Disney Releases Blu-ray Combo before DVD for Stranger Tides

Home Media Magazine recently reported that Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment will release Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides on Blu-ray/DVD combo a month ahead of the DVD-only release. While Disney has done this previously on back-catalogue titles, this Blu-ray-centric move is a first for a major box office release.

On October 18, Disney will release Stranger Tides as a two-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo pack and a five-disc combo pack with 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray, DVD, and digital copy. Roughly one month later, on November 15, the studio will then release a DVD-only version of the blockbuster film.¹

With over 30 million households in the United States currently owning a Blu-ray player (according to the Digital Entertainment Group) and projections showing global Blu-ray disc sales will hit 412 million units in 2013², studios will certainly be watching this release closely to determine whether they’ll conduct similar strategies with their blockbuster flicks.

What do you think of Disney’s strategy with Stranger Tides? Will your library go with the combo pack or hold out for the DVD-only version?

¹ http://www.homemediamagazine.com/disney/disney-goes-with-blu-ray-combo-first-pirates-24497

² http://www.cvsnewsandviews.com/2011/06/report-charts-blu-rays-five-year.html

Music Industry Sees Many Positives in 2011

“Thank you, Adele!” is what the music industry is exclaiming currently, according to two articles from USA Today. Not only is she (as well as a handful of other popular artists) positively influencing digital single and album sales, but also physical CDs.

According to Nielsen SoundScan and Billboard's midyear music industry report, “sales of recorded music are up for the first half of 2011.”¹ Overall music sales, which include music videos, albums, and singles from both physical and digital platforms, are up from 756 million this point last year to 821 million now (an 8.5% increase). And overall album sales (both physical and digital) are up 3.6%, from 213.6 million to 221.5 million.¹

Why the increases? One word: Adele. Her wildly popular new album 21 has helped fuel sales across the board. According to Keith Caulfield, Billboard's associate director of charts/retail, “she's not just a digital phenomenon… [Adele] appeals to older consumers, who will still buy full albums, and to younger people who may just buy a single track…She connects with people in a way where they feel she is a 'full-package artist' and you want to hear everything she sings."² Her album has sold 2.6 million copies, 62% of those being physical discs.

While Adele leads the pack, a handful of other artists have also helped both digital and physical sales soar: “Lady Gaga's Born This Way, which had the biggest single sales week with 1.108 million, is second with 1.5 million. Rounding out the top five so far are Mumford & Sons' Sigh No More (982,000), Jason Aldean's My Kinda Party (763,000) and Bruno Mars' Doo-Wops & Hooligans (686,000).”¹

So with digital sharing the limelight with CDs, what does the future look like for physical albums? “Physical CDs still make up two-thirds of all sales, so it's unlikely they'll disappear anytime soon,” assures USAToday.² "‘The reality is that digital formats have shown growth because they started from zero, but they haven't come close to replacing the physical totals of 10 years ago,’” says Paul Resnikoff, publisher of Los Angeles-based Digital Music News. He surmises that after a couple more years of growth, digital will flatten out.²

Either way, the country is embracing the album, both physical and digital. What trends have you noticed in your library? If you offer a digital music service, do patrons seem more interested in full digital albums or simply singles?

We’d love to hear your opinion! Share your comments on the music industry by clicking the Comment button below.


¹ http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2011-07-06-music-sales-jump-this-year_n.htm
² http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2011-07-13-eminem-adele-digital-sales_n.htm

We Want Your Feedback!

Yesterday we emailed our customers a brief survey regarding our catalogues. In case you missed it, but would still like to help us out by providing your feedback, I've include a link here on News & Views.

Thanks, and happy Friday!

Requesting Titles on CVSMidwestTapes.ca

Got a title in mind, but you aren’t seeing it on our website? Request it with our Title Request tool, accessible from our homepage under “Customer Service” in the right column.

Upon clicking this link, a form will appear. Simply complete and submit the form, and (after receiving a confirmation email) one of our Collection Development Specialists will work to fulfill your request. To ensure we find the exact title you're requesting, be sure to provide as many details as you can on the form.

Requesting multiple titles? Click "Submit and Request Another Title" to fill out additional request forms.

Have you tried the Title Request tool? We’d love for you to share your feedback. Got an idea of how we can better aid your browsing and selecting? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Happy Canada Day from CVS Midwest Tape!

Tomorrow we observe Canada Day, and we'd like to help you celebrate all month long. Click the images below to view print-ready 8.5x11 PDF posters. Each poster focuses on Canada Day and also promotes your AV collections, specifically Canadian films, music, and literature on audiobook.

We'd love to hear how your library is celebrating this patriotic holiday! Share your library's Canada Day memories and plans in the comments section below.

Happy Canada Day! Bonne Fête du Canada!

UltraViolet Aims to Bring Visual Media to the Cloud

Watching a movie at home used to be a simple proposition: You’d go out to buy or rent the movie, then come home and pop it in your VCR or DVD player. Now, although options for buying or renting movies have exploded, being able to watch them can be more problematic. If it’s a physical format (DVD or Blu-ray), do you have the right hardware? If you’re watching via PC or portable device, do you have the right software or app? If you select something for one device, is it compatible with another?

Many major movie studios and content distributors have recognized this problem and have banded together to create a solution.

Introducing UltraViolet
UltraViolet is a cloud-based system that will allow consumers, once they have purchased or rented a title, to access it via whatever device they choose. Rather than purchasing a title in a specific format, UltraViolet instead lets viewers purchase the rights to the title, which can then be viewed in whatever format is appropriate for a particular device.¹ For example, under the current system, a consumer who purchases a title for streaming to their HDTV would be unable to watch that same title on their phone or tablet while they’re on the go, because the portable device is incompatible with the HD format. Or, if they purchase a DVD or Blu-ray, they would be unable to watch it on any device without the right optical drive. The UltraViolet system aims to eliminate such distinctions.

UltraViolet is a collaborative effort between movie and television studios, content distributors, hardware manufacturers, and Internet service providers, a consortium calling itself the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE). DECE includes such notable companies as Netflix, Best Buy, Microsoft, Sony, and the RIAA.² The consortium does not currently include Disney (the only major movie studio not involved) or Apple (which is planning a similar service of its own). Unlike a subscription service, like Netflix, an UltraViolet account is free; account holders will pay for each individual purchase or rental.³

Drawbacks
The benefits of such a system are obvious for the consumer, and the companies involved are hoping it will revive (like Blu-ray) the home entertainment market. However, there are some drawbacks or possible stumbling blocks involved as well. The non-involvement of Disney and Apple is just one of those. Another is that there is no provision for including content consumers have already purchased.⁴ Also, the UltraViolet system currently calls for a cap of six users, twelve devices, and three simultaneous streams per account, which may create issues for some households.⁵ The system is also dependent upon Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology, which has not been a successful strategy for other media formats.⁶ And, of course, if the system fails and is eventually abandoned, consumers will lose any purchases for which they don’t have a hard copy.

Cloudy Future
UltraViolet-compatible discs and apps are slated to launch this fall in the U.S.⁷ Until it actually happens, it’s difficult to know how successful it will be or if it will have the desired effect on the home entertainment market. As with other innovations in streaming and subscription services, it stands to reason that it will not threaten patrons’ interest in DVDs and Blu-rays at their local libraries for quite some time, if at all.

Is this the first you’ve heard of the UltraViolet system? If not, what have you heard or read? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UltraViolet_%28system%29
² http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Entertainment_Content_Ecosystem
³ http://www.homemediamagazine.com/digital-evolution/time-warner-cfo-ultraviolet-aimed-reversing-rental-trend-24066
⁴ http://blog.cd-info.com/2011/04/ultraviolet-uv-video-standard-of-future/
⁵ http://liftlab.com/think/morin/2011/01/08/dece-ultraviolet-eventually-solving-half-of-the-digital-media-entertainment-business/
⁶ http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20027507-261.html
⁷ http://www.thewrap.com/media/article/hollywood-looks-ultraviolet-be-home-entertainment-savior-28578

July Buyer's Guides Delayed Due to Canada Post Strike

While Canada Post employees could return to work as early as Thursday, mail service will remain disrupted until at least next week. Thus, shipment of our July CD, DVD, Audiobook, and Dreamscape Buyer's Guides will be delayed.

We apologize for any inconvenience, and in the meantime, we've uploaded our catalogues for on-screen browsing. Below are links to this month's catalogues as PDFs:

July DVD Buyer's Guide
July CD Buyer's Guide
July Audiobook Buyer's Guide
Dreamscape Buyer's Guide

Questions? Post them below in the comments section or call us at 866.698.2231.