breathesgelatin, on 19 April 2012 - 02:46 PM, said:
More and more I really feel Rubano tapes are the way to start. I have been thinking so much about this the last few days. Here are my top ideas for what to release.
1. RUBANO TAPES: Realistically, if it's 30 or 50 hours of Rubano material, how many CDs would that be in a box set (or vinyl, egads??).
Maybe the solution is a 2-5 CD box set and a corresponding vinyl set with the "best of" the Rubano material, some really cool pack-ins/art, and a digital download of the rest of the stuff. The full package could be priced at $150 or $200 or something. I am just beginning to feel like $400 or $500 for EVERYTHING on CD (that's a LOT of CDS!!!) is SO much stuff and it's SO expensive, that it might not be workable.
Then various options to download all or part of it digitally. Billy suggested the idea of $5 for 12 individual tracks from the Rubano tapes. That seems totally fair and perhaps there could be a few different levels above that, as well as the complete digital download.
(Anywhere I write "download" substitute "USB," potentially, depending on the band's retail situation. Seems like they have a relationship with TopSpin who can handle the digital downloads most likely.)
2. PASTICHIO MEDLEY SET: My other idea for the first release is a complete CD/vinyl/digital release of ALL the Pastichio Medley songs. It could be called the Pastichio Medley set and have full versions of all the songs from the Medley. It would probably be two or three or maybe four CDs, I'm guessing? Of course, this option would potentially take a lot of work tracking down Pastichio Medley tracks (per Billy's discussion). I know this is not chronological exactly but I am assuming that the archive people have been looking at Mellon Collie/Aeroplane stuff lately to prepare for those reissues, at least. This could be priced very reasonably, possibly $75-100 (possibly less???) for the boxset (or more with cool pack-ins) and less for the digital?
3. TEARGARDEN DEMOS/B-SIDES SET: The other thing I really freaking want is the Mark Tulin Teargarden demos (all the Teargarden demos, really). There is so much interest in that music right now. It would be a tribute to Mark. He has the rights. He should know where the stuff is. I just fear that that material is going to get forgotten or that people won't care as much about it in a few years as they do now. If enough money is raised, some could even be given to one of Mark's favorite charities.
1. Since the Rubano Tapes idea seems to be a fairly popular one, I do think it should be done fairly early on (though I still disagree with the idea of doing it as the first release). At the same time, a lot of what Billy mentioned really should be applied to that particular release. There may be 50 hours of footage/ content, but can all of that really be worthwhile? And even still, who is going to buy a box set with 50 hours of content, digital or physical, when it will undoubtedly be a very expensive release. I'd say in relation to Rubano, you could whittle it down at least in half- take 20-25 hours of content, and do a series of releases: Rubano Box Vol. 1, Vol. 2, etc. as separate releases. Each box would contain different content from each other, obviously, and the releases (while still being decent sized box sets) would be much more manageable as releases than if it was put out as one monster release of 50 hours. Each Volume could be 3 CDs, 1 DVD, and for each Volume there could be a "Best of the Volume" single disc compilation. I think what's key in this project is knowing appropriate limitations. People want content, that's a given. And people likely want a lot of content. But once $$ figures start reaching too high a number, people start to get concerned/ agitated and it throws a wrench into the release. Regardless of how much content. People will not be willing to spend more than $XX amount for any release, regardless of how much the release holds. So the best thing to do, especially in a case like Rubano, or the many Mellon Collie demos that exist, would be to break them down into separate releases. Sometimes they could be 3-4 disc box sets, other times they may be a single CD or DVD. I could see vinyl working with Rubano, depending on the specific content, but being limited to 1-2 LPs of the best of the content of a given release. There'd be no way to do multiple hours upon hours on vinyl.
2. I definitely dig the idea of a Pastichio Medley box set, and think it would go over quite well as a 3-4 disc box. I'd say the price you quoted (while understandably a hypothetical number) would be a bit on the high end, even for a physical package. Again, once things start to get on the expensive side, people start to get upset and alienated. If nothing else, like I said above, if one release starts to get to large, don't try to charge $200 for a 10 disc set. Break it down into smaller collections for cheaper amounts.
3. While I am interested in the TbK demos, I don't think that would be something worth working with at the moment or in the near future. If anything, I think there will be more interest for those demos down the line once time has passed than whatever interest may exist for them now. I hope those recordings come out, but they should definitely wait until the majority of everything else has already been released.
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