Future 50 year/copyright releases

[Malc]

With the Live in Chicago and Party! albums dropping down on us this year I was just wondering what the future may 'realistically' hold ? Next year may be a bit sparse, seeing the PS Sessions & SMiLE boxes pretty much covered that year in the studio - so guess that leaves Michigan 66 as the potential live release.
1967 ? Lei'd in Hawaii.. but what then ? Seems along way off til we hit the Carnegie recordings. Add Some Music in its original form ? The full Live in London tapes ? Jeez, even that's a fair way off ! Dare we even hold our breath for the Adult/Child era ? Still best be grateful for what we have gotten so far ...  

[The Shift]

What's released night depend on the number of downloads stuff like Big Surf Beat and Chicago 65 get. Are there enough for these projects to even wash their face?

[RiC]

These download-only albums are bullshit. Who pays money of a digital copy? I don't get it. Why don't they just release a limited vinyl series live collection of some sort? Collectors would by that in a heart beat. No ones gonna by those digital downloads...

[Eric Aniversario]

These download-only albums are bullshit. Who pays money of a digital copy? I don't get it. Why don't they just release a limited vinyl series live collection of some sort? Collectors would by that in a heart beat. No ones gonna by those digital downloads...

Although I'd prefer to buy a CD copy, I definitely buy all the download-only releases, and I'm sure that many on this board do as well!

[Andrew G. Doe]

These download-only albums are bullshit. Who pays money of a digital copy? I don't get it. Why don't they just release a limited vinyl series live collection of some sort? Collectors would by that in a heart beat. No ones gonna by those digital downloads...

Lot of folk on this board have already, ergo your claim is... mistaken. 

For the company, a digital release is easier & cheaper. Pressing, packaging & shipping costs ? Nope.

Have to agree, Michigan 1966 seems to be the only logical choice for next year, unless the "GV" vocal multitracks suddenly surface. 1967... well... yes, Lei'd in Hawaii, or maybe the original Wild Honey & sessions. In stereo.

[The Shift]

Still some Smiley tracks haven't surfaced, like Hawaiian Song, and we know of a few rogue Smile takes … maybe a Smile / Smiley combo for 67?

I do hope there's enough interest for physical release some day though. I'm old in that way…

[Manfred]

Live in Chicago ? What´s that ? I never heard about this.

[Ian]

And my understanding is that the label puts them out to extend copyright not to make money. And, while I too love physical releases, the handwriting is on the wall, CDs are being phased out.  The new macs don't even come with a cd port!

[Zesterz]

 MANFRED...41 tunes, out yesterday via Amazon or iTunes as downloads. Fabulous, loose, fun, charming, lively indeed !!!!

Whole thing is £11.99 in UK.....or 99p per song.

[Manfred]

Ok, thank you.

[The Shift]

MANFRED...41 tunes, out yesterday via Amazon or iTunes as downloads. Fabulous, loose, fun, charming, lively indeed !!!!

Whole thing is £11.99 in UK.....or 99p per song.

41? I got 40 on iTunes uk…

[LeeDempsey]

From what I understand THE BIG BEAT 1963 and KEEP AN EYE ON SUMMER 1964 were both pitched to Capitol as limited-edition vinyl releases, and were also pitched to Acoustic Sounds and other specialty labels, but there wasn't any interest.

Lee

[c-man]

These download-only albums are bullshit. Who pays money of a digital copy? I don't get it. Why don't they just release a limited vinyl series live collection of some sort? Collectors would by that in a heart beat. No ones gonna by those digital downloads...

Lot of folk on this board have already, ergo your claim is... mistaken. 

For the company, a digital release is easier & cheaper. Pressing, packaging & shipping costs ? Nope.

Have to agree, Michigan 1966 seems to be the only logical choice for next year, unless the "GV" vocal multitracks suddenly surface. 1967... well... yes, Lei'd in Hawaii, or maybe the original Wild Honey & sessions. In stereo.

What about all the shows from the fall '67 tour that have made the rounds on boots? Those could stand an official copyright-protection release.

[Coda Hall]

Is it true that they actually filmed all of Lei'd In Hawaii? If so, that would be a cool release.

[c-man]

Is it true that they actually filmed all of Lei'd In Hawaii? If so, that would be a cool release.

I asked Alan about that awhile back - and no, it's just some silent home movie stuff shot by someone with Dennis' camera - and NOT the whole show(s).

[Andrew G. Doe]

These download-only albums are bullshit. Who pays money of a digital copy? I don't get it. Why don't they just release a limited vinyl series live collection of some sort? Collectors would by that in a heart beat. No ones gonna by those digital downloads...

Lot of folk on this board have already, ergo your claim is... mistaken. 

For the company, a digital release is easier & cheaper. Pressing, packaging & shipping costs ? Nope.

Have to agree, Michigan 1966 seems to be the only logical choice for next year, unless the "GV" vocal multitracks suddenly surface. 1967... well... yes, Lei'd in Hawaii, or maybe the original Wild Honey & sessions. In stereo.

What about all the shows from the fall '67 tour that have made the rounds on boots? Those could stand an official copyright-protection release.

Ah, yes indeed. Good call.

[Malc]

One thing that puzzles me about this 50-year copyright issue, especially in light of folk calling for the stereo mixed of WH, Today or whatever... but does an alternate mix actually differ in copyright from the initial mono mix ? Surely it's the same 'recording' so would be covered ? When the 64 release came about, and was full of Shut Down mixes, that confused the heck out of me... or was that just the opportunity to issue those recently rediscovered tapes ?
Don't get me wrong, I would love to hear stereo mixes too, but just don't understand how they fall out of copyright when it's a result of the same tapes being used...
Or is it just me being d'oh ?!

[Bicyclerider]

With Dylan's cutting edge box set upping the ante on these archival releases - releasing every studio take and rehearsal from 65 to 66, and every live concert recorded in 65 as a digital download - perhaps BRI will consider doing something similar for 1966, all the Pet Sounds takes and mixes (we still don't have Brian's mono mix of Trombone Dixie) and all of the Smile takes from that year, plus Michigan live.  We only have excerpts of the PS sessions on the PS box, and there are a LOT of unbooted Smile sessions that were only minimally excerpted on TSS.  Plus a few omissions from TSS like the full party reels, Barnyard with the backing vocals, Brian's mono mix of the instrumental Child, the Durrie Parks acetates, etc.

[LeeDempsey]

One thing that puzzles me about this 50-year copyright issue, especially in light of folk calling for the stereo mixed of WH, Today or whatever... but does an alternate mix actually differ in copyright from the initial mono mix ? Surely it's the same 'recording' so would be covered ? When the 64 release came about, and was full of Shut Down mixes, that confused the heck out of me... or was that just the opportunity to issue those recently rediscovered tapes ?
Don't get me wrong, I would love to hear stereo mixes too, but just don't understand how they fall out of copyright when it's a result of the same tapes being used...
Or is it just me being d'oh ?!

Mark Linett and I actually discussed this last year.  Per Mark, any outtake, false start, or alternate mix of a released take is automatically covered by copyright protection. It is only unreleased songs, or distinct versions of songs recorded but not officially released that require copyright renewal.  However, with respect to last year's 1964 set, Mark said that there was supposed to have been an overall 1964 50th anniversary physical release that contained a few tracks that needed protecting as well as alternate mixes, outtakes, etc.  At some point UMG decided not to release the 2 disc set on CD, but since the masters were already prepared they agreed to go ahead with it as a download and release it at the same time as the live '64 concert material, which had songs on it that weren't on the CONCERT album and needed copyright protection.

Lee

[Matt Bielewicz]

Oh dear... that actually makes me much LESS hopeful for a 1965 studio set like the '64 one to still be coming our way. I remember someone saying (can't remember who, someone here) over the course of the last year that we wouldn't necessarily get a set like KAEOS '64 every year, and Lee's post above makes me think that might have been right. The Big Beat 63 made total sense as a copyright extension set, because so many of the tunes on it were new to 'official' release... and KAEOS '64 makes sense in the same way because there (a) were a few tunes that were never released but have been booted, and then (b) the rest of the stuff was clearly from a cancelled two-disc set of mixes of 1964 material made from the recovered Shut Down Volume II work tapes that Capitol obviously thought they might as well put out with the other '64 copyright extension stuff, because the time and money had already been put in to create those mixes.

That suggests to me that without a similar excuse for 1965 material for which unreleased mixes would already have been made and be lying around awaiting release, we *won't* be getting a set like that this year... if you follow me 

I still hope to be proved heinously, spectacularly wrong within hours of this post. But I'd say that makes it less of a likely thing... and indeed maybe less likely that we'll ever have detailed roundups of BB vault material arranged on an annual basis and to the level of detail seen on KAEOS '64 again.

But like I say, maybe, just maybe, I'm wrong. To quote the Rutles, I'm Living In Hope. And a very pleasant Derbyshire village it is, too. Cracking pudding up the road in Bakewell, too.

(Author's note: I don't really live in Derbyshire)

*all I can think of right now is Endless Sleep and that Christmas tune that was probably a Brian original**, but I'm sure there were a few others on the set too...
** [checks iTunes] ah, yes... 'Let's Live Before We Die', aka 'Christmas Eve'

[AndrewHickey]

Yeah, if Lee's right (though I must say that makes little sense from a copyright perspective to me, but I am not a lawyer...) we won't see one. The only unreleased songs, other than the Party tracks, I know of are Stella By Starlight, How Deep is the Ocean, and Three Blind Mice. I don't see them being worth UMG's while to put a set around.

[Matt Bielewicz]

Yeah, agreed, it's not looking good, is it Andrew...? And I think I'm right in saying it's not even *three* unreleased tracks for 1965 - wasn't BW's Three Blind Mice arrangement released (curiously, as it was way out of era) on the SMiLE Sessions box?

[Emdeeh]

I wish these download-only releases came with full-size artwork and liner notes, for those of us who burn the albums to CD.

[Matt Bielewicz]

It's a cost issue, though, isn't it? Basically, the releases are no-frills, and just there at all to satisfy the legal requirement that they have been released in some form so the artists can have the copyright extension... so the record company doesn't pay any more than absolutely needed to get the record 'out there'. And design costs them money, and paying someone to do liners would cost them money... so it doesn't happen.

I wish they'd do it too... hell, I wish all this stuff was out on CD with lovely liners and beautiful art... but as I understand it, the only way any of it comes out at all is if it costs Capitol next to nothing.

[The Shift]

Matt, I'd love to see all this stuff out in physical format too, maybe hires SACD/Blu-ray/DVD audio, vinyl whatever… perhaps a ltd release box collecting it all, in a few years.

I think though that we're being given more that is strictly necessary for reasons of copyright extension. I'm sure a number of the tracks we've heard so far would be covered by the definition Lee gave above, and that Mark and Alan are getting as much stuff in the public domain as they can get past the folks at Capitol/UMe/ whoever holds the, erm, keys.

So major thanks to Mark and Alan… looking forward to the next batch, whenever and whatever that might be.