What I don't like is when there's a 10-song album and then loads of b-sides spread all over the place. If you have 20 songs and all of them are gonna get released so do it at once and put out a double album.
That's not commercially viable for a standard release.
It's far better in commercial terms to release a single cd and then do a deluxe version with the bonus for the die hard fans.
There's a huge difference between not viable and less profitable but let's assume what you say is true. We live in the digital era and packing deluxe versions with bonus tracks doesn't make anyone buy those
just for the songs. Die hard fans buy a deluxe version because of its physical content: books, pictures, posters, vinyls... by the time the box arrives they've listened to every single song (b-sides included) dozens and dozens of times - meaning extra songs play an insignificant role in the process.
Of course there's a reason why executives do what they do but we are talking about the same guys who, according to GF himself, don't think a Mark Knopfler blu-ray would sell well.
Anyway, I didn't want to trigger off a marketing debate, I just said that I don't like b-sides being released separately.
