Reissue

In the music industry, a reissue (also re-release, repackage, or re-edition) is the release of an album which has been released at least once before, sometimes with alterations or additions.

Recordings originally released in an audio format that has become technologically or commercially obsolete are reissued in new formats. For example, thousands of original vinyl albums have been reissued on CDs since introduction of that format in the early 1980s. More recently, many albums originally released on CD or earlier formats have been reissued on SACD or DVD-Audio.

Beginning with Pickwick Records, which acquired the rights to reissue many of Capitol Records' non-current albums at a low price in venues other than record stores, several record companies started "budget" or "drugstore records" subsidiaries to sell their deleted items at lower prices.

When one record label buys out another record label or acquires an individual recording artist's back catalogue, their albums are often reissued on the purchasing label. For example, Polydor Records reissued many of James Brown's albums which were originally released on his former label, King Records. King Records had itself previously reissued albums and singles by Brown that were originally recorded for its subsidiary label, Federal Records.

Recordings are reissued to meet continuing demand for an album that continues to be popular after its original release. In other cases, albums are reissued to create interest in and hopefully revive the sales of a release which has sold poorly. For example, the heavy metal label Roadrunner Records is notorious for reissuing their artist's works' only months after releasing the original album. According to US music magazine Billboard, reissues target "casual consumers who hadn't picked up the album when it was originally released, as well as obsessives who need to own every song in an artist's catalog."

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