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Ever had that creepy feeling that someone has their hand in your pocket? Well, if you love the music of the '60s, '70s and even the '80s, there's a good chance the stars you idolise are sneakily boosting their superannuation at your expense.
Their sleight of hand comes by way of an avalanche of re-issues, box sets and "never before heard" extras related to their most famous work.
Try this for size. You want the re-issue of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band with extra tracks. Then hand over between $80 and $95. If you'd prefer the box set with CDs, Blu-ray discs and a booklet, you can hand over anything up to $259.
In the past eight years the Beatles/Apple have re-issued Sgt Pepper five times on either CD or vinyl. In vinyl form it was re-issued as stereo, then as mono and finally it was remastered and remixed for stereo and released yet again.
Asked about this, Paul McCartney let the cat out of the bag. He said the latest stereo re-issue sounded good because it was more like the original mono mix that the Beatles approved and released 50 years ago. Are you getting the drift?
Respected rock writer Stuart Coupe, who's never been a fan of Sgt Pepper anyway, says it's a classic case of overkill.
"The material that didn't make the cut first time around was left out for a good reason and you know if you charge that much for albums people aren't going to consume as much music," he said.
In the flesh
It doesn't end with re-issues. When Paul McCartney comes to Australia later in the year, tickets start from $121 for the nosebleed section, but the bulk of seats at his Sydney show will go for $400.
Already scalpers are demanding thousands for pre-sale tickets. McCartney is not the Beatles — he's not even Dylan.
So what is he selling? Very simply, nostalgia.
The merchandising figures say it all. In the US, rock/pop artists make nearly $100 million a year on merchandise alone.
Everyone's doing it
Don't think it's just the Beatles though. Over the past decade, rock's greatest and not-so-great bands have issued and then re-issued albums.
First for CD, then for improved CD technology, then they offer the same album on vinyl and CD with some "new" element to attract buyers to update again.
In part this re-issue bonanza explains the recent surge in vinyl sales. Last year vinyl purchases in Britain and the US rose by 53 per cent and 25.9 per cent respectively.
When Pink Floyd sang the lines "money, it's a gas, grab the cash with both hands and make a stash", we thought they were pointing the finger at filthy capitalist pigs. It is now clear, they may well have been talking about themselves.
The original Pink Floyd was fronted by a charismatic songwriter Syd Barrett. For 50 years, devoted fans wondered what music remained in the vaults from the awkward period when Barrett began melting down until he finally left the band and the Floyds found a new musical path.
This year the Barrett-era material was offered as part of a massive box set for $600 to $700. Money certainly is a gas.
Stairway to profits
Led Zeppelin, the most rapacious of all the great rock bands, haven't disappointed us either. Even while they fought a rear-guard action against claims they'd stolen songs from other artists (yes, they did), they have re-issued their catalogue as singles, doubles and box sets for much of the past two decades.
When they exhausted that tactic, they cut a deal with Spotify to stream that same material.
What's remarkable is that all the Zep catalogue, along with many other major artists, is readily obtainable on vinyl and CD.
As Marty Carr, sales manager for second hand and collectable vinyl at Timewarp Records, explains:
"If you go online or check vinyl stores you can buy most of the major artists on vinyl that was pressed in the '70s or '80s. Sometimes they are a third of the price of the new re-issues."
To press home the point, U2 have just re-released The Joshua Tree, asking $60 for vinyl that's easily obtainable second hand.
1966 revisited
Perhaps the most questionable releases involve live recordings.
Bob Dylan has created an entire industry releasing material he didn't use on his original records, much of it top-class cast offs. However, he too is now pushing the envelope with a 36-CD boxset of his ground breaking mid-'60s world electric tour.
That's 36 CDs with almost the same song list every night. They even marketed a double album of his 1966 Sydney concert for Australian fans. One problem — the sound is very ordinary.
The fuel for this gold rush is simple: technology. Digital processing has made it possible to take analogue tapes recorded 50 years ago, duplicate them in a way that enables not just remastering (faithful reproduction) but also re-mixing (creating a new version).
Digital makes every click or burp accessible, every guitar note and cymbal crash sharper and it makes it possible for record companies to say: "Here is (insert the band name) as you've never heard them."
As a former Beatles sound engineer told me, "a lot of the re-issues are rubbish".
"When we made them it was like a painting, now they've changed the painting."
In other words, the technology adds clarity but it doesn't necessarily improve the music — a sharper sound isn't necessarily what the artist wanted.
Stuart Coupe, who also runs Laughing Outlaw records, isn't impressed.
"I really don't get very excited about these boxsets. I have the original albums, and then they throw in alternative takes that you quickly realise why they didn't get included. Then for good measure they throw in a concert or live performance," he says.
"It's going to go on, there will be anniversary after anniversary and more re-issues."
Bad for new business
It's the ultimate irony that the very artists who revolutionised music by writing original material and performing it have now become human jukeboxes — and fans will pay for it.
That means young exciting new artists struggle. Earlier this year, Max Jury, one of America's finest new songwriters, had to cancel a tour here because ticket sales didn't justify the trip.
This week Steve Gunn, one of the finest guitar players around, will visit Australia. You can watch him for a tenth of a McCartney ticket.
I know where I'll be. He'll be more interesting and I'll keep my superannuation a little longer.
Topics: music-industry, arts-and-entertainment, pop, rock, music, australia
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