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Thursday, February 26, 2009

"Elvis is not really downloadable"

In the latest issue of the music magazine Mojo, there's an article with the title "Elvis' 'official bootleg' label celebrates tenth birthday!" I only read it the other day, and thought it interesting as it gave me the answer to why no tracks from FTD records are available as individual downloads.

Talking about the upcoming Standing Room Only release, Ernst Jorgensen reckons that "Well annotated, glossy packaging is the key," and that "This kind of project is not really downloadable. I want to maintain Elvis's legacy as something you acquire and keep in your home."

I can't help thinking that this is a somewhat old fashioned way of looking at things. And contradicting too, as a lot of Elvis albums, among them the 50's box set (produced by Jorgensen no less), are in fact available as downloads at iTunes Store.

As for "well annotated, glossy packaging", yes, that's certainly true when it comes to the classic album series. But the same can't be said about the FTD 5" albums, where "lack of information" is a better word to describe them.

In the above mentioned article in Mojo, Roger Semon explains to the readers that the Follow That Dream label was set up "for distribution by fan clubs only...in return for their cessation of bootleg sales." But the bootlegs keep coming. And many of them offer "well annotated, glossy packaging," featuring informative booklets with a lot of pictures.

Why FTD doesn't follow suit when it comes to, for example, the soundboards, I can't figure out. I think I read sometime that the reason was that the people who buy concerts already know all about them. But collectors want all the details, so that can't be true. Do you know why?

PS: Roger Semon also tells Mojo that the release he is most proud of is The Jungle Room Sessions, and I think he should be. It's an outstanding release. But isn't it about time we got the first FTD box set? I'll vote for the one my brother likes to call: Behind Closed Doors - the complete 1976 studio sessions.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

If FTD was set up for fan club distribution only, why are they available on Amazon?