Peter Gabriel - Flotsam and Jetsam - B-sides and Rarities (digital release - UK only)

[Jerjo]

Up in the middle of the night with insomnia so forgive any incoherence. Peter Gabriel has a digital release of b-sides and other rare stuff that came out yesterday in Brexit land. I can't find it on Amazon US. I wish it were available in something other than lossy MP3s but I guess that's where a lot of music is going.

https://www.genesis-news.com/c-Peter...view-s753.html

[Top Cat]

Thanks for the info and link.
This download in mp3 format doesn't make much sense to me, because Peter has always been near anal about his music being released in the highest quality format available.
He's even been releasing his earlier solo albums remastered at Abbey Road and in half speed mastering.
I don't do iTunes, but don't they have a higher quality download available?

[Halmyre]

Quibble - "Across The River" first appeared (other than on the WOMAD album) on the B-side of "I Have The Touch" in 1982, not as stated on the Big Time CD.

[rich]

This would be an auto buy for me... on CD!

[Mister Triscuits]

62 tracks and still no "Out Out"!

[peterpyser]

It's up for sale on Qobuz in cd quality for £32.99
https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/fl.../fndakckwsdiga

Out Out is still ...ehm, out, together with many other ones like the 3 live tracks from the Bristol Recorder, Lead A Normal Life (1982 live), No More Apartheid, Burn You Up Burn You Down (from UP promo cd), This Is The Road, In Your Eyes (1987 live - from the Before Us compilation), D.I.Y. (USA 12'' single promo version), Come Talk To Me (Clearmountain remix), Love Town and surely many others as well.

[rcarlberg]

Apple's iTunes has it (3xCD's worth) for $34.99

[rcarlberg]

You can get "Out Out" for free

[Mister Triscuits]

You can get "Out Out" for free

I have the 12-inch. I just wonder why it has never appeared on a proper Peter Gabriel release, even alongside all the other film tracks and other oddities that are being collected on these recent releases.

[rcarlberg]

Because it's not very good?

[Jerjo]

I just wish it were a three CD set.

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Are "Teddy Bear" or "Soft Dog" on there?

[rcarlberg]

Are "Teddy Bear" or "Soft Dog" on there?

Yup, both

[JKL2000]

He or his label is definitely telling U.S. fans to look for an "illegal" download.

[rcarlberg]

He or his label is definitely telling U.S. fans to look for an "illegal" download.

Or, maybe, the movie studio owns "Out Out"?

[Paulrus]

Because it's not very good?

It's not that bad. I'm guessing it's a rights/ownership thing.

[JKL2000]

Or, maybe, the movie studio owns "Out Out"?

I wasn't referring to any specific song.

But what does the studio possibly owning the song have to do with the decision to only (as far as I know) sell the collection via Apple?

[BravadoNJ]

my mouth is watering, but where are the movie tracks?

[rcarlberg]

But what does the studio possibly owning the song have to do with the decision to only (as far as I know) sell the collection via Apple?

Sorry, I misunderstood. You said Gabriel was encouraging his fans to do an illegal download, so I assumed you meant of the one song that can't be downloaded legally.

[Frumious B]

I’m in the US and I was able to get a CD quality download of Flotsam and Jetsam from Qobuz. There’s also mp3 on Google Play so this isn’t an iTunes exclusive at all.

[Top Cat]

I wasn't referring to any specific song.

But what does the studio possibly owning the song have to do with the decision to only (as far as I know) sell the collection via Apple?

It's also available on Amazon US, digital download for $33usd. Also has the obligatory 30 sec samples for each song.

[battema]

He or his label is definitely telling U.S. fans to look for an "illegal" download.

The album is on Spotify and apparently also "officially" on YouTube. Which means both Gabriel and his label have accepted that they aren't getting much coin for this release (although they'll make way more with a digital-only release than expending the cost for a physical package that would barely sell to a seriously-dwindling audience.

Going the illegal route at this point, to be perfectly frank, is outdated and pointless when the labels and artists themselves are offering the contents LEGALLY for next to nothing or literally nothing. It used to have a (barely defensible) air of Robin Hood-esque glamour about it, but those days are gone.

(edit: part of the problem/confusion on this was some sort of snafu on the label's part where US digital distributors were late in delivering the content online, probably contributing to a perception that the release was more "exclusive" than was ever intended. I'm on PG's mailing list still and got a message about this the day after the release was announced).

[Halmyre]

I can understand that he or his label realises that physical sales would be limited, but that's no excuse for not putting up FLACs at least.

[Top Cat]

I can understand that he or his label realises that physical sales would be limited, but that's no excuse for not putting up FLACs at least.

I agree, and it's totally out of character for Peter in my opinion.

The cynical part of my mind begins to think Peter needs the funds for one reason or another.

[battema]

In truth, if this was about generating funds then it would have been a physical release in a big fancy package to try and lure collectors back to the well.

The overwhelming majority of buyers for this are likely going to generate probably $5-10 of cumulative revenue from streaming with a very small % of people buying a download (and sadly, only a % of them will insist on high res downloads).

I see this more as a "why not" move, similar to the Rated PG recently. I can't recall, but wasn't Rated PG done with a physical release? Perhaps based on the actual sales, PG + team adjusted the Flotsam/Jetsam plan accordingly.

New world, folks. The days when we could expect our favorites to drop albums in every possible format that we could want are over (hell, just dropping an album at all remains amazing under the circumstances). We get what we get, because we as a whole are getting what we paid for.