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In Reply to: Re: Is DVD-Audio more expensive for publishers? posted by Andre Yew on March 17, 2004 at 13:12:52:
That's weird. Mark Waldrep can manage all of it himself without all that overhead, and he has some fairly ambitious release content.
Follow Ups:
Hi John,Maybe Dr AIX has superpowers :)
but I believe Andre is right on this issue, there's a significant project management aspect in preparing and authoring a "rich content" DVD-Audio / Video project from scratch.
Of course as Jimby said the core of the cost and added value is the MCH mix, if there is one, but this is almost neutral for a DVD-Audio or a SACD project. If the cost can be allocated to both a DVD-Audio and a SACD edition by using the same mix (as UMG has been doing), there's a potential gain for publishers. Licensing or buying an existing mix (like a previous DTS mix) may also be a way to reduce costs.
What I understand at this point:
- recording equipment: cheaper in high-resolution PCM, more studios with compatible equipment.
- mixing etc: cheaper in PCM tools, no back and forth transfers,
- authoring: cheaper on SACD - no menus, no visual content. DVD-Audio is more expensive + additional format encoding and authoring for DVD-V section, visual rights
- mastering: cheaper for DVD-Audio? - more options available for publishers
- manufacturing cost: "real cost" 50% cheaper for DVD-Audio (even including logo fees etc), because of technical process of SACD (bonding, etc) and QC issues ... BTW it was stated a couple years ago that 50% of mastering and manufacturing cost of SACDs was (is?) sponsored by technology vendors in order to stimulate the market.So, my (totally unscientific) estimate would be that publishing a title in DVD-Audio format is more expensive than doing it on SACD up to 5,000 units, and cheaper beyond that point.
It would be interesting to know if you can bring down the cost of the graphic / menus, authoring etc part to less than, or about $5,000. In that case, all things being equal (same material, same mix, etc), DVD-Audio could be a competitive option against SACD at a much lower volume (eg 3,000 copies).
What's the impact for independent publishers?
If the reasoning is correct, one of the keys for small publishers is to invest in "templates" with the design, menus, etc and use those templates to automate the authoring in-house. That ensures a consistent look and feel in the label's various titles.
But maybe independent labels simply ought to publish minimalist titles, with a high resolution stereo version only, and no video supplement, à la DAD, so as to save on authoring and graphical menus / bonuses. A simple structure with 24/96 DVD-V and 24/192 DVD-A, no fancy bonuses except some slides about the artist and the label catalog, should be OK for an independent production, and cheaper than a SACD.
Best
Eric
Eric,That looks like a good assesment to me. I have a couple of comments ...
SACD can be mastered in the analog or PCM digital domain as well, and there are many good tools in either domain. Of course, at this point, you may turn off the 0.001 percent of people who care about keeping DSD "pure".
I think the important thing is producing something that consumers want to pay $18 or $25, or whatever the final price is, be it SACD or DVD-A, or DVD-V. We could argue 'til we're all blue in the face about the cost, flexibility, and time requirements of mastering DVD-As vs. SACD, but if people want bonus videos, or lyrics, or Easter eggs, or just cool-looking menus, over a plain audio-only product, then the successful DVD-A producer is going to provide this to them --- what's the use of saving a few thousand dollars when you don't sell anything? I think, too often, many people (not necessarily you), blinded by knee-jerk dogmatism in defending "their" hi-res format of choice for any trivial criticism, forget that content publishers have to make and sell desirable product.
This isn't to say that one format's better than another --- each format has its share of warts --- but I think a better way of looking at this is not just at the cost of mastering alone, but the additional revenue through extra sales as a result of paying more for mastering. In other words, how many more discs do I sell if I pay more for better, more, etc. mastering and authoring?
BTW, I'm not talking here just about whiz-bang features like menus and videos, but also better musical and technical production of the audio content. There are so many people today who think they can produce decent results with semi-pro tools and no real experience, with the false economy of forgoing hiring good (but expensive) recording and mastering engineers, it's not really a wonder to me that MP3s have taken over and the music industry is going down the toilet.
Andre,(Sorry, I was offline for a couple days)
I think we agree that including bonuses and providing high-quality content to the consumers is a good strategy in the long term, and AIX is a good example of a small label that has successfully achieved this. But -- as Mark Waldrep suggests below -- the full cost of a DVD-Audio product may be very high for a small audiophile label, especially if your distribution channels limit your sales to 3,000 to 5,000 (we all know that the average sale of audiophile high resolution titles is still in that range). This, and the fact that SACD is a simple "one stop" solution (see the posts by David Elias and the Suitcase Pimps' producer on the Hi-Rez Highway a few months ago), makes SACD an attractive option for cost-conscious small labels, especially if they plan to publish a stereo version only.
So my next comment would be that some elements are still missing in the food chain:
- For a small independent band or label, the total cost of doing a "simple" DVD-Audio should similar or cheaper than doing a SACD, and no more than doing a DVD.
- Need for some standardized templates that small labels and independent bands can buy as bundled packages (like other DVD-V templates etc) and that they will be able to customize and use in-house. This is something software publishers should be able to address, with a simple software and good templates sold on the Web.
- There's also a need for services: more small graphics studios willing and able to do the authoring for reasonable amounts, maybe with revenues indexed on a percentage of sales. It strikes me that there's a business opportunity in that area, many graphics studios could use the additional revenues
- The DVD-Audio Group ought to do some research into this, and generally speaking, send a message to the small studios and labels regarding the total cost of publishing a DVD-A title. Maybe a special "independent artists and labels" program could be set up, with a specific fee structure and an umbrella marketing program to advertise those titles.
That's my 0.02 :)
Cheers
Andre,So you don't thank the dearth of real talent and compelling material has anything to do with the overall music industry problems?
I think the "corporate built" stars of today are sadly lacking in talent, and everyone's trying to sound like everyone else.
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