Old Masters, New Income

摘要

How many times will you buy a recordrnyou love? The logical answer is once, since CDs and MP3S are all but indestructible, but logic has never had much to do with love or the record business. This year in particular, the industry is banking on the absence of logic. Scan a list of 2009's major releases and you'll discover almost as many reissues-repackaged classics with improved sound or added tracks-as originals. You may not be tempted by Lenny Kravitz's Let Love Rule 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition or Average White Band's re-pressed Cut the Cake-generally you have to want something once before wanting it twice. But in May, Universal will begin reissuing the Rolling Stones' 14 most recent albums, while in September, EMI and Apple Corps will reissue all 12 of the Beatles' studio albums. By October, logic be damned, many baby boomers will be a few hundred dollars lighter.rnThe relationship between record companies and reissue buyers has not historically been built on good faith. Anyone who owns one of the nine versions of the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, each with its own seductive "extra" features, knows it's a lot more like the relationship between Charlie Brown and Lucy. But after years of selling slightly improved old goods at steep newrnprices, at least a few labels have started focusing on quality control. "In this day and age and economy, we have to make something remarkable, or we're not going to be able to compete," says Adam Block, general manager of Legacy Recordings, Sony'scata-log and archive arm. "We have to start with a great record and then figure out how to make the experience even greater."