Toph wrote:StyxCollector wrote:We've already had threads on these.
Unfortunately, I do not think you will ever see remasters from Styx. That time has come and gone.
I realize this and it really blows my mind. How can you not remaster these? Here is what I want and I don't think this is too much to ask - do what Journey did (twice I might add) - remaster all your classic albums - it will re-energize your fan base and support your new regeneration tour. How expensive could this really be? I mean Wooden Nickle remastered the first four albums and what did they sell in total? - not even a million copies (and at least 500,000 of that was Styx II). A&M has at least (and I might be rounding up slighty here) 19-20 million sold across these 8 albums plus GH (check my math - Equinox 750K, CB 500K, GI 4M, Po8 3M, CS 3M, PT 4M, KWH 1M, Edge 600K, GH 2.5M). If you get an increase of 50,000 in sales for each album, that is another 450,000 in records sold. What is that $4.5 million to A&M in revenue? How much does it cost to remaster something? Certainly not nearly that much. What am I missing here? It seems like a slam dunk business proposition.
Heck, Journey has had
two sets of remasters (but in the second set, some did use the remasters from the mid-90s) - not including gold discs and stuff on SACD.
In 1995/6 when remasters were quietly announced as coming after the release of GH, that was the time to capitalize on the hype as well as you were squarely in the midst of the CD era. They would have sold. In 2010, there really is very little business case to release an extensive remaster campaign. COst-wise, it depends who does it and ho wmuch time is spent. I assume they'd use Bob Ludwig (who did confirm to me when I interviewed him that the tapes were in good shape), who wouldn't be cheap, but let's say it costs them five digits. Then they need to press them, do (minimal) marketing, etc. It will take a long time for them to see that back. So I'd say at a minimum they're in for $50,000 - $100,000 initially. Assuming they're not going to do expanded albums and just straight remastered reissues which would be budget line, let's say thet make $5/disc. They would need to sell 20,000 discs to break even. No offense, but Styx is not selling in those volumes today. They'd sell in the thousands in total, with albums like GI and PT selling the most.
Now, what Universal did with the Wooden Nickel stuff DID make sense because the whole Styx catalog pre-1991 would be in one place (meaning "Lady" could be on the same disc with "Come SAil Away"). So I see that as a business move. I don't think they thought the 2CD reissue of that material would sell a lot.
In my estimation, this really doesn't make sense from a business standpoint in 2010. Univeral Japan does small runs so things are very controlled and things like mini-LP sleeves appeal to a certain market. Plus, over there, the Styx catalog has largely been out of print for nearly 20 years. Here, it's all been in print in one form or another since the mid-80s.
Is it a missed opportunity? Yes, but it was missed so many years ago. Now it'd be largely irrelevant.
Styx would have been better served if they had somehow been able to reacquire their masters and release remasters themselves. Although look at Chicago - they acquired their back catalog, released and sold it themselves (didn't remaster), but gave up the ghost and it all went to Rhino. If a label like RHino had the Styx catalog you may have a chance at limited runs a la the Warner Brothers Rod Stewart albums. Hip-O Select is somewhat like Rhino, but nowhere near as good.
Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 2:07 am
Fingers crosed it will happen next. 
