In 1999 Danny Sugarman, then Doors Manager, began talking about a
Doors internet record label for CDs' to be released through the Doors Official Website. Sugarman joined in a conversation in 1999 to set the record straight about The Doors and Commericalism.
After reading Sugarmans' statements from 1999, (see below) it seems he cared a great deal for the new direction the Doors were going with their Official Website. .
FROM THE DOORS GOOGLE MESSAGE BOARD - COMMENTS FROM DANNY SUGARMAN:
From: DSugerman
Subject: re: Danny Sugerman
Newsgroups: alt.music.the-doors
Date: 1999/08/18
After staying out of this conversation, I decided to jump in and
simply go on
the record, semi officially. First off, I want to say, before there
was the
movie, before there were the books, before there was any market for
the Doors,
Ray Manzarek and I were working to introduce people to the Doors and
the story
and the brilliance of Jim Morrison. That was my job in 1974. And
it's still
my job. I also try and protect the Doors copyrights, which might
not jibe well
with other Doors website but they have to understand while I
understand they
are doing their own tribute, they are competing with the Doors own
website
which is trying to get a new line of never before released
materials, including
25 titles never before relleased of music, radio specials,
interviews, etc.
Now, I don't have anything against anyone who loves the Doors. But
the Doors
and I both have problems with fans who try and profit illicitly off
the
Doors--people like Rainer Moddemann who has never been a Doors rep
but who is a
liar, and a thief. He helped us get in touch with one tv station
and gave us
the phone number of a photographer. Compared with what he's taken,
and
bootlegged, he should be satisfied. But he's not. He wants the
glory. And he
deserves none. He rips fans off with crappy bootlegs. Robby
Krieger let him
do some pr when Robby was in Germany five years ago. Rainer has
nothing to do
with the Doors and if I had my way he'd be in jail. A lot of nasty
shit gets
said about people on this site and I think Jim Morrison would be
disqusted with
the pettiness and name-calling.
Despite what you may have heard, I knew Jim and Jim knew me. Jim
hired me,
with the rest of the Doors and their manager Bill Siddons when I was
a kid.
Pam had nothing to do with it. I didn't get a chance to know Pam
until shortly
before she left for Paris. I knew her sister, Judy, who ran
Pam/Jim's store,
Themis...so this business I read about Jim hiring me cause Pamela
asked him to
is bullshit. I got hired in ten minutes one afternoon after I'd
been thrown
out of the office for getting in the way (I was 14 years old).
Also...No One Here Gets Out Alive was dedicated to Jim and Ray. Jim
for
believing in me as a writer and for telling me to write what I know,
which at
the time was him and the Doors. And Ray for supporting me while I
wrote it and
put together the Doors Greatest Hits and coordinated An American
Prayer. The
idea was introduce Jim as a poet with AP, tell his wild story of a
poet who
veered between genius and madness, and whom I loved deeply (I guess
no onewill
ever know what I meant to him but I can tell you this and I can back
it up: He
gave me all his privately published editions of poetry to send to
fans who sent
him poetry and to send to the rock writers I'd become friendly
with); delete
the quad Best Of, the Weird Scenes (new fans couldn't tell the
difference
between Strange Days and Weird Scenes) and 13 (which Jim hated) and
release a
traditional Greatest Hits album. That would, I believed, help put
the Doors
catalog into top condition, shave all off the fat, and hopefully
lead to some
sort of new recognition of Jim and the Doors. That it worked as
well as it did
was overwhelming. But I wasn't surprized. I believed in what I was
selling.
And I didn't do No One Here for the money. Hopkins and I split
$1,200.
Jim believed and I believe that if you do something for the love of
it and it's
successful, you're set, but if you do something for money you don't
love,
either way, you're unfulfilled. I followed his advice.
So don't believe what people say. You can write to me or the Doors
or myself
c/o thedoors.com anytime. I personally read all the mail.
I don't think I'll be back here. Except maybe to nail Rainer to the
wall.
Break on through,
Danny Suger,man
Source:
groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&th=a69cd4cca3147b38&seekm=19990729210524.13372.00003451%40ng-
bd1.aol.com#link21
musicNEWS: New CD's coming from The Doors
Ant-Music News
12-04-00 Press Release
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Bright Midnight Records, a label formed by The Doors Music Company will make available from The Doors’ archives nearly 30 hours of mostly live, unreleased material as well as some rare studio-recorded gems.
The initial CD release, due out this week, is The Doors’ The Bright Midnight Sampler: 14 Songs/8 Concerts, which features eight Doors concert highlights from 1970 recorded at a variety of venues throughout the U.S. In addition, the second release, The Doors Live in Detroit, is now available to order and the third release, No One Here Gets Out Alive, is set to go on sale the week of November 27. All Bright Midnight Records releases are manufactured and distributed by Rhino Handmade, Rhino Entertainment’s Internet-only label. They are available exclusively at
www.thedoors.com and will not be sold in stores.
Recently discovered when consolidating the band’s audio and film works which were scattered around the world in various record company storage facilities, this material completes the full archive of Doors’ sound and film recordings which is now secured in West Hollywood, Calif.
As a result, dozens of hours of never before released performance recordings have come to light and the highlights will be released in the
years to come.
The process of sifting through the treasure trove of Doors live masters began during the production of The Doors Box Set (Elektra, 1997) which included a disc, Live in New York. The disc featured the best of the material recorded by the band during four concerts at New York’s Felt Forum. In all, The Doors recorded approximately 14 concerts in nine cities, with some tracks having been released in Absolutely Live (Elektra, 1970.) For nearly three decades, additional concert recordings sat on the storage shelves undiscovered. Following the overwhelmingly positive response to the Live in New York disc, savvy Doors fans became aware that over a dozen concerts had been professionally recorded and demanded to know what had become of those tracks.
Subsequently the three Doors—John Densmore, Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek—and their manager Danny Sugerman, began the task of reviewing every live tape and were impressed with what they heard. These concert recordings, while not altogether perfect by today’s commercial standards, successfully capture a wide range of exciting Doors music live-from a drunken over-the-top Boston concerts, to an intense, bluesy show in Detroit, to a stunning performances in Hollywood. Bright Midnight’s aim is to make available all of these concerts ? More than 30 hours of live Doors music, 90 per cent of which has never been heard before. All releases will be produced by original Doors engineer Bruce Botnick.
The new live Doors releases will be presented in their entirety and unedited, culled primarily from the tours that was recorded in 1969 to produce Absolutely Live. The label has also procured additional concert tapes recorded directly from the sound board. The primary goal is to release the best sounding recording and the highest quality artwork at the lowest possible price. The Doors commitment to high standards and excellence will not be compromised.
Bright Midnight Records will release three titles every six months for a period of six years. The first three releases slated are:
The Bright Midnight Sampler: 14 Songs/ 8 Concerts
A sampler of live recordings, highlighting performances from almost every city The Doors visited on their 1970 tour. This volume, released this week, will give fans a taste of what is to come on Bright Midnight Records.
The Doors Live in Detroit
A double CD capturing The Doors in a mesmerizing performance lasting over two hours before a packed house at Detroit’s Cobo Hall.
No One Here Gets Out Alive
The first syndicated Doors radio special where all three Doors were interviewed regarding Jim Morrison’s death and legacy. Originally released to 135 radio stations in 1980, the show appears in four 45 minute segments. On the bootleg market, third and fourth generation copies go for up to $500. It is regarded as the definitive Doors radio production, hosted by Jim Ladd, who also wrote and produced the presentation. These four vinyl discs are reissued on three CD’s.
According to Densmore, Krieger and Manzarek, “Our goal is to give serious Doors fans the material they want, including eight-track recordings of concerts, some previously available only as overpriced, inferior sounding recordings.”
Doors manager Danny Sugerman added, “From 1969, when the Doors recorded their last album (Morrison Hotel) with producer Paul
Rothchild, any unreleased audio material was literally untouchable. Paul controlled the audio archive. No one, not even The Doors, knew what was stored or where. When Rothchild passed away and The Doors, along with longtime engineer Bruce Botnick, began production for what would become The Doors’ box set (1997), the archive was opened and we were all blown away by the plethora of Doors material which had been, for the most part forgotten. ‘Should this be released or not?’ was the question. Commercially we decided no. However, for the real Doors fans, this music deserved to be heard, and the Internet provided the ideal outlet.”
The Doors Official Web Site (http://www.thedoors.com) provides news on upcoming releases and interviews with the band members, as well as the only place where each release will feature songs for streaming. It is their hope that this material will surprise, shock, amaze and delight Doors fans.
www.antimusic.com/news/2000/dec/item1.shtmlTHE DOORS ROCK AGAIN ON THE INTERNET
Mar 1, 2001 12:00 PM, Blair Jackson
MIX - Professional Audio & Distributed in 94 countries, Mix is the world's leading magazine for the professional recording and sound production technology industry. Mix covers a wide range of topics including: recording, live sound and production, broadcast production, audio for film and video, and music technology.
Music Production
“There's gold in them thar' tape vaults!”
Old and new bands alike are increasingly finding that the relatively low cost and high-profit margin of manufacturing CDs and marketing them primarily on the Internet is a good way to get music that might not ordinarily be heard out to their hardcore fan bases. In a sense, it's easy money — but it's also a godsend to fans to be able to tap into a mother lode of an artist's previously unheard live or studio tapes…or at the very least, replace mediocre bootleg tapes/CDs with sonically superior, formally mastered CDs.
One of the most interesting recent examples in this area is Bright Midnight Records, an Internet-only venture by The Doors, whose career effectively ended when lead singer Jim Morrison died in Paris in 1971, but whose legacy still generates millions of dollars for the surviving former members. During Morrison's lifetime, The Doors released only seven albums — six studio LPs and a live set — and in the three decades since his death, there have been only a few peeks into the band's archives: a couple of authorized videos, a Morrison poetry album (American Prayer, which included some new music from the living Doors), a single live disc and 1997's Doors box set, which included a live disc culled from three shows in New York in early 1970.
The interesting thing about surround sound is that there isn't one way to go about handling it. Tricks may be fun to play with in your studio, but are they advancing the idea behind the music?
— Bob Clearmountain
The fact is, there aren't a lot of live tapes of The Doors in circulation, because the band didn't record their shows on a regular basis. There are some soundboard and monitor tapes in The Doors' archives and, thanks to their fans, some bootleg audience tapes that have survived. But the best quality recordings The Doors have in their vault come from the winter 1970 tour (supporting Morrison Hotel) that became the basis for the double-LP Absolutely Live. These shows will be the heart of Bright Midnight's ambitious release program: The company is committed to putting out three titles a year for the next six years — mostly complete, unedited concerts, remixed from the original 8-track masters by the man who originally recorded them, Bruce Botnick (who engineered all of The Doors' studio albums, as well). They are being sold exclusively through the band's official Web site,
www.thedoors.com.
The first batch of three CDs (each is sold separately), which came out at the end of last year, is a little different than what will come out subsequently. It includes one full concert — a fascinating double-CD of an alternately rambling and explosive show from Cobo Arena in Detroit; a historic four-hour radio program, called No One Here Gets Out Alive, featuring extensive interviews and plenty of rare Doors music (it was put together 20 years ago by L.A. radio personality Jim Ladd to coincide with the release of the popular Danny Sugarman book of the same name); and a superb single-disc sampler showcasing tracks from some of the concerts that will be released on Bright Midnight, as well as a number of live rarities from other tape sources. It's quite a bounty for Doors fans.
According to Botnick, “The philosophy behind this is to bring to the fans everything we've got on multitrack from that tour — the good, bad and the ugly. And there was some bad and ugly stuff in there. Not all concerts were great, of course. Sometimes Jim was inebriated, sometimes he wasn't. A lot of it is really great, though, and deserves to be heard. We recorded everything on 8-track, and the goal now is to mix these shows as well as we can today and get them out there, because people have been listening to bootlegs that really sound lousy, and why should they have lousy in their house when they can have a lot better?”
Botnick says that the tapes were all in great shape. “They're playing just fine, which I suppose is a testament to BASF,” he says. There was a problem to overcome on the Detroit tapes, however. “A person who previously worked on the tapes when I wasn't around had pulled pieces out of the masters and they're gone. So I had to go back to the live 2-tracks I had recorded at the same time to fill all the holes. It didn't end up being too big of a problem.”
In the case of that May ’70 Cobo Arena show, Botnick was set up in a remote truck provided by Fedco Audio Labs, and he recorded the concert onto a Stevens solid-state, 1-inch 8-track and an Ampex 351 2-track. The truck was equipped with a custom console. Because The Doors were just three musicians and Morrison, he needed relatively few mics: AKG C-12As on guitarist Robbie Kreiger's and keyboardist Ray Manzarek's amps, and a Neumann U87 on Manzarek's piano bass. John Densmore's drums were captured by a Shure SM57 on the snare, an Altec “salt shaker” on the kick and Sennheiser 405s as overheads. Morrison sang into an SM57, and the audience was picked up by a Neumann SM69 stereo mic. The 8-track tape was BASF LR56 at 15 ips; the 2-track 3M 126. By today's standards, that list probably looks downright primitive, but the fact is, the tapes sounded great.
Each of the live releases (with the exception of the sampler) has detailed technical information by Botnick, who notes, “I figure there are a lot of fans out there who want to know all that stuff. When I was growing up, I got a lot of my information from reading the back of albums. You'd occasionally find someone saying, ‘I used a U47 on the trumpets,’ so when I got to do recording, I sometimes tried the things I read about. So I'm continuing in that tradition.”
Botnick is mixing the tapes in his L.A.-area home studio, using a Sony DMX-R100 digital console as the heart of his system. Though the first concert set, Live in Detroit, was prepared at 48k, downsampled to 44.1 for CD (via db Technologies 3000s), Botnick has loftier intentions for other releases in the series: “The problem we have is that we're still stuck in the CD area, so I can't give everyone what it really sounds like because of the limitations of the CD. But all the future ones are going to be high-bandwidth — 96k, 24-bit — and will be 5.1 as well as stereo. And we're hoping that we can release them in both SACD multichannel and DVD-A. I also really like the way DSD sounds. Those will all be much closer to the way it should sound.” Other equipment in Botnick's arsenal for these CDs includes the new TC Electronic 6000 reverb, Ayre Acoustics V-1 amplifiers, db Technologies A/D converters, and an HD Sonic Solutions System for editing and mastering.
For Botnick, the project is both business and nostalgia. The Doors have been a major part of his livelihood since he was a teenager recording that first Doors album in early 1967. Every time he goes into the vault to listen to a studio or live multitrack — and there has been a plethora of hits and other releases over the years — he's hearing himself at work as a young man. “In a way, when I'm mixing these tapes now, I'm trying to be 23 years old again,” he says with a chuckle. “And that's hard. I'm not the same person today that I was in 1970. I have a different sensibility and obviously I've been listening to lots of different things through the years. Recording equipment has changed, of course. But what we're trying to do [on these CDs] is capture the music as accurately as we can so we can bring the best to the fans. That's really who it's for.”
mixonline.com/mag/audio_doors_rock_again/Information Week
The Business Value Of Technology
April 21, 2006 12:00 PM
The Doors To Join Pearl Jam In Online Content Delivery
The classic rockers will use a digital content management and delivery service to make available for download previously unreleased songs and concerts recorded by the band from 1967 to 1970.
By Darrell Dunn
Classic rockers The Doors will soon be joining Pearl Jam, a more modern rock band, in using a digital content management and delivery network service from Savvis and Basecamp Productions. The Doors plan to make available for download previously unreleased songs and concerts recorded by the band from 1967 to 1970.
The Doors plan to announce on Monday that fans will be able to create "virtual box sets" of live and studio Doors performances by going directly to the band's Web site. Fans will be able to re-create their favorite Doors album using live tracks from concerts, or create a CD with several live versions of the same song from different concerts.
"You will be able to move around the content as you see fit, which is the future," says John Densmore, drummer for the legendary band, whose catalog already sells more than a million albums annually. "This is kind of a 'fix your own pizza' concept. There are some real jewels in these concerts that haven't been put out before, and this kind of effort will make the legacy [of The Doors] even better."
The Doors will be using the same content delivery technology that Pearl Jam has been using on its Web site since late last year. During the band's fall tour in 2005, Pearl Jam made each concert available for download immediately after a show ended. More than two million songs were downloaded from the 2005 tour, says Joshua James, owner and co-founder of Basecamp, an online distribution company that provides services for the buying and selling of live music immediately after a concert.
Pearl Jam decided in 2000 to release CDs of each live concert in an effort to stop illegal bootlegs of the concerts. At the time, Pearl Jam's record label didn't think releasing dozens of individual concert recordings was a good idea, but the band eventually sold 3 million CDs from the 2000 tour, James says.
"It became clear that for the right band, there was quite a market for these official bootlegs," James says. "We're now taking this directly to the artist Web site. There is no third party, no sending you off to iTunes. If you are The Doors, Pearl Jam, or U2, and you've got millions of visitors coming to your Web site, so why not deal with them directly? Why send them off somewhere else?"
"Anything that Pearl Jam does, I'm down with, because they have so much integrity," Densmore says. "Pearl Jam is always trying to find new things and explore new technology, and I like that."
The bands use the Basecamp software, which James described as a "white-label iTunes." Savvis, which is a provider of managed and outsourced IT services, provides the infrastructure to store, manage, distribute, and protect the content.
The Savvis services range from workflow tools for managing the creation and production process to digital distribution capabilities, says Tom Moran, senior director of media and entertainment for Savvis.
"If you look at what is happening with iTunes and other online music stores, they are frankly failing the music industry in terms of time-to-market," Moran says. "I can manufacture a CD and distribute it to retail faster than I can get a track up on the iTunes music store by a factor of about 2X, which is crazy. There is a huge demand for content that is timely, especially among hard-core fans that purchase concert downloads."
The Pearl Jam concert downloads are available for $9.99 each, which includes high-quality MP3 downloads of each song played, 15 to 20 photos from the show, set lists, and artwork that can be downloaded to create a CD.
Jeff Jampol, The Doors' manager, says concerts and other content should be available on their Web site within two months. Specific pricing will be announced later.
The Doors, which were inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, include keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, drummer Densmore, and lead singer Jim Morrison, who died in 1971.
The living members of the band have performed together just twice since 1973. During their recording heyday, Densmore recalls thinking: "If we lasted 10 years that would be great. And now were getting ready to celebrate 40 years [in 2007]. Now our fans can make their own albums. Jim [Morrison] said that in the future there will be one guy with a machine making the music. Now our fans can be the record producer."
James says Basecamp is in "late stage" discussions about creating additional online music repositories with artists of similar stature and with as many fans as Pearl Jam and The Doors. "We're definitely finding a market for this, particularly for big artists at the top," he says. "If you've got 50,000 people buying live concerts, and an artist plays 50 shows, that's 2.5 million downloads. So you take a hard-core audience and create a volume product."
www.informationweek.com/news/inte....cleID=186500578Sydney Morning Herald
Doors Open To New Online Fans
Owen Gibson in London
March 27, 2007
IN 1967 they were trying to "break down the doors of perception" with some of the best-known songs of the era.
Now the surviving members of the Doors hope to snare a new generation of fans by releasing their entire back catalogue online.
Faced with declining CD sales, record labels are hoping to market rock's biggest names to younger listeners via the web, with the Doors leading the charge to mark the 40th anniversary of the release of their classic self-titled debut album.
The group are re-releasing all six albums with their late lead singer Jim Morrison, from the incendiary self-titled 1967 debut to 1971's LA Woman, made months before Morrison died.
Each album has been remastered with new material from the original sessions by the band and Bruce Botnick, the engineer on LA Woman. Two new greatest hits collections and some unreleased tracks and alternative versions will also be available.
The Doors' guitarist, Robby Krieger, said this was the first time they had revisited the back catalogue in depth. "Even though you get bootlegged to death, there's something good to be said for the internet. If groups can sell their own records, that's great," he said.
Elton John has also made his entire back catalogue available for digital download, initially via Apple's iTunes. The archive, spanning 40 year and more than 400 tracks, is being released to coincide with his 60th birthday and a new greatest hits album.
The Beatles are also expected to finally join the download fray this year after settling a long-running trademark dispute with Apple.
www.smh.com.au/news/music/doors-o....l?s_cid=rss_smh
'Cars Hiss By My Window' is pure blues which benefits from wonderful guitar work from Robbie. 
