Coolfer: sipping the DualDisc Kool Aid

a thimble from Wharton doesn't get it: ""'The industry aspires to get back to the point where people’s physical collection of albums is their prize asset as opposed to junk on a hard drive.'"

Let's consider the value proposition for the consumer of a DualDisc vs. the cynical longview:

SACD (and more) quality on side A
Was or is there a demand for more storage space by musicians on the current medium (compact discs)?

flip the disc and voila, gigs of goodies
What is the value proposition of giving one CD (dualdisc) vs. packing two pieces (a CD and a DVD), especially considering the packaging marketing advantages? The add-on style of packaging is a very effecient communicator. DualDisc means larger stickers to tell the story, or expanded Digi-pak schemes. Where's the big advantage of DualDisc again?

it's physical product! Like, with album art!
Uh, isn't it digital technology that makes this all possible? Isn't it then subject to pesky technologies such as BitTorrent? Is a broader bandwidth more or less likely in the next couple of years? What's the impact of impending broadband on cellular and wi-fi?

Yep, it's nice that there's now another physical distribution opportunity for the labels. But--if the past, and present, judging from the DD titles that are on the kickoff list--this will probably be another opportunity to rape and pillage catalog, not develop new artist or more importantly, confront the future head on.

Coolfer's very, very hesitant to admit what is going on beyond label myopia. After all, the post kicks off with "I don't see physical products going away any time soon," said Universal Music Group marketing VP Paul Bishow in an article about the hopes the music industry has placed in a new technology. Not long ago, such a statement would have been laughed at. That was before the introduction of DualDisc, a format that combines CD and DVD content on one disc.

You think Bishow would dare make a different call? He's head of marketing in a fading industry, a mature industry that is showing textbook signs of collapse. Not only that, but has anyone checked how easily p2p and iTunes have destroyed the market for physical singles? That market is over, over, over. How was it accomplished? Because on broadband, it takes barely a minute, if that, to download a song. Five years from now, and probably more like two, it's going to take seconds to download a song, maybe a minute to download an album. Five years from now, multi-terrabyte hard drives will be standard--a DualDisc will be smaller, in comparison, to a floppy disc of today. It may have moved the spotlight back to temporary products, but there's not one kid in America who is going to think twice about DualDisc. And if you're not marketing to teenagers right now, your head is in the sand.