scenes which has that particular track of hers on it.

She put out many high-resolution multi-channel discs (except, of course, the one I most want--All For You (a tribute to Nat King Cole). DTS discs, SACDs, DVD-As... But she has stopped that practice, unfortunately.

Just think: that 1999 disc is now 15 years old! It's a full-fledged teenager!

 

[andySu]

Just think: that 1999 disc is now 15 years old! It's a full-fledged teenager!

Soon it will be a legal dts CD.

It seemed expensive at the time for dts CD least that's how I saw it. Processor decoders was expensive as was the dts CD. Now they seem to so, so cheaper.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I bet if you wanted to get that CD now you'd be paying dearly for it...

 

[andySu]

I bet if you wanted to get that CD now you'd be paying dearly for it...

Depends on how many where made? Surely I and many more being paying a bit more now.