One of the primary factors in determining the depth of bonus materials that will be added to a DVD is whether the project originates from the record company’s archive or is completely new. Obviously, any older photographs or film footage used on a DVD-Audio/Video project have to be identified, licensed and digitized. We’ve done the graphic design for a number of Frank Sinatra titles on Rhino Records and I can tell you the process of getting photos can be daunting and expensive. As a small label that doesn’t have an archive, AIX Records produces all of the media that goes into our projects from scratch. This media can be extensive.

It’s become increasingly apparent to me that music fans who are only interested in listening to their favorite songs are using their iPods. The nature of the traditional record business is undergoing a radical shift away from packaged optical discs and towards the on-demand, downloaded world offered by the Internet. And why shouldn’t it? If the listening experience is all that counts, then consumers are right to file-swap and avoid going to the local Tower Records. So what sort of products should fill the racks at the local record retailer? Logic dictates these products should be those that cannot be easily downloaded and that present a compelling value-added proposition. This is where a full-featured DVD-Audio/Video disc comes into its own. Imagine the ideal music purchase: a disc filled with true high-resolution, multi-channel music (not upsampled, derived from analog or restored from a low-resolution original), full video of the sessions and/or live presentation, interviews, photo galleries, music lessons, songwriting tips, printable lead sheets, web connections, multiple camera angle master classes, discographies and rehearsal footage. A disc of this sort would be compatible with DVD and CD drives (via the newly-approved DualDisc technology). The total capacity of the disc might eclipse 20 gigabytes of data and require a couple of discs, at least until HD-DVD comes along. The packaging would be special as well. The consumer would be engaged on just about every level as the media delivers a truly multimedia experience rather than merely the tunes. This, I believe, is the future of the record business and beyond the CD.