Post by HV August 22, 2008 (1 of 43)
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Post by Perigo August 23, 2008 (2 of 43)
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I think the situation is a little more complex than that from what I understand; it is hardly surprising however that a company that believed in the SACD so passionately that they adopted a dual inventory strategy (frequently released after the RBCD version and at a higher price) found it hard to shift them...
They join the list for whom this approach failed - it includes DGG, Philips and Decca. In yesteryear, Hyperion would have been delighted to be listed alongside these companies but this is one "accolade" they could and should have avoided.
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Post by andrewb August 23, 2008 (4 of 43)
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Disappointing, if this is confirmed. The new web design on the Hyperion site has no section for SACD unlike the old.
A year or so ago, I understood from Simon Perry that they were intending to continue releasing Angela Hewitt's recordings on SACD because she is Canadian and sales of SACD have been good there.
Simon Perry does believe in the superiority of SACD but economics have prevented them releasing more. I suspect that the huge legal cost of the copyright court case that Hyperion were sadly embroiled in meant serious cut-backs, which may still be having their effect, and SACD has been a victim of this.
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Post by bissie August 23, 2008 (5 of 43)
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andrewb said:
Disappointing, if this is confirmed. The new web design on the Hyperion site has no section for SACD unlike the old.
A year or so ago, I understood from Simon Perry that they were intending to continue releasing Angela Hewitt's recordings on SACD because she is Canadian and sales of SACD have been good there.
Simon Perry does believe in the superiority of SACD but economics have prevented them releasing more. I suspect that the huge legal cost of the copyright court case that Hyperion were sadly embroiled in meant serious cut-backs, which may still be having their effect, and SACD has been a victim of this.
If Hyperion indeed released SACD after the RBCD as a dual inventory and at a higher price, it is to me natural that they cannot make the numbers come out positively. I am surprised that a person with Simon Perry's acumen can make such a basic mistake.
I am sad that we're losing one of the few really good labels out there to the cause of superior sound recordings, not because the system cannot make money, but because they went at it the wrong way. The Court case has nothing to do with this, the earning power from an SACD, marketed correctly, has. We at BIS are deriving our best-sellers from our Hybrid SACD:s (which of course can have something to do with what products we select for that treatment...)
It for sure doesn't help the future of this system. Sad, really sad. I still think that the only way is to offer the Hybrid SACD:s to the public at no price increase, and as the only alternative, i.e. single inventory.
Robert
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Post by aoqd22 August 23, 2008 (6 of 43)
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I suspect that the huge legal cost of the copyright court case that Hyperion were sadly embroiled in meant serious cut-backs, which may still be having their effect, and SACD has been a victim of this.
Think one other matter may have effected sales too and that is the conviction just over a year ago of Robert King of various incidents of indecent assault. He and the Kings Consort must have made not far off 100 recordings for Hyperion.
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Post by DSD August 23, 2008 (7 of 43)
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HV said:
http://www.audaud.com/article.php?ArticleID=4683
I'm looking forward to Mephisto & Co.
RR-82 SACD - MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA / EIJI OUE: Mephisto & Co.
LISZT: Mephisto Waltz; MUSSORGSKY: Night on Bald Mountain; LIADOV: Baba Yaga; FRANCK: The Accursed Huntsman; DUKAS: The Sorcerer's Apprentice; SAINT-SAENS: Danse macabre; ARNOLD: Tam o' Shanter; J. STRAUSS II: Lucifer Polka. (TT: 71:56)
It is sad to hear about Hyperion, they really made some excellent SACDs.
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Post by Peter August 23, 2008 (8 of 43)
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Perigo said:
I think the "poor sales" are regarding all Hyperion releases, not only SACD section.
That isn't true - the reference to poor sales concerns SACD only.
Peter
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Post by stvnharr August 23, 2008 (9 of 43)
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bissie said:
If Hyperion indeed released SACD after the RBCD as a dual inventory and at a higher price, it is to me natural that they cannot make the numbers come out positively. I am surprised that a person with Simon Perry's acumen can make such a basic mistake.
I am sad that we're losing one of the few really good labels out there to the cause of superior sound recordings, not because the system cannot make money, but because they went at it the wrong way. The Court case has nothing to do with this, the earning power from an SACD, marketed correctly, has. We at BIS are deriving our best-sellers from our Hybrid SACD:s (which of course can have something to do with what products we select for that treatment...)
It for sure doesn't help the future of this system. Sad, really sad. I still think that the only way is to offer the Hybrid SACD:s to the public at no price increase, and as the only alternative, i.e. single inventory.
Robert
Robert,
Lots of agreement here on all your points.
Steve
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Post by andrewb August 23, 2008 (10 of 43)
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bissie said:
If Hyperion indeed released SACD after the RBCD as a dual inventory and at a higher price, it is to me natural that they cannot make the numbers come out positively. I am surprised that a person with Simon Perry's acumen can make such a basic mistake.
Although Hyperion have had a dual inventory policy and sell the hybrid-SACDs at typically £1 more, I believe, based on my own experience, that they have released both RBCD and hybrid-SACD at the same time, in almost all cases. Only in the very early days can I remember the SACD being later than the RBCD.
Harmonia Mundi semed to initially adopt a single inventory policy and then changed to dual inventory, now they appear to have gone back to single inventory. Be interesting to see if this applies to their next big Jacobs release, where in the past the SACD version has been available at a substantial premium compared to the RBCD.
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