Online retailer Amazon.com has announced a new partnership with major music labels Sony BMG and EMI to offer out-of-print albums on CD through Amazon’s CreateSpace subsidiary. Under the deal, out-of-print albums on CD will be listed in Amazon’s general music catalog; when they’re ordered by customers, the CDs will be manufactured on-demand and shipped. Amazon.com and the labels are promoting the service as a way to revive out-of-print music and make it available to dedicated fans. Some labels and content providers are also using CreateSpace’s manufacture-on-demand services to release new content.
CreateSpace started out as CustomFlix Labs; they were acquired by Amazon.com in 2005.
“This is an exciting day for music fans and Amazon customers. Through our partnerships with Sony BMG and EMI Music, Amazon customers have an even greater selection of music to choose from today,” said Amazon VP of music and movies Peter Faricy, in a statement. “CreateSpace ‘Disc on Demand’ is not only making out-of-print albums available once again, but it’s also enabling digital-only titles and international titles that haven’t been released in the U.S. to be made available on CD.”
Some of the titles made available through the deal include Joe Strummer’s Earthquake Weather, Cake’s Motorcade of Generosity, Henry Mancini’s Hatari! soundtrack, and Grant Green’s Carryin’ On.
Although CreateSpace has been offering some original content, including KCRW’s Sounds Eclectic series, but is still trying to shake the stigma of being a service primary utilized by vanity publishers.
