What’s Going On at Universal Music?
The massive consolidation of the music industry has left us with just three majors; but the Universal Music Group towers above them all. They hold the masters (those that they didn’t allow to burn into non existence) and the copyrights to a significant proportion of Western recorded music’s legacy. The group continues to make a lot of money from recycling classic recordings. Hence we had about 30 years of box sets, 10 years of “Deluxe Edition” CD reissues (that included a second disc of material that fans already had on bootlegs), 15 minutes of Blu-Ray audio, vinyl box sets and “superdeluxe editions” that combine CDs, Blu-Rays (5.1 surround), Vinyl records and various other paraphernalia into a box that costs twice as much as the contents combined value (see my last post): the “super-deluxe” box with unnecessary foam adds at least $30 to the price, but if it contains multiple “compartments” – increase this to $50.
As the “vinyl resurgence” or resurrection is now into it’s teen years, Universal and other music companies have correctly realized that they have pretty much resold a copy of every catalog album that might be bought by the naive customers (myself included) that believe the hype that CDs pressed on vinyl sound better than their CDs and scratched up original vinyl that has been languishing in the attic for years. What do you do now? Try to sell them another copy of “Thriller” with an “alternative cover” – with the “standard LP,” derived from the same middling quality digital source, for €58 (not including shipping) – seriously? How about a deluxe edition with an extra album of “outtakes” – that everybody listens to approximately once (if ever). What about the “audiophile” angle? Keep in mind that a Universal subsidiary, Blue Note, is currently having an extraordinary run of success selling 60 year old records (nearly all out of copyright and easily bought in multi-pack CDs for about $2 an album) to suckers people like me. These albums, carefully digitally remastered in the 1980s and 1990s are universally available, for essentially free, from streaming services. If you subscribe to Qobuz, you can stream these albums in HiRes (24-192) at no extra cost. But a certain type of person, in a certain age group, in a certain income bracket, just likes to enjoy physical product. The look, the feel, the smell. And some of us actually play our records! So, it appears that Universal has finally, following the example of MOFI, Analogue Productions, Sundazed, Pure Pleasure, Impex, Org, Speakers Corner etc., discovering premium priced audiophila.
This all brings me to Marvin Gaye. Several weeks ago I received an email from “Sound of Vinyl” (Universal Music’s Vinyl Store) promoting the 50th Anniversary of “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye. This deluxe edition contains a remaster of the original album “from the original master tapes” plus an album of outtakes and demos (almost always these outtakes are digitally sourced). I already have a Back to Black digital sourced version of this record that I bought in 2009 (€14.99) and never opened (the CD was good enough for me). I was, however, intrigued to learn that the album was being mastered AAA by Kevin Gray and pressed at Dublin Vinyl (boutique). Is the price reasonable (€53, £50 UK, $40 before tax USA)? By my reckoning – previous post – AAA double vinyl, Kevin Gray, glossy gatefold, inserts plus essays – value €53).
I ordered it. Then I discovered that this was a bit of “bait and switch.” The US version was indeed mastered by KG and pressed in Europe at GZ (the hype label states a Canadian pressing plant – but there is a “made in the Czech republic” sticker on the back): AAA + Kevin Gray = audiophile release. However, it turns out that the European version was mastered from DIGITAL by Lawrie Dunster (UK). So – fraudulent marketing. Moreover, the AAA STAMPERS are IN EUROPE. GZ could easily have run off a couple of thousand copies for the European market or just sent the mother stamper to Dublin (DHL can do it in an afternoon). Audiophiles are apoplectic – and with good reason. Universal made a big play of the provenance of the album – AAA by Kevin Gray (it could have been any mastering engineer of course – but KG is superman at the moment because of the BN Tone Poet releases). That buyers have to look at the run out grooves – anxiously – to see which version they bought is unacceptable. They might as well buy the Back in Black version (pressed at Record Industry) for half the price (or listen to the source CD or just stream the deluxe edition). In addition the product is priced for audiophiles – not for the standard (digitally sourced) market. Fortunately I cancelled my original order and obtained the US version: the price, from Amazon.com, including shipping, duties and taxes wasn’t much more than I would have paid in Europe. The album, incidentally sounds good but not spectacular (and no I haven’t listened to the outtakes yet).
This second class European version of “Audiophile” reissues is nothing new. Several years ago Sony released a series of RSD mono reissues of Miles Davis Classics (this followed and excellent 9 CD box set). The records were promoted by Sony Legacy as “Limited Edition Audiophile Numbered etc.” The lacquers were cut by – you guessed it – Kevin Gray and pressed at RTI – limited edition and NUMBERED: audiophile by every definition. The albums received enthusiastic reviews. I went to my local record store and bought a few of them. Low numbers – yippie! Subsequently I noticed the “Music on Vinyl” imprint on my records. Alarm bells! MOV is produced at Record Industries in Haarlem – with internal mastering from DIGITAL (usually high res) – and pressed on flat silent slabs of vinyl packaged in poly lined inners– the quality is good. The provenance is marginal. Sony, despite having an AAA mother stamper of each of these albums, chose to go cheap and sell the Europeans a second rate digitally sourced but ludicrously numbered version. The hype sticker on the outside stated “180g Audiophile Vinyl” which, in reality, was no different from Waxtime “limited editions” cut from CD. Atrocious.* Later, I bought a non numbered copy of Kind of Blue from the US (AAA) and compared it to the MOV version. There was no contest, the US version was better.
Last year, I pre-ordered Vince Guaraldi’s famous Charlie Brown record, on blue vinyl from VMP. This was also mastered by KG. I’m not crazy about the VMP GZ pressed colored vinyl obsession. I waited ages for it to arrive– and noticed that there was a black version on sale in Europe – for less money. I considered cancelling my order. Fortunately I did not. The European version, in the same packaging, with the KG hype sticker (there was a black vinyl US release – AAA), was cut from a digital source. The AAA records were also pressed at GZ, in Europe, and exported to the USA! WTF?
Is this all nit picking? This is not a case of “designed in California, manufactured in China” – there really is a significant difference in the quality of the product when it comes to vinyl records, mastering, packaging and pressing. These are reflected in the price. However, as is usual, this particular album (“What’s Goin’ On?”), in inferior form, is actually priced higher in Europe, where it was manufactured, than in the USA.
*The MOV version actually sounded pretty good – as most of their releases do, I am complaining here about misleading marketing and insulting the intelligence of European customers.
audioexchange 