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Here’s the problem with releasing back catalogs:
When they first recorded the material, they signed contracts with the performers, the writers, the producers, everybody. Those contracts contain very specific information about how the recordings would be distributed, and everyone gets paid based on the final format. For example, someone performing on a soundtrack for a movie is paid a different base rate than someone performing for a video game or a CD.
Starting in the mid-60’s, they started realizing that recording were outliving the technology of the present time, and they put in “future exploitation” clauses that allow the owners of the recording to release the recording in future as-yet-undeveloped formats, provided they make additional payments to everyone involved. By the mid to late 70’s these clauses were fairly universal.
So now, if a label wants to release something prior to the “future exploitation” clause, they have to go find EVERYONE involved in the original recording, and secure their permission, and pay their new royalty rate. If they want to release something that is under an FE clause, they don’t have to find everyone, but they do have to go back and repay everyone their new royalty rate for using the recording in a new format.
For some songs the new royalty payments make it prohibitively expensive to release the material online. For some, it’s impossible because they can’t track down the 200 people involved in making the record.
-sm
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