Downloads of Rolling Stones music are now available in high-definition. ABKCO Music & Records, which controls the rights to the Rolling Stones’ early catalogue of music, has teamed up with HDtracks to sell the downloads, as of March 1, 2011.
CNN reports that the first 27 Rolling Stones albums will go on sale incrementally as part of this deal. The first five Rolling Stones HD albums that were released on March 1 have an average U.S. retail price of $20 to $30 each. The rest of the Rolling Stones HD recordings will go on sale on the first day of every month until September 2011.
According to CNN: "The HDtracks releases are based on remasters that were pressed on Super Audio CDs between 2002 and 2004. These CDs are no longer being made, but ABKCO is considering producing another batch, says [ABKCO CEO Jody] Klein."
HD-quality music is usually recorded on 24-bit quality, but the music is downgraded to 16-bit format for CDs and non-HD digital retailers. As expected with these HD files, the size of the files is much larger than non-HD files. Each track takes up about 2 GB on a computer.
HDtracks tells CNN that the website has about "5,400 albums and 100,000 customers, with classic rock, classical and jazz being hot genres." Universal Music Group (which signed the Rolling Stones in 2008) is one of the major labels that has a deal with HDtracks. "The Rolling Stones are the biggest act to offer most of their catalog on HDtracks," according to CNN.
As previously reported, a Rolling Stones CD box set titled "Complete Singles (1971-2006)" is scheduled to be released in April 2011. The box set consists of 45 of the band's singles from 1971 to 2006, with numerous bonus features included.
The box set goes on sale in several countries on April 11, 2011. The U.S. release date is April 19, 2011. The box set also has different titles, depending on the country, including "The Singles Collection (1971 to 2006)" or "The Rolling Stones Singles (1971-2006)."
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