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Would fans be interested in an official MJ collectors label?

Would you like a special MJ collectors label?

  • Yes

    Votes: 176 91.7%

  • No

    Votes: 5 2.6%

  • Not sure

    Votes: 11 5.7%
  • Total voters
    192

WildStyle

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As some of you may know, there is a collectors label under Sony Music specifically for Elvis Presley releases aimed at the hardcore fan. It's called 'Follow That Dream' (named after an Elvis song). I believe they average around about 8 releases a year and have been active since 1999. Here is a list of all of their releases http://www.elvis.com/ftdreleases/all/default.aspx

As I said, it is a special collectors label aimed at the hardcore Elvis fan, featuring material that may not be deemed "suitable" for mainstream releases on the main label. The releases generally consist of alternate studio takes and outtakes, rehearsals, live recordings, private recordings, special book projects and special editions of classic albums. I believe they usually only sell an average amount of around 5,000 copies per release. For this reason they usually retail for about $30 USD. The sales look low for a general mainstream release, but considering this is exclusively a collectors label focused on a specific artist that has been going strong for 13 years now, they have been very successful. Obviously so if Sony continue to keep the label alive.

I'm wondering if this is something us MJ fans would be interested in for Michael? This way we could get all the untouched demos and live performances we want without stressing about every release appealing to the general public and selling a million copies. We could get a whole album of demo's like Michael's privately taped original songwriting session of "The Girl Is Mine" played at the 1993 court deposition without having to worry about it flopping on the charts and never seeing another MJ release again outside of greatest hits compilations. Or an album full of instrumental demo's that never had vocals put to them or very few vocals. Or multiple shows from the Bad tour, or any other tour on DVD. I think you see where I'm going with this.

Is a label like this something you as an MJ fan would be willing to support and get behind, keeping in mind that the pricing would be slightly higher than that of a general mainstream release? And what other things could you think of that could be provided to us on such releases?
 
Sounds like a good idea. While we'd love to hear demos that Michael left behind, probably the general public isn't that interested in such material. So it would be a good solution.
 
Nah, I don't believe such dream lol :D You know early this year I was hoping for a Bad tour blu-ray .. and yeah here we go again. Don't think this would ever happen to be entirely honest.
 
Maybe...

If they could let us know what they exactly have, it could be interesting.
 
Yes! I am familiar with the Follow That Dream label and have been hoping for/dreaming about something like this for MJ for quite some time. I think there is a chance that it might happen in the future, but I think it will take some time - I suspect they will first release products which they think might appeal to the general public.

But the possibilities are endless. The Elvis label has been going strong since 1999 with quarterly releases, and Elvis lived during a time when recording and preserving anything and everything was not the norm. MJ on the other hand was known to tape so much of what he did.
 
SoCav said:
Yes! I am familiar with the Follow That Dream label and have been hoping for/dreaming about something like this for MJ for quite some time. I think there is a chance that it might happen in the future, but I think it will take some time - I suspect they will first release products which they think might appeal to the general public.

But the possibilities are endless. The Elvis label has been going strong since 1999 with quarterly releases, and Elvis lived during a time when recording and preserving anything and everything was not the norm. MJ on the other hand was known to tape so much of what he did.
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I'd love for them to consider it. If it's good enough for Elvis, then it's good enough for Michael. I can pretty much guarantee that Michael left a lot more in his vault than Elvis. Most of the Elvis releases are studio outtakes and live concerts. Michael not only has those, but also taped songwriting sessions, demo's, filmed concerts, and who knows what else! As you said, the possibilities are endless.
 
I just wish the Estate would actually tell us what they have and the condition it's in first
 
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!! :woohoo:
kermit.gif
 
They say the estate is listening to the fans through various websites so maybe they will read this and at least think about it.
 
One of the releases I'd want from this is the Dangerous Tour rehearsals on DVD.
 
respect77 said:
One of the releases I'd want from this is the Dangerous Tour rehearsals on DVD.
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Yes! Exactly the kind of thing I was thinking of. Let's add Bad and HIStory tour rehearsals to the list while we're at it. Heck, maybe even Triumph and Victory tours if available. Or dare I say it... HBO One Night Only rehearsals! Endless possibilities with a label like this.
 
The collectors label sounds very interesting imo. There's a lot of material that fans would love to buy, but the casual listener has zero interest in. I would gladly pay more for such releases.

The collectors label sounds like a great way to give fans what they want, give the record company some small profit, and without stressing over whether the release sells well enough or not. I think with a regular release there's always some pressure to do well on the charts, even though it might not be fair because the release might be intended mostly for fans. But stuff like alternate studio takes etc. are not even supposed to soar on the charts, so there would be no pressure at all.

It also sounds like a great way to keep the fandom active, without overexposing Michael to the general public. If there's always some big MJ project going on sooner or later the general public will just tire of him. It would be better to wait a bit longer between big releases or projects, so people would be interested in hearing new songs again. But a very long wait between any releases would be bad for the fandom, imo. If there's some new release to look forward to and talk about after the release, that would keep the fandom more active.
 
I´m not sure.
Did you think Michael could have sold ut at least 100 concerts (although he said no at 50)?
His rehearsals from This is it became the bestselling concertmovie, Immortal very popular
I think more people outside the hardcore fanbase can be interested in for example Dangerous rehearsals
 
Well said Sunwalker7! My thoughts exactly.

MIST, with some things, yes you could be correct. Things like Bad 25 are perfect for mainstream release. However I think there is so much that the hardcore fans would love to see released that would simply not excite your casual music fan. Dangerous tour rehearsals, with all the stops and starts, and the run through nature of the performance, without all of the bells and whistles, is not really something that will excite the general public too much IMO, yet we will absolutely eat up every second of it. That's no slight on Michael. It's just like... how many here would enjoy listening to Elvis do take after take of a song with a lot of times only slight changes between each take? Probably not many. But the Elvis fans eat it up!

General public is happy with one or two concerts from Bad tour, or Dangerous tour etc. We on the other hand would probably salivate at the thought of having many concerts from every tour. Or the 'The Girl Is Mine' tape played at the Mexican court deposition in 1993. I could listen to Michael's writing process working out that song all day long, while the general public would probably get bored. I just think a collectors label is the perfect venue for this type of thing, and it could really be a godsend for the fan community.
 
What are hardcore fans then?
I think Michael have many fans who don´t feel the need to go to fanforums.
Some fans don´t have computers, they can´t afford it.
Millions of people saw Michael´s tours ,I suppose most are interested in other things now but it´s easy to become nostalgic, maybe they want to buy the dvd of the tour they went to and to know more about the concerts they once love

I have become nostalgic about ABBA who split up about 30 years ago.
I had most of their albums but then I became busy with other things and didn´t listen much to them until the last years.
This year I got their last studioalbum deluxe version with som outtakes and interviews too.
I like ABBAs songs but I have never been to any of their fanforums.

I don´t say that an official MJ collectors label isn´t an good idea but I don´t know what the general public want yet.
I think it can wait a while
 
Not everything in the vaults can be used on mainstream releases on the main label. This is a good way for the estate to still make money on the other stuff, while sustaining the core fan base. And things released on the collectors label can still be used at any time on the main label and still sell, as the majority of people these releases are aimed at (other than us) will not have bought the material before, and they can add a few new things and we'll still purchase it.
 
I totally agree Sunwalker! And you make an excellent point about these releases being a great way to keep the fanbase active.

WildStyle said:
It's just like... how many here would enjoy listening to Elvis do take after take of a song with a lot of times only slight changes between each take? Probably not many. But the Elvis fans eat it up!
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Indeed! The great thing about a collectors label is that exactly this kind of material can be released - stuff that the general public would not be very interested in, but that we as fans would absolutely go nuts for. And if they want to gain some extra interest from the general public for the collectors label, an option would be to tie in the latter releases with releases aimed at the general public. For instance, they could release a dvd with footage from the Bad studio sessions on the collectors label around the time the Spike Lee docu is shown on tv.

For those unfamiliar with the Elvis collectors label, you can have a look at the list of releases here:
http://www.completeelvispresley.com/follow_that_dream.html

Just imagine something like that for Michael. And given Michael's penchant for recording everything, the possibilities are even much much greater for a MJ collectors label.
 
WildStyle said:
As some of you may know, there is a collectors label under Sony Music specifically for Elvis Presley releases aimed at the hardcore fan. It's called 'Follow That Dream' (named after an Elvis song). I believe they average around about 8 releases a year and have been active since 1999. Here is a list of all of their releases http://www.elvis.com/ftdreleases/all/default.aspx

As I said, it is a special collectors label aimed at the hardcore Elvis fan, featuring material that may not be deemed "suitable" for mainstream releases on the main label. The releases generally consist of alternate studio takes and outtakes, rehearsals, live recordings, private recordings, special book projects and special editions of classic albums. I believe they usually only sell an average amount of around 5,000 copies per release. For this reason they usually retail for about $30 USD. The sales look low for a general mainstream release, but considering this is exclusively a collectors label focused on a specific artist that has been going strong for 13 years now, they have been very successful. Obviously so if Sony continue to keep the label alive.

I'm wondering if this is something us MJ fans would be interested in for Michael? This way we could get all the untouched demos and live performances we want without stressing about every release appealing to the general public and selling a million copies. We could get a whole album of demo's like Michael's privately taped original songwriting session of "The Girl Is Mine" played at the 1993 court deposition without having to worry about it flopping on the charts and never seeing another MJ release again outside of greatest hits compilations. Or an album full of instrumental demo's that never had vocals put to them or very few vocals. Or multiple shows from the Bad tour, or any other tour on DVD. I think you see where I'm going with this.

Is a label like this something you as an MJ fan would be willing to support and get behind, keeping in mind that the pricing would be slightly higher than that of a general mainstream release? And what other things could you think of that could be provided to us on such releases?
Click to expand...

You had me at hardcore fan....:). Kidding aside yes I would absolutely support this. I think it's safe to say that many people are more then a hardcore fan: more like compassionate and gifted genius appreciators...LOL. This would be great.
 
I'm glad at the response to this thread so far! Keep the opinions coming :)
 
This completely makes sense!

I know from experience it is all about business and money for the record companies. A MJ Collectors label would have releases that would serve the die hard fans that average fans will not be interested in. This would benefit all, as we the fans get great MJ material and the record companies and estate gets money.
 
I would love it, but they should offer worldwide shipping. Not just limit it to certain markets. *stares guiltity at bank account*
 
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