Rosco Posted January 19, 2006 Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 LONDON (Reuters) - Universal Music, the world's biggest record label, is digging deep into its vaults to release download-only recordings from its vast back catalog. The company said on Wednesday it is embarking on a program to digitise 100,000 out of print European recordings, beginning with 3,000 British, French and German albums from artists such as Marianne Faithfull, Brian Auger and Brigitte Bardot. "Over the next three to four years, we aim to reissue perhaps as many as 10,000 albums for downloading, which amounts to more than 100,000 tracks," said Barney Wragg, senior vice president of Universal Music Group International's eLabs division. "This program will offer material that, in some cases, goes back to the early days of recorded music." The digitised songs, many of which have only been published on vinyl LPs, will then go to Universal's online music partners such as Apple's iTunes Music Store. The new initiative -- carried out after Universal digitised all of its active catalog -- reflects the new reality of Internet music stores where "shelf space" is effectively infinite, and a large proportion of sales come from the long tail of non-blockbusters. Digitising music, particularly back catalog recordings, can be complicated by the fact that older contracts with musicians and publishers did not include digital rights. That adds a tangle of red tape to the task of converting analog tapes or vinyl into a digital file that can played by a computer or a device like Apple's iPod. Universal Music is owned by France's Vivendi Universal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tatifan Posted January 19, 2006 Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 What an odd choice of representative artists! Guess we'll have to use our imagination to find something to salivate over..... Early 50's Deutsche Gramophon Lps...now we're talking! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron S Posted January 19, 2006 Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 The company said on Wednesday it is embarking on a program to digitise 100,000 out of print European recordings, beginning with 3,000 British, French and German albums from artists such as . . . Brigitte Bardot. What an odd choice of representative artists! Guess we'll have to use our imagination to find something to salivate over..... I don't think it takes much imagination: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted January 19, 2006 Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 I understand the Bardot discs will be enhanced discs with unreleased footage of ..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted January 19, 2006 Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 There are DOZENS of unavailable Rhoda Scott albums, originally recorded by Barclay, now owned by Universal. Yippeeeeeee! MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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