Execs see a future in DualDiscs

Ever since Thomas Edison recorded “Mary Had a Little Lamb” on a wax cylinder, the introduction of new methods for listening to music has been the stuff of legend.

Too often for consumers, however, the legend in question often has been the Trojan Horse. Each new development, whatever its appeal, has been a vehicle for getting people to spend, spend, spend.

“Over the course of time, each step along the way, whether sheet music to piano rolls to 78s to LP to compact disc, has always entailed buying new equipment,” says Paul Bishow, vice president of marketing, new formats, for the Universal Music Group’s eLabs digital development wing.

The introduction of the CD in the 1980s even got people to buy music they already owned all over again, in addition to the new equipment to play it on. That phenomenon has been repeated recently with the advent of the audiophile SACD and DVD Audio formats, though with less success.

So it’s natural that many would take a jaundiced view of the announcement that upcoming releases of Bruce Springsteen’s “Devils & Dust” (due April 26) and Matchbox Twenty singer Rob Thomas’ solo debut “ ... something to be” (due April 19) will come exclusively in the new DualDisc format, combining CD with surround sound and DVD video features.

Don’t fear, say DualDisc boosters; there’s nothing sinister lurking within the new format.

“There is no new technology to buy,” says John Trickett, chairman and CEO of 5.1 Entertainment, which is producing many of the DualDisc releases, including the Thomas album.

As the name implies, the DualDisc, introduced in October, is two discs in one. It’s a conventional CD on one side, playable in virtually any CD player, while the other side is a DVD with surround audio and video playable on most home theater systems. The four major record groups have lined up behind the DualDisc format to avoid consumer confusion over competing technologies that’s hampered some previous innovations.

“The main reason we came out with this is we looked at the market and 60% of homes have DVD players [and] more than a third [of those homes] have surround sound,” says Thomas Hesse, Sony BMG president of global digital business. “We wanted to provide an experience that takes that into account.”

OK, they do want you to buy something, but just the discs. That, however, is a huge deal in a time with the music business beset by illegal downloading and piracy. Even with DualDiscs there’s nothing to prevent copying and file sharing the music any more than with regular CDs. The hope is the added attraction of the DVD side, which is much harder to copy or share, will lead more people to pull out their wallets.

“We think it’s a good anti-piracy product because you want the full content and experience rather than getting just a ripped CD from your friend,” says Hesse.

The Springsteen album will feature upgraded audio content as well as the kind of bonuses movie fans have come to expect on DVD releases.

“Any fan will want what’s on the DVD side of this DualDisc,” says Fred Fox, executive vice president of merchandising and marketing for the Trans World Entertainment retail chain, with nearly 900 stores including Wherehouse outlets. “It’s Bruce giving his perspective on the songs, he sings them acoustically, talks about what he was thinking when he wrote them. It’s really a great value-add that consumers would not get otherwise.” The Rob Thomas release will also feature documentary elements looking at his songwriting and recording process, among other things.

“We need to provide the consumer with more than just music,” says Michael Lippman, Thomas’ manager. “They can find other ways to get just the audio content. This is the best way to bring them into this. Obviously, it’s about value for money.” Consumers already seem to have responded to that value. Though Springsteen and Thomas will be the highest profile acts to release exclusively DualDisc albums, some major new releases have already been on the market in both regular and DualDisc forms, and the new version has proven itself thus far.

Sony released both Jennifer Lopez’s “Rebirth” and Omarion’s “O” in both versions, and the DualDisc editions have accounted for about one-third of sales for each. Simple Plan’s “Still Not Getting Any,” the first major-label album released only as a DualDisc, has sold more than 1 million copies since its release in October. And Universal is anticipating great interest in DualDisc versions of upcoming albums by Nine Inch Nails and Beck, two artists known for visual and audio innovation.

As of now, DualDiscs cost about the same as, or $3 to $4 more than, audio-only CDs, though the music executives interviewed declined to speculate on future pricing issues.

Will DualDiscs become the dominant format for music releases? That seems to be the expectation, especially as more playback systems move toward surround-sound capabilities, including those in cars. Of course, that assumes that a physical product will remain the primary form of music delivery, as opposed to some sort of download or direct digital delivery method.

“The future of DualDiscs is as bright as the future of the 5-inch disc itself,” says Pete Howard, publisher of ICE, a monthly magazine that has covered the world of digital music issues since the early days of CDs. “As long as tangibility is desired, the disc is the end game. DualDiscs and CDs are not just going to dry up and go away in 10 years. Most people would bet their businesses on that.”

A long road for White Stripes

The White Stripes’ have recorded the follow-up to the high-impact “Elephant” and the duo is wasting no time in getting it into the stores.

The yet untitled CD, which was recorded at Jack White’s Third Man Studios in Detroit, will be released June 14. There are no guest performers and all the songs were written by White.

Before that, they’ll be doing some live shows in May, well off the normal rock ‘n’ roll path, including an opera house in the Amazon jungle -- the Teatro Amazonas in Manaus, Brazil (which some will recognize from Werner Herzog’s 1982 film “Fitzcarraldo”). The initial trek will stick to Mexico, Central America and South America.

“First we’re going to play where we are not well known,” says a typically tongue-in-cheek White. “Then, if we have time, we will play New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Frankly, we are waiting for technology to advance in the United States before we attempt to perform this record live there.”

The Stripes are confirmed as one of the top acts on the bill at England’s Glastonbury Festival in late June, and while planning is still in the early stages, the intent is to make at least some of the U.S. dates “events” rather than just conventional concerts.