FYI, the SACD mastering budget for the series on a per disc basis was
cheaper than doing the project as a CD re-issue in house at Sony Music. (We
charge Boston rates, not NY rates......)
Finally, of the 60 SACD titles, all but 4 recouped in their first
pressing. Unfortunately Morton Gould and a couple others just didn't sell
well after the original group of 10 releases. Doesn't mean that they are
any less interesting to listen to, just not big sellers.
All the best,
-mark


On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 12:41 PM, Dennis Rooney <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> Dear Tom,
>
> I have heard similar hearsay but never followed it up. LIVING STEREO was a
> prestige line. Pfeiffer mostly stayed out of it. We can discuss his
> influence on another occasion.
>
> Ciao,
>
> DDR
>
> On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 11:59 AM, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]
> >wrote:
>
> > Hi Dennis:
> >
> > The story I heard [WARNING - 2nd Hand, perhaps hearsay] was that someone
> > in the family that controls BMG (Mann? family) is both a classical music
> > and RCA Living Stereo fan, so he or they saw Living Stereo as a crown
> jewel
> > in the RCA acquisition. Therefore, the horrid-sounding early CDs quickly
> > came out of print under BMG and the 1990s Living Stereo reissue program
> > took place, which was often an improvement over earlier reissues
> > (definitely the ones supervised by John Pfeiffer were improvements, I
> think
> > the program got dilluted as time went on). Then when SACDs came along, no
> > expense was spared in producing the Living Stereo hybrid reissues. Again,
> > heard second-hand, but I was told that there was no mathematical way for
> > BMG to profit from that series from the number of hybrid discs they
> pressed
> > at the very reasonable retail price point they set, so it was a
> loss-leader
> > labor of love. Now what I don't know is whether they did additional press
> > runs, which would have added to any profitability or perhaps attained
> > profitability.
> >
> > When Sony put out the box set of the CD layers a few years ago, I figured
> > that meant the SACDs were thus out of print and so I better snap up all
> > that I wanted while there was still inventory out there. I succeed but
> > everything was bought "new and used" from Amazon-affiliated sellers, many
> > of them located outside the US. I don't like opera and that was a good
> > thing because the opera titles were sold out and quite pricey in the "new
> > and used" world.
> >
> > -- Tom Fine
>