Doesn't this music cater to the "I'm going to judge music partly based on how the artists decide to distribute it" crowd? That has nothing to do with musicianship or sound.
It might be a psychological hack to cause more people to become superfans by drawing out the obsessive compulsive desire to collect rare artifacts (which happen to be music CDs in this case).
>That has nothing to do with musicianship or sound.
So? Music is not just about musicianship or sound, and art even less so.
It's an experience, and how you approach that experience is equally important.
That's also why Joe Satriani or some poser like Yngwie Malmsteen are no "better" than someone like BB King, nor is a pristeen sounding acid-jazz Blueray better than some crappy sounding Alan Lomax recordings.
>It might be a psychological hack to cause more people to become superfans by drawing out the obsessive compulsive desire to collect rare artifacts (which happen to be music CDs in this case).
Even more common is the psychological compulsion to just download or buy stuff and amass a huge collection which you're never gonna hear more than 1-2 times...
I agree the reality is people judge music by the experience and not the sound, but isn't that silly?
Isn't it a bit circular if the best music in your or my opinion becomes the music that we most fervently collect or go to concerts of (possibly because friends do), and then we continue fervently collecting it or attending concerts because "it's the best music"?
It might be a psychological hack to cause more people to become superfans by drawing out the obsessive compulsive desire to collect rare artifacts (which happen to be music CDs in this case).