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| Concord + Monster = Partnership Concord Music Group and Monster Cable Products announced a partnership designed to revolutionize home entertainment; combining Monster Music’s pioneering SuperDiscs with Concord’s top-shelf musical artists and musicianship, a calling card of the venerable record company. Each limited edition SuperDisc, an innovation that offers such advanced features as high definition surround sound, is painstakingly mixed and mastered to bring out the clarity, detail, and excitement of the original performance, and, in an innovative twist, will be sold in consumer electronic stores nationwide. The first series of Monster Music SuperDiscs, released November 9th, includes a reissue of Ray Charles’ Genius Loves Company (Concord Records / Starbucks Hear Music), winner of a record-tying eight Grammy Awards including Album of the Year and Best Surround Sound Album, and the perennial Holiday best-seller from Fantasy Records, Vince Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown Christmas. Also included in the series is 40 Years – A Charlie Brown Christmas, a newly recorded tribute record that celebrates the 40th anniversary of the original album and beloved TV special. Lovingly assembled by musical director David Benoit, it features such artists as Toni Braxton, Brian McKnight, Chaka Khan and The Rippingtons. Rounding out the list is a new DVD from Peter Cincotti, Live in New York, which includes a reissue of the acclaimed pianist-singer-songwriter’s 2003 album On The Moon. “Monster has always played a key role in providing the listener with a better audio experience, ” said Concord Music Group Executive Vice President, John Burk, “I believe they will play a key role in the discovery of hi-def audio and the thrill of listening to music in surround sound. It’s great to work with Noel, Kevin and the entire Monster team. They share the same passion for excellence that we do.” Consumer electronics retailers tend to be equipped with the kind of on-site demonstration systems that can best promote the qualities of a product like Monster Music’s SuperDiscs. Monster’s extensive distribution places its products in every type of electronic retailer from national chains such as Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, Radio Shack, and Target, to audio/video specialists like Ultimate Electronics, Fry’s, American TV, Harvey’s, Stereo Exchange, Ovation, Nebraska Furniture Mart, RC Willey, Vann’s, Ken Crane’s, The Little Guys, and The Sound Room. “Currently, over 14, 000 retail locations sell Monster products, and more than half of them do not sell music… yet, ” says “Head Monster” Noel Lee. Most SuperDiscs include 2 discs – one featuring a Stereo mix that plays on any CD player, the other which plays in any DVD player features High Definition Surround Sound in Dolby Digital and DTS 96/24 as well as High Definition Stereo which sounds exactly the same as the studio master file. In addition, some discs feature multiple mixes that allow listeners with a home theater system to select their own “Surround Experience”, choosing, for example, to be “in the audience” of a live concert or “on stage” right in the middle of the band. For consumers who listen to music through their computer and portable music players, SuperDiscs include High Definition Digital Music files encoded directly from the master recordings. These files are ready to drag and drop into any music program including iTunes and Apple’s iPod. Special for iPod users are the Dolby Headphone encoded music files which will give your iPod a surround sound music experience through any pair of headphones. Monster Music SuperDiscs are also the first music releases to be certified by THX for high quality sound and picture, multiple surround experiences, and digital music file quality. One-on-one customer demonstrations on a full sounding home theater system is the perfect adjunct to both label’s marketing efforts. For artists, it offers a unique opportunity to provide consumers and potential new fans a super-high quality experience of their music and who they are. Monster Music and Concord plan to release a small initial group of select albums. “This isn’t a model for every artist; we want to stay focused on just a few great albums at a time” says Kevin Lee. write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Jazz News :: home page |