McCartney’s manager reaches out to explain Flowers in the Dirt downloads
The Flowers in the Dirt deluxe set caused controversy by not including all audio on CD
Scott Rodger, who manages Paul McCartney (and other major artists, including Arcade Fire) reached out to SDE last week to discuss the less than positive fan feedback left on this blog over the 16 ‘download-only’ tracks included in the forthcoming Flowers in the Dirt deluxe edition.
The ground rules for the conversation (with SDE Editor, Paul Sinclair) were that this wasn’t an ‘interview’ and wouldn’t be reported as such, but that Scott was keen to convey his general points to McCartney fans and the SDE audience about Paul’s Archive Collection releases and hopefully try and put into context why certain decisions are made, including the controversial one not to include the B-sides, remixes and demos on CD, in the Flowers in the Dirt box set (see the open letter to Paul McCartney).
If we are going to cut to the chase, I will put you out of your misery and tell you that unfortunately, nothing will change regarding this Flowers in the Dirt deluxe edition.
I’m going to summarise the key points that Scott made below. To stress, these are not direct quotes from Scott and these aren’t necessarily the exact questions I asked, but I’ve created the questions and answers below to try and simplify and clarify the points of view. In my opinion, it is a very fair summary of the conversation.
Why not include the ‘download-only’ content on a physical fourth CD in the Flowers in the Dirt box set?
The main reason why there is not a fourth physical CD is because Paul didn’t want any more than four discs in the set. What Paul says, ultimately goes. He wants to look to the future and embrace new technology and drive people to streaming. 100m people are signed up to streaming services right now and that is projected to double in the next three to four years. This is seen as the future. Paul’s team want to look to the future and their research shows that more people are excited about the streaming catalogue. If that wasn’t the case then many more box sets would be sold.
Surely one extra CD wouldn’t have cost that much?
The cost wasn’t the main issue (see above) although Scott was at pains to stress that while Paul’s organisation is not losing money from these reissues, they are not that far from it, so even something like licensing some TV footage for the DVD element could make the difference between profit and loss. Physical music retail is a challenging marketplace with limited options (Amazon, Best Buy, Target. etc.) and Scott also pointed out that despite the costs of these sets, there is a lot of retail mark-up and label margin in the £120 price-tag.
Does this mean that Paul doesn’t value his fans?
Scott was very keen to underline that Paul values his fans very much but also trusts the team that is in place (headed by Rodger) to put these releases together. The whole Archive Collection series is one big preservation project and Scott is thrilled that they’ve managed to deliver what they have with projects that, in his opinion, go above and beyond. Paul is very involved and checks everything and listens to all the remastered audio.
If there isn’t a market for multi-disc sets, how come Sony issued a 60-disc box set for Elvis and a 36-disc set for Bob Dylan?
This is a different prospect. Scott agreed that there probably is a market for a 25CD set of Paul McCartney & Wings and MPL could do that. Indeed, they are talking about it. But for one title, one album, it’s different.
Why fill the box sets with so much printed material (books etc.) and not focus more on physical music?
Scott pointed out that Paul has an archive of over 1.2 million photos – he kept virtually everything. People within MPL are digitising every day. Preserving the world around the key titles in his catalogue via photos, memorabilia, lyric sheets is considered a core part of the process.
Doesn’t Paul realise that there’s some great music amongst those B-sides, remixes and cassette demos?
The physical discs in the deluxe set (Flowers in the Dirt remastered, Elvis Costello demos and band demos) are considered to be the crème de la crème. The other audio in the opinion of Paul and MPL is of interest, but not considered to be central to the narrative of the making of Flowers in the Dirt.
Are all future Paul McCartney Archive Collection deluxe sets going to be like this?
The answer to this was that nothing is set in stone. This doesn’t necessarily define what will happen in the future.
Will the 16-tracks being supplied as downloads be MP3, CD quality or high-resolution?
The additional tracks will be 16-bit standard WAVs since they were sourced from EQ’d CD production master Umatic tapes, which are limited to 16-bit 44.1 kHz. So they aren’t hi-res but neither are they MP3s.
What’s does the future hold in terms of the physical deluxe editions of archive collection titles?
Paul’s team work on one project at a time because there may come a point where the record label says there is no demand anymore. Despite this, I was assured that loads of potential projects are being discussed such as Wildlife and Red Rose Speedway.
Paul Sinclair of SuperDeluxeEdition would like to thank Scott Rodger for getting in touch personally to respond to the issue directly.
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I was able to download two tracks from the bonus material but no more. Now, years later, I would love to have the “complete” recordings associated with this set, without buying the box set again (I certainly paid for all associated recordings), but that seems … impossible. Anyone have any suggestions?
[…] worth of ‘download-only’ content as part of his £130 Flowers in the Dirt box set (see this post). Now, fans who primarily use streaming are being offered something exclusive in the physical […]
Download only is the future, but he releases a CASSETTE on Record Store Day????? Yeah, o.k. I think the guy has Kelly Conway beat. I hope the idiots realize their mistake after they see all of us bitching. We’re not buying it because we like it, but because there is no other (legal) way to get it. I hope they’ve got the hint, DON’T DO THIS AGAIN!
[…] even then Paul didn’t think enough of the song to include it on CD – it was one of the notorious ‘download-only’ tracks. The ONLY place to find Back On My Feet on CD is the original […]
Sounds like Scott Rodger studied with Kelly Anne Conway!!! How about making those B-side available on iTunes???
Agree with Uncle Albert. The download-only -content is the least interesting part of this reissue and I have no intention to listen to the stuff at all. The demo material is historical making-of content of the shaping of the main album. Elvis Costello had a huge impact and was a lead voice on the tracks and could’ve been the reason NOT to release the demos by the main artist. I like this bravery actually.
Yet still why not release it on one more disc, it would cost nothing. I agree with everyone. But for me, no reason to skip this release of an album that means something to me.
I can’t understand why people are getting so upset about this. Anyone would think the ‘Flowers’ b-sides were up there with McCartney’s best work.
They’re really not. ‘Back On My Feet’, ‘Flying To My Home’ and ‘Loveliest Thing’ are decent enough but in all honesty, they were b-sides for a reason and none of them would have warranted a place on the album. The rest are mostly tossed off bits of fluff, such as ‘The First Stone’, ‘Good Sign’ and the dreadful ‘Party Party’, or dated house remixes which frankly, were ropey enough the first time around. (The best of the lot was probably a new version of ‘The Long and Winding Road’ but that hasn’t even made it onto the download list.)
If the mp3 option seems like an afterthought, perhaps it’s because that’s exactly what most of the material in question was: format-filler, tossed off to provide extra material for various CD, cassette and 12″ singles. A whole disc of this stuff would hardly constitute a holy grail of lost classics.
Besides (no pun intended), those of us who still have the original singles hardly need a separate compilation of all those tracks; personally, I’m happier to pay for the demo recordings which I’ve not heard before. Maybe I’m alone in despising ‘deluxe’ reissues that merely bundle up a load of music I’ve already got but this one (!) actually looks pretty appealing to me.
At least, it will once the price has come down a bit…
In Club Sandwich – Paul’s own fan-club magazine at the time (reprinted in the Flowers in the Dirt book) – it states that Flying To My Home was “a strong contender for the album”.
[…] place the B-side, Flying To My Home, will be reissued physically, since that track is part of the controversial ‘download-only’ […]
After reading Mr Rodgers response I was struck by the attitude that downloads and or streaming is becoming more popular. I’am sure this is true. But most of the people that prefer streaming are the same ones that said “Who’s that old guy with Kanye “.I have loved Mr McCartney’s work my whole life and still do. If you’re going to sell a product, know your market. You are selling a 30 year old album. Who do you think your customers will be? It’s like trying to sell birth control to a 60 year old.
It COULD be a four disc set. Just take the two discs of demos and put them on one disc. They’ll fit I bet, and then the download only material could be disc four. Whatever Paul, you old bastard. Keep making us spend big bucks for these archive releases PLUS having to go out & spend MORE big bucks tracking down the CD singles you left off of it. THAT’S the way to ensure continued success of the Archive Series……
Nope. That’s complete rubbish. The one and ONLY point to ANY deluxe edition is that it is made for the superfans. Period. That means it is made for the people who WANT hard copy. Nothing else will do. Every creator of a deluxe edition knows this fact so this guy is not connecting with reality and possibly, neither is Paul. Memo to Mr. McCartney: As a basic rule of box sets, disc one: Album proper. Disc two: B-SIDES & 12″ MIXES. Disc Three: unreleased/demos/alternates. Discs four and five: More of the same, or live tracks, etc. Finally, don’t try to force your fans into something they have absolutely NO INTEREST IN. If they cared so little about the music so as to be excited about streaming, they would not be in the market for a deluxe edition in the first place.
The entire rational is a cop out. Streaming as the future has nothing to do with this set beyond the fact that they want fans that don’t want to stream this but buy it stream it by withholding tracks.
Stupid, short sighted poor business decision.
If anyone has been paying close attention to the history of Paul McCartney’s Archive Collection releases, with a couple exceptions, each one has been extremely underwhelming with many missed opportunities (i.e. bonus material). A couple examples: On the ‘Pipes of Peace;’ reissue, the rare track “Simple as That” (which was a bonus track on the 1993 release) was not included in the archive reissue. Ironically, there was a demo included with the same title, but was a completely different (and weaker) track. The ‘Wings Over America’ Archive release only included 8 songs live as bonus material. From what I know of the Wings 1976 tour, every show was recorded and there were opportunities to feature more than 8 songs from one show (San Francisco).
Also, of the bonus content, there is far too much printed material (‘Ram’ included a frickin’ note pad!). Some of the archive releases have made bonus tracks available as downloads. The Archive release of ‘Band on The Run’ had “Band on the Run (Live in Glasgow, 1979)” & “No Words (Live in Glasgow, 1979)” as instant downloads when one ordered this reissue. This has been inconsistent throughout the entire campaign.
To hear the (paraphrased) responses from Paul McCartney’s man-in-charge was disappointing and gave me the impression that they “just don’t get it”. There is a history of Paul McCartney just not knowing how to compile a proper collection of material to suit most his fans. I have seen repeated failures on the track listing for EVERY compilation dating all the way back to 1978’s “Wings Greatest”.
This history of missed opportunities even extends to video compilations and live DVD releases, but that is a whole other topic altogether.
[…] The first unreleased audio has ‘dropped’ (horrible phrase) from Paul McCartney‘s forthcoming Flowers in the Dirt reissue. Listen to the Twenty Fine Fingers demo, below. The song was written by (and is performed by) Paul and Elvis Costello. It’s one of nine demos that feature on the two-CD special edition and the deluxe edition box set (which includes a further disc of 1988 band demos (as well as the controversial downloads). […]
[…] Paul McCartney wants to drive you to streaming (see here) then Blondie want to drive you mad with physical options. Standard vinyl and CD editions will be […]
Ok, I am a Paul McCartney / Beatles tragic….
Will I buy the deluxe box set. Yes, I’m a tragic!!!
Am I happy that I about having to download the “extras” rather than having them supplied to me in a physical format. No!!!
Do I feel let down. Yes!!!
I am a fan of Paul because of his music.
Paul publicist says that Paul believes streaming (downloading) is the way of the future, so following this to it’s logical conclusion…. (if Paul TRULY believes this) …..
** This will be Paul’s (and The Beatles) FINAL release in physical format it any form **
So my recommendation is to go out and buy this set…. it will become part of history, and a 100% bankable investment as his last EVER physical release!!!
Sorry, I shouldn’t take his beliefs too literally…..
Two questions, if I am a fan of Paul’s because of his music….
1. Can I have all the songs in a physical format, and the photos/booklet that are in a PHYSICAL format as a downloadable bonus?
2. If downloadable music is the way of the future can I have a code to download ALL of the music in 24-192 hi-res format… none of that 16-44 std-res format ( I am sorry, I don’t buy that some of the download only tracks for FITD are out there in higher res than 16-44, even if they were recorded in the late 80’s….
Definitely be nice to have it on CD, but, as a fallback, I know I can always take the tracks use them to burn one myself anyway. With what these cost, I haven’t taken one out to play. I make copies and play those – for example, the mono RAM cd. I do wish they’d been made available in a hi-res download form.
Even before the missing disc controversy I was going to pass on this one because of the price.
There are several albums I was waiting for but…
Now I’m pretty much done with this reissue series.
“A Post-Truth World”. Perfectly stated!
I not a huge Macca fan. I like some of his albums, not all. I certainly wouldn’t pay that kinda money for what your getting; a fancy booklet(lots of important pictures!), a remastered album (loud and compressed), and…some downloads of the most interesting material. ♂️
I feel the frustration of the fans. And the double talk from management is funny. And sad. What business does this “team” have in “driving” consumers toward anything?
I encourage Macca fan to let this monster sit on in the warehouse until they understand. As consumers we need to drive them toward physical products. They want us to rent the music and streaming is just that, renting.
Let’s see how they feel with hundreds or thousands of these turkeys sitting. Bet the price would come down.
Oh…the point about the digitizing of the important picture was rich. Want to get those pictures to us in a physical format. Not the music. That’s just a minor point. But those pictures…that’s a big deal. ✌️
It’s worth noting that many pop stars have separate public and private personas, and that their public personas aren’t their real ones. Musician/Producer Todd Rundgren recently recalled his experiences meeting each of The Beatles, and said that they were not the clever and happy-go-lucky characters of the movies “A Hard Days Night” and “Help”.
Oddly, Rundgren found Ringo to be the most approachable. Rundgren conceded that he only met George Harrison briefly (during production work on Badfinger’s “Straight Up” album), but described Paul McCartney as “Totally Dour” and John Lennon as “Drunk and Inanimate”. To be fair, Rundgren met Lennon during the time when Lennon was separated from Yoko Ono. Lennon had serious addiction issues during that time.
In saying that streaming is the future, Scott Rodger is highlighting a very sad truth: the record companies go out of their way to shove downloads and streaming down the public’s throat for a reason. Their greed is peerless. They want nothing more than to make profit with absolute no manufacturing, packaging, and distribution overhead. Eliminate physical product and goal achieved.
The only two positive things I read here were:
1) “The additional tracks will be 16-bit standard WAVs” (MP3 would have been a worst-case scenario).
2) “…potential projects are being discussed such as Wildlife and Red Rose Speedway.” (glad Macca has the sense to revisit Wings for the upcoming projects).
Thank You for Your tireless work on our behalf Paul S.
I’m 62, I have never stopped believing that Paul was for us (empathy, appreciation, humble)……but I did not hear him or any other Beatle related peace “icons” come out Against Donald Trump……..for what it’s worth. Lying, cheating and Alternate Facts seem to be concurrent with the times. Just Like Scott Rodgers spin using Alternate and made up Facts = Lies. All You Need Is Love…..yeah, right. Oh Ringo, Peace and Love isn’t just a brand. Less talk more action? Where were you YOKO? remember Power To The People? Thanks Sean.
Never buying it at any price, I will not be downloading at any time soon, good luck to anyone who is prepared to pay top dollar for Crapital records low quality downloads.
If this isn’t below £40 within a year, I’m the Pope.
I’m not angry Paul mcCartney , just very disappointed.
I’ve made my own Flowers In The Dirt deluxe this week:
1993 Remaster CD (had this for years, cost me £5 new)
1989 original LP vinyl (bought on ebay for £7 delivered)
‘Put It There’ DVD (bought on Amazon for £2 last week)
3x 7″ picture sleeve singles (My Brace Face, This One & Put It There – ebay, £9 total)
4x music videos from FITD are on ‘the McCartney Years’ DVD
Flowers In The Dirt chord book (bought years ago; fantastic design and pictures – includes Flying To My Home.. – £6)
All the non-CD b-sides, remixes and 1987 sessions collated on a CD-R with a custom sleeve (called it “Downloads In The Dirt” – blank CD pack, £1)
Stick all that in a box of your own.
Total cost: £30
this reminds me of that other genius idea of not including any tracks from FITD on Pure McCartney because it was going to be the next the super deluxe release
If Sir Paul McCartney wants to encourage us to steam his music (according to Mr. Rodger’s response to Paul Sinclair’s inquiry), then why even bother to put out this FITD boxset? Preferring download technology as part of this deluxe package may be ‘My Brave Face’ for Paul McCartney, but it may also cause him to ‘lose face’ with some of his longtime fans.
Well done Paul in getting the response.
Thankfully I have the Japanese 2 CD set and the original singles/CD singles and the Tour Edition set
Like others I will cancel my order and wait for an Amazon deal
Macca and Scott can take this box and shove it. They obviously couldn’t care less for the views of the fans, It’s the arrogance that annoys me. As for streaming being the future Bxxxxxks is it, streaming is an out and out rip off I’m not paying over and over again for something i don’t own.
This is one money grab too many from Macca and co.
I have read all the comments, and initially thought it was a bit of an over reaction to a clearly flawed decision.
On reflection, I really am struck by how stupid and out of touch the decision was and even more so in the extremely poor explanation offered as rationale.
Firstly the ‘drive people to streaming’ statement is insane. Streaming does not even match the issues of a chunk of content in a physical box being download. The sets are not even on stream sights. Bonkers!
Secondly, the gall to say they wanted to keep to four discs when they have two half length cds that could have fitted on one disc infers they are so out of touch that they actually have made me go enough is enough. I am cancelling my order and buying the two disc set and will get the rest elsewhere on the net, which is where charging outrageous prices on box sets pushes people.
This is unfortunate, but I do agree the Costello/McCartney is more enticing than the b-sides and remixes. So I have no problem there, as these songs are the ones I am very excited about hearing. I am a huge Costello fan, and when Flowers came out, I was very excited that Elvis was working with McCartney. To me this was a huge deal, and I still find it to be one of McCartney’s more interesting collaborations in his history. But I also understand that I’m biased. I also like the books, and I am glad that there are a lot of these, with this release. Yes, I’m one of those people who look at and read these things. I find them fascinating. In fact, The Archive Series sits on my bookshelf, rather than with my other SDE’s on my Media shelf, because of the books that are included with each release. So, I’m still happy with this release and think it’s pretty solid.
But I am not happy with the download only stuff, and I am not happy with the price. In fact the price is absolutely ridiculous. I have it on preorder, but I might cancel that and wait for the price to drop. In fact it has already dropped in the US. Amazon initially had it at $144 or something, and now it’s down to $128. Hopefully it continues to drop.
Anyway, props to Paul for the open letter, and to Scott for answering.
Let’s face it. We are talking about someone who releases a ‘definitive’ best of collection but doesn’t include any tracks from Flowers In The Dirt as it is due to be re-released the following year. Hardly artistic integrity. And I say that as someone who buys everything that’s released.
That decision and the downloads issue for FITD creates the impression that common sense has flown out of the window at Macca HQ.
Exactly. Driving people to streaming so that McCartney will get 10s of dollars royalties instead if 10s of thousands of dollars. Yeah, sure that’s what he wants!
Ha, yes: “definitive.” There still hasn’t been a decent McCartney collection – and by that I mean one that doesn’t pander completely towards the hit singles and count-them-on-one-hand selection of album-only cuts (‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ e.t.c, e.t.c.).
thanks for the informative article. I cancelled my pre-order. might pick it up later when its 1/3 current price because it doesn’t sell.
I have ordered the 2 disc set and I will carry on buying these reissues, but I won’t pretend I am not disappointed and confused by Rodger’s replies.
I am not a Macca completest, but I did buy virtually all of the mid price McCartney CD series in the early 1990s and I was often impressed by the bonus songs that were new to me – especially, ironically enough, those included on FITD. So where does this leave us? If we don’t get a set of full releases in this series then what was the point of starting (given that I for one have bought all of them so far)? And while streaming probably is the long term future, why not make that decision at the start and stick with it? This is a cock up from every angle. One thing I will predict is that Macca’s complete back catalogue will have to be reissued in complete form at some point, probably after he is no longer with us to be indecisive. One thing is for sure: nothing happens at MPL without his say so.
I think it’s great that Paul managed to get something out of the industry to explain this decision.
I’m not a McCartney fan but I am a huge Bowie fan and if this happened with one of his releases I’d be livid!
Out of curiosity I looked up the price of this set. I live in Canada so I checked Amazon.ca. $176 for 47 tracks???!!! That’s pretty well $4 per track!! If I’m using this saying properly, it seems to me that Paul (and/or label) are really “taking the piss” with their fans!
why is he not releasing them in the order he recorded them? there are other albums that are better than wings over AMERCIA and this one, like red rose speedway.
He’s doing ones he likes and/or there is some kind of ‘narrative’ that makes them easier to market (for FITD it’s working with Elvis Costello).
If they want to focus on the future, I’d love to see them get back to the apps for each of these deluxe albums. I’m a huge fan and a completist yet I only own one of these box sets in physical form right now. They’re expensive and I already have most of the music. What I did buy was every single iPad app. They are are a nonphysical version if that’s what they’re wanting to move to, and I’m sure profit margin is better that way. They’re also a better deal for fans who already own most of this music. I can still look at the photos, written materials, and listen to all of the deluxe content on my iPad, but for a much better price. Why did they stop creating apps?
Well then, I guess my last Macca purchase is behind me. I won’t be buying this or any future product. Thanks for thinking about the fans that supported you for over 50 years Paul.
Bye.
Guess what, Scott Rodger ?! We’re not buying the ‘Flowers in the Dirt’ Box Set since you and Paul both insist on not giving the fans what they want with the 4th Disc as a physical CD ! No downloads ! We pay enough for these sets. If we had wanted to stream we would do that in addition to the physical discs. Good luck from here on out with that look to the future attitude.
I have not kept up with this post since the new year but, WOW what a response you have here Paul. Nice job!! Mr. Rodger can be elusive when he really wants to. What he meant to say is “We want to drive you to streaming thru downloads”. Say What?? If you want to understand his attempt at logic go here:
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2016/09/06/100-million-subscribers-streaming-music/
100,000,000 (or 5) vs 216 comments? From a marketing perspective: DUH
Have no doubt that Sir Paul cares very much about his fans. Thinking otherwise is nonsense. The problem is that SDE readers keep making way to much sense from a collectors perspective. Stop it now and that’s an order (RIP Mr. Cohen). In my last post, I said they “think they are doing you a favor”. And they do. Just go with it or not.
J
Music rental/hire via streaming is terrible for musicians and fans. The whole implication is that none of today’s music is good enough for anyone to want to posess it permanently. And from a financial standpoint, music rental/hire is almost as bad for musicians as illegal downloading.
Not everyone listens to music exclusively through smartphones. Believe it or not (despite what computer industry hype would have you believe), there are still people who want to listen to music at home on Hifi systems , and these people want to posess the music permanently.
The consumers who collect music on “physical product” and who strive to accumulate all of the recordings by their favorite performers have kept the music industry afloat during hard times. It would be foolish for the industry to jettison these consumers. And I would note that in Japan and Germany, consumers are unmoved by streaming. In those countries, the bulk of music consumption is still on physical product.
If the previous poster is suggesting that I should drop dead, then he is showing a very mean spirit; one that is, unfortunately, very prevalent on the internet.
Just because one performer is going to issue a boxed set that is overpriced and a poor value, and many will wisely opt not to buy it, doesn’t mean that we won’t continue to enthusiastically buy superior products by other performers. There’s no shortage of good boxed sets already on the market or in the release pipeline.
Don’t know if it’s been pointed out due to the vast number of comments, BUT….
I bought MCCARTNEY II in the Deluxe Edition primarily to get the extended versions of tracks that were not included anywhere else. Six years later, all of those tracks are available on iTunes as individual downloads. So it may well be that these bonus B-sides show up later there as well.
Has anyone pointed out that he’s missing some songs?
Lastly, the sound quality of iTunes downloads is comparable to CD quality to my ears, and is within the range that the human ear can detect variances in frequencies. So I’m fine with downloads, particularly WAV files. Your mileage may vary.
Interesting to see PopMarket picking up on this…
https://www.popmarket.com/blogs/news/the-paul-mccartney-flowers-in-the-dirt-reissue-debacle-continues
Maybe we need to wait until 2019 for a Bluray Audio with all tracks !
I am finding increasingly little reason to buy this boxed set. I’ve already got the Laserdisc of the “Put it There” video programme and I could easily “burn” it to DVD-R (If I haven’t already).
As for the download-only selections, (excepting the 3 home-recorded demos) I’ve got all of the other selections, 80% of them on original EMI CD singles or 12″ singles, and the remainder via perfect sounding sources that I found on the internet. In fact, via various sources, I have all of Paul McCartney’s non-L.P. songs, edits and mixes. I don’t need multiple variations on “Ou Est Le Soleil” (in my opinion, Paul’s all time worst song)
The other McCartney archives boxes came with a coupon to obtain a 24-bit download of the boxed set. This box won’t have such a coupon, because the original masters from this period of McCartney’s career are 44.1Khz/16-bit. These recordings, inherently, can’t be presented as high resolution audio.
PUT IT THERE is available for an absolute steal price on Amazon. I got my copy last week for £2 ‘like new’!
The comment by Scott that “there may come a point where the record label says there is no demand anymore” may be a self-fulfilling prophecy. The sheer cost of this set and the dissatisfaction with the contents may well cause true fans to boycott this issue and at the same time become jaundiced against future, lesser releases. I suspect that FITD would be expected to be one of Paul’s biggest box set sellers. If that proves not to be the case – and I certainly will not now buy it – that could be bad news for the viability of the series. There is still time to slip a lightly packaged ‘bootleg CD’ of the download tracks into the set or make it available for a nominal cost for box set buyers. Take that route and any money raised could go to some of Linda’s causes. Please think again, both Scott & Paul.
They can’t stream all the books etc, so why not release a box with all the books, papers, lithographs etc, but no discs, no music?
Just a space for the buyer to put the discs that they have created from their downloads.
(I’m not being serious here!)
That’s a great idea if the books and downloads cost less than £30 or something!
Too much name calling here. Too much invective. It’s rude and disappointing. In short, you people are screaming at Paul about downloads most of you already own on a “physical medium.” The amount of sheer ugliness in these comments — the spoiled temper tantrums of grown men who didn’t get the version of the toy they wanted — is dismaying.
LouAnn. Macca has a right to try and flog us what he wants, of course he does. It’s a free world. But we equally have a right to tell him why we are not buying it, and no we don’t have any responsibility to wrap up the criticism of what he is doing (wrong – in our opinion) in cotton wool terms, as he won’t ever read this anyway. Doesn’t that sound like a fair deal between both parties? Nobody is saying he or his songs suck, so it’s not really that dismaying is it. That was a bit of an OTT statement.
Nonsense.
I have read every single post here and in general people have been more than polite. The majority even calling him Sir Paul, which is polite as it gets.
The edition that we are being asked to pay over £130 for is very poor, not only by Sir Paul’s previous standards (other box sets in the series) but just about every other decent SDE release from a decent artist. It’s more than twice the cost of most similar SDEs and in the case of the upcoming George Michael SDE more than 4 times the cost. I think just about everybody here would be thinking a 10 to 15 CD set for this kind of money. OK, it is Sir Paul and not Paul King or Nik Kershaw, he has some cache, granted, but not the right to treat us like mugs.
They offered, we spoke, they listened, they ignored and patronized, so, in all probability, FITD will be ignored also, I won’t be parting with a penny until it hits sub £50 at best and I have every other one in the set bar the equally poor “McCartney”. I would rather give my pennies to Mr. Mick Fleetwood and Ms. Christine McVie for what they are offering.
So Mr. PM won’t get a single cent from me, neither for physical nor digital medium, point.
Jürgen
No one tells me I should switch to streaming. I prefer the physical releases. Listening and sometimes browsing the booklet or whatever, that’s how I enjoy music.
Besides that, the downloads for a previous box failed. Tried to contact PM’s website a couple of times, but never got a reply. Still no download for me. That’s not what I consider customer friendly.
So I’ll pass on this one.
I had 10 cents going spare, so here they are. It appears nobody on this site is going to buy this set, this however will have the unfortunate side-effect of proving Mr Rodgers correct about the [alleged] poor sales of physical product. We just can’t catch a break!
As I have stated before, if Paul doesn’t want to add another CD to the set then either:
Combine both demo CDs onto 1 CD and the 16 tracks on a separate CD [if both fit]. *or*
For each demo CD, add the 16 tracks to the end of the CD.
16 WAV files [uncompressed could amount to more than 700MB to download.
Also mentioned before that I don’t care about the copies of memorabilia stuff. Release that in a book.