March 21, 2005
The Music Goes on Side A and the Flip Side Is a DVD By ROBERT LEVINE NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/21/business/media/21dual.html?pagewanted=print&position=
When Matchbox 20's lead singer, Rob Thomas, was planning his first solo release late last year, he thought about ways to make the album a better value, in part to entice consumers who might be tempted to download his songs illegally.
"Obviously, I don't want people to download my album," he said. "But you can't just complain that people are downloading music and not do anything."
In the last couple of years, some artists have included a second disc with bonus songs or a short DVD in order to win over potential file-sharers. But Mr. Thomas's "Something to Be," due April 19 from Atlantic, part of the Warner Music Group, is among the first by a major artist to be released only on DualDisc, a new format being introduced by the major labels that includes a traditional CD on one side of a disc and DVD content on the other. The DVD side includes the same album mixed in surround sound so that it can be heard through home theater systems, as well as about 20 minutes of video - in Mr. Thomas' case, some documentary footage.
At a time when the music business is still suing illegal file-sharers whom, the industry claims, are causing them to lose sales, the major music labels are hoping the DualDisc format will give them a multimedia carrot that can be used along with the legal stick. Because DualDisc albums have additional content but sell in most stores for only a dollar or two more than traditional CD's, they are marketed as a better value.
"They're trying to find some way to add value to the physical product," said David Card, an analyst at Jupiter Research.
They would also like to add some convenience. When Andrew Lack started as the head of Sony Music, now Sony BMG Music Entertainment, in January 2003, he would bring home stacks of CD's and DVD's every night to become more familiar with the company's artists. New to the music business - he had come from NBC, where he had been president of the network - Mr. Lack was struck by how inconvenient it was to switch between the two formats.
"I was thinking, 'Wouldn't it be nice if we could flip this disc over and learn something about the artists?' " he said. The idea was already in the works, so Mr. Lack decided to make the product one of his priorities. Over the last year, all the major labels agreed on specifications for the DualDisc, and no one label will control it. The logo will probably be licensed by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Retailers, who have been squeezed in recent years by file-sharing and by cuts in promotional money from music labels, are enthusiastic about the prospects of the DualDisc. Since the beginning of the year, two major albums have been released in both CD and DualDisc formats, "O" from Omarion and "Rebirth" by Jennifer Lopez. About a third of consumers purchased the DualDisc in the first week, according to Sony BMG Music Entertainment, which produced both. On April 26, the company will release Bruce Springsteen's new album, "Devils & Dust," exclusively as a DualDisc.
"The feedback I'm getting from retail accounts makes me cautiously optimistic," Mr. Lack said. "I think the CD is coming to the end of its run, and I think this might - might - be a replacement."
When the format was introduced before Christmas, there were technical concerns. The discs, imperceptibly thicker than ordinary CD's because two sides are fused together, are incompatible with a fraction of older slot-loading CD players. So far, however, few consumers seem to be having problems. "We have had a below-average return rate," said Bryan Everitt, director of music operations at Hastings Entertainment, which operates 153 music stores under various names.
Artistic advances have been made as well. "The initial DualDisc releases, some of them might have only appealed to the fan club," said Robert J. Higgins, the chairman and chief executive of Trans World Entertainment, which owns F.Y.E., Coconuts and other music chain stores. "But the newer ones have solved that problem."
"When you see a great artist come out in DualDisc," Mr. Higgins said, "that will really write the rules for this."
So far, Sony BMG has been the most aggressive of the major labels in involving marquee artists and promoting the format, according to several retailers. Since the DualDisc incorporates formats that already exist, it will have an advantage over other recent products, such as Super Audio CD and DVD-Audio, and retailers believe DualDisc will capture more of a market. Of the four major labels, only EMI Music has not yet announced DualDisc releases but it is expected to do so this year.
Among the encouraging signs for DualDisc is the recent growth in sales of music DVD's, which nearly doubled in 2004 from the previous year. "We think that consumers have shown a great desire for video," said Paul Bishow, a vice president in marketing for Universal Music Group. "And one of the great engines for growth of DVD video is the additional features. Now you see the beginning of that with music."
Retailers hope consumers see the parallels with DVD. "We need something where, when the consumer picks up a CD, they'll think it's as good a value as a DVD," said Mr. Higgins of Trans World Entertainment.
Like many retailers, Trans World usually charges up to $1.50 more for a DualDisc version of a title. But music companies hope low prices will expand the size of the market, as they did for DVD's."By Labor Day, we'll know," said Mike Dreese, the co-owner of Newbury Comics, a chain of record and movie stores in New England. "This will either be a mildly interesting niche product, or by next year, half of the albums by major artists will be DualDisc," Mr. Dreese said. For now, given the problems the music business has suffered over the last several years, "it's exciting to see something that when you put it in a rack, it sells."
================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 antunes at uh dot edu
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