WHO’S NEXT/LIFEHOUSE Box set coming in September 2023 (STEVEN WILSON DOLBY ATMOS & 5.1 MIXES CONFIRMED!!)

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While I totally understand his decision, I have to admit that I was saddened to learn that @edisonbaggins wasn’t going to buy Who’s Next. I was honestly looking forward to seeing his unboxing and review videos, done as only Mike can!
I predict Mike still winds up with one somehow🤔
 
Man, it's tempting. I've got the set in my cart, but i can't pull the trigger. I wouldn't have made it through high school w/out the Who, and three of the greatest shows i've ever seen were the Who, and yet . . . dammit! Ima sleep on it. Prolly be sold out by the time i awake!
 
How did you find it? Searches on Amazon US bring up nothing, for me. Browser or app. Not even the numbers Ryan posted.
Are you all referring to Amazon UK, maybe?
Open Amazon Asin Lookup : Data Insights & Analytics for Amazon Product Listings
Enter B0CB91MQBY in the search bar. The box set will come up with a $0.00 that changes to $299.98 after a moment.
The "VIEW ON AMAZON" button yields a "Sorry we couldn't find that page" page.
Amazon ASIN search is new to me too. What is it? Some sort of holding bin for future products less certain than usual?
 
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Well, I'm hoping for a price reduction too, and I'll get on my knees and pray, that I won't get fooled again.
150$ max I would pay for this... And I am pretty sure we won't see a price reduction in that range in the future. And people will buy this and sell it for over 300$ on different marketplace websites.
 
Yeah, Perp, but it's doing the research of locating ALL those master tapes and then remastering them that cost $$$$$$ ... and don't forget that 100 page book? When the price comes down to half [$175] I'm sure all the naysayers just might bite! 🐬
Maybe some, but I'd still pass.
I can't say what is overpriced and what isn't for huge inclusive boxes like this. I'm sure they cost a lot to put together.. But some like myself are 73 yo, living on a limited fixed income and have to make some financial compromises. Then there's also the fact that I, like so many others aren't collectors of paper and stuff, I just want the music, and the parts of it that are new. Being a WHO fan, I already have gigabytes of their stuff.
How about a $25-30 mkv download of the BluRay contents?
The labels need to either start working with some of us or live wondering why it sounds like there's 100,000 copies in the wild when they only sold 3 ???
 
It's interesting.

If you look at other industries, like film and video games, they sell to a mass market, so...the discs, cartridges and cases are produced in such large numbers they cost next to nothing to produce...

...but, they have a massive outlay to produce the content on those discs and cartridges.

For instance, Nintendo - probably the best example - have massive R&D costs, including prototyping of hardware and employment of the cream of the crop of the programing world and the costs of the overhead to house all of it. Their analog to digital interface - and (arguably) their game design - is second to none; and that comes at a premium. And while their games do carry a premium, their product is very precisely targeted (software and hardware produced in tandem and in concert to cater to a specific price point) to a market large enough to support the costs.

Look at the movie business and the massive costs involved: pre-production, post production, sets, costumes, CG and practical effects, legal, paying the talent, and not forgetting the advertising budget which - on average - makes up about a third of the total cost of each production...

...but they're selling to a mass market, and so their business model allows them to price their product affordably. (incidentally, Disney's just recorded massive losses due to market saturation).

Realistically - compared to the size of the market for movies and video games - what percentage of the global market listens to The Who...?...and what percentage of that listenership actually own surround sound systems...?

...we're basically talking about a relatively niche market.

So...how do you cover your production costs for re-engineering the music.

One way is to market to 'the masses' with a simple, affordable, two disc edition including a regular CD and an Atmos Blu-Ray and have the volume of sales absorb the cost of the remixing and re-engineering; or you can just stream it and hope it covers the costs; or...you target the "less price-sensitive" whales, by creating a product you can sell at an inflated price.

Looking at the box set in question; in terms of what it cost to manufacture the "physical component" i.e. the printed matter, the physical discs, the packaging, etc. there's an absolutely huge mark-up, probably at lest a one thousand percent profit margin if not more; much much more than most people would ever want to pay if this just contained re-releases of existing content.

It's possible that they've crunched the numbers and found that the only way to make the re-engineering of the music cost-effective, or worth doing from a business standpoint, is to market to the whales, at this price-point, with a big expensive looking box set that costs them a tiny fraction of the total RRP to produce (in which case this stuff really is in a death spiral)...

...or, it's also possible that they might be trying to exploit the market for as much as they can wring out of it, by milking the whales.

I can't say either way, as I don't know what the size of the market is for The Who's product or what percentage of that market own surround systems; nor do I know how much the outlay was, for re-engineering the musical content on the discs, or for the production design etc. It's not like it was produced through a kick-starter with clearly outlined tiers and goals for each part of the overall package.

So yeah...at one extreme it could be that it's this or nothing, that this is the only way that they could afford the upfront cost of re-engineering...

...or, at the other extreme, it could be that they're cynically exploiting the market for everything they can possibly wring out of it and throwing 80% of their long term listenership and the people who've supported them throughout their careers a sample CD so that they can see what they're missing... (anyone remember this...?)

I'd like to hope it's at least somewhere in between those two extremes.

Who knows...I can't say because I don't have the data to extrapolate from, but I think what can probably safely be said, is that when long-term super-fans, for whom Who's Next is a favourite album, and for who the price is completely affordable, are not buying it out of principal, because it's just too expensive; then the people making these things might need to take a moment to re-assess.

But who knows; maybe the people posting here and elsewhere are just a vocal minority.

Lets hope they get the volume of pre-orders they need for the box set to make streaming the surround files viable; I'd hate to think that if people vote with their feet and walk away from the box set that they might pull the stream.
 
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I appreciate your vote of confidence.

I do actually receive review copies of albums, though mainly from smaller labels and particularly from those passionate about surround.
But... I hear the bigger labels don't give you a look until you have 10k subscribers. We're almost 1/2 way there, and I'm doing what I can to make videos with integrity, not chase views or subscriptions, so we'll see.

In the meantime, LiS has a budget. It is finite, though not zero. Going in on releases like this is one reason I don't upgrade gear as often as I'd wish to. I feel the music comes first. Specific components, car audio and such someday.
Mike, my prediction is that you’re eventually going to buy it once discount prices materialize. And then you’re going to keep the blu ray and flip the rest of the box.
 
Sucks no stand alone Blu ray. Sucks I can't find this listed on Amazon. I've been saving my Amazon gift cards & visa gift cards for this.
Give it a little time to solidify; the preliminary info right after an announcement is often vague, incomplete or withdrawn when better details replace it.
 
Lets hope they get the volume of pre-orders they need for the box set to make streaming the surround files viable; I'd hate to think that if people vote with their feet and walk away from the box set that they might pull the stream.
The Atmos mix will be available on the streaming services no matter what, that's probably the main reason why it was commissioned in the first place.
 
The question is however: will it just be the Who’s Next tracks or do we also get the Life House tracks on Atmos streaming…
My prediction for now is that all 22 songs mixed in Atmos will be available to stream, based on how prior UMG releases have been handled. The Band's Cahoots Blu-Ray in the box set had four bonus tracks mixed in Atmos ("Endless Highway", "Don't Do It", plus alternate versions of "When I Paint My Masterpiece" and "4% Pantomime), all of which ended up on the streaming services. Similarly, Kiss' Destroyer had two Atmos bonus tracks (the acoustic "Beth" and an alternate version of "Sweet Pain") which are streaming as well.
 
The write up says the book talks about how the album came to be written and recorded. I'm sure it will be a good read and have lots of cool pictures. But didn't Pete cover most of this in his book, "Who I Am"? I have it on audiobook and it has been awhile since I have listened to it (highly recommended btw) so maybe I'm wrong.
 
The write up says the book talks about how the album came to be written and recorded. I'm sure it will be a good read and have lots of cool pictures. But didn't Pete cover most of this in his book, "Who I Am"? I have it on audiobook and it has been awhile since I have listened to it (highly recommended btw) so maybe I'm wrong.

I don't understand what is giving people this mistaken impression.
Nobody here has ever heard of or read a graphic novel?
A link from that other forum we use:

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/the...des-amazing-172-page-hardcover-graphic-novel/
Pete Townshend says of the graphic novel, "Life House has always needed a story that makes sense but without the egos of new creatives who think they can 'fix' what was wrong with my first draft.
The graphic novel is built around that first draft written prior to recording sessions and workshops at the Young Vic in 1971.
A second draft with some good ideas from Roger in 1976 added some cohesion and more exciting collateral which really suits the comic format.
I'm delighted with the comic. The art is beautiful and dense, colourful of course and engaging.
The artists and their team have made an amazing and hugely collectible piece that adds depth and clarity to an otherwise complex story. 'Life House' is reborn."



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