Things going out of print. Does this still happen, and if so what are the most recent examples?

[Ludovic]

@ZipperJJ

With regards to music… the artist Lizzo has been putting out music since about 2012. She had some EPS and singles and studio albums. You could buy them online in CD and digital format (at least on Amazon, that’s where I bought them) and stream everything on Spotify. But this year just before her new album on Atlantic came out, all of her physical and digital stuff was no longer available. No CDs, no older singles and no streaming except her new album and one or two newer singles.

I suspect it’s due to her latest label contract and we’ll see her old stuff again sometime once all the legalities are figured out. But it sucks because new fans are completely locked out from her older music. It’s effectively out of print, for the moment.

I guess that also explains why she’s no longer the signoff for the public radio show On Being. (Or at least the last time I caught the end of it as it’s not really my thing.)

[Yllaria]

Does never being in print count? The Comedy of Errors by the Flying Karamazov Brothers was a one-time production that was aired in 1987. It was filmed live from Lincoln Center and I think it was used as a PBS fundraiser. No one collected the authorizations from the many performers, so it could never be re-aired or sold. I taped it live on VHS and the tape was starting to wear out when someone “borrowed” it. It’s only been available as bootleg copies.

[dorvann]

@bibliophage

I know of several examples of self-censorship, where the copyright owner voluntarily removes the work from the market because of some controversy.

Rage by Stephen King, because he was afraid it might encourage potential mass shooters

Song of the South, the Disney film, because it’s now considered racially offensive

One episode of the original Hawaii Five-O with Jack Lord titled “Bored, She Hung Herself” because it features auto-erotic asphyxiation or something similar.

The short-lived 1970s TV series James at 15 has never been rebroadcast or released on home video because it features underage sexuality.

The version of Lady Gaga’s “Do What U Want” that featured R. Kelly, because of the accusations against Kelly.

I’m sure there must be many more.

Let’s all forget one of the most infamous acts of self-censorship due to controversy-----George Lucas refusing to release The Star Wars Holiday Special. The controversy being that it absolutely sucked.

[Yllaria]

Speaking of Lucas, is the Howard the Duck movie out of print?

[ftg]

@Yllaria

Speaking of Lucas, is the Howard the Duck movie out of print?

This here’s the age of streaming, kid.

It’s available from at least a half dozen services. You can rent it from Amazon Video for $4.

[iamthewalrus_3]

@Little_Nemo

At what point do you say it’s no longer available? Is a game still in print is there’s a copy sitting on a shelf in a store that’s two thousand miles away from me and I don’t know exists?

I think a good working definition for “out of print” is that it’s no longer something that you can walk into a game store and place an order for to be filled.

If something is popular enough that the distributors are out of it and the publisher isn’t currently making more and the only remaining stock is on whatever store shelves it ended up on, that’s out of print.

Board games might be the thing that goes out of print the most of all mass media because production costs are higher and print runs are smaller. If a DVD goes out of print and there’s demand, you can send the cover art and the digital master to any of many DVD producers and they can start pumping them out by the end of the day. If a book needs to go back into print, it’s a little harder. You’ve got to figure out paper stock supplies, etc. Board games often have a bunch of different pieces made out of several of different materials from different suppliers.

[Miller]

@dorvann

Let’s all forget one of the most infamous acts of self-censorship due to controversy-----George Lucas refusing to release The Star Wars Holiday Special. The controversy being that it absolutely sucked.

I’m not aware of any controversy around the Holiday Special sucking. Everyone seems to be pretty much on the same page about it being awful.

[Yllaria]

@ftg

This here’s the age of streaming, kid.

It’s available from at least a half dozen services. You can rent it from Amazon Video for $4.

I’d heard a rumor long ago that Lucas was trying to suppress it. Either the rumor was wrong or things have loosened up.

[BigT]

@Little_Nemo

That’s a pretty enervated standard. You’re basically saying something should be considered “in print” as long as it’s possible to print a copy if somebody wants one. But that standard, I could say that my collected posts on this board are in print.

I fail to see what’s wrong with that. That’s how it has to work with digital goods. The alternative is that nothing that is digital only is ever said to be “in print,” because digital goods are always copied on demand.

Granted, it must be available legally. I’m presuming in this analogy that you are authorizing these print copies. If the only way to obtain something is via illegal copying, then I would agree it is no longer in print.

[Hari_Seldon]

A book I coauthored published in 1985 went out of print by 1990 and the copyright was returned to my coauthor and me. A few years ago, I discovered that the book is now offered for a price by the original publisher as a POD edition. It is also available on my website for free. My late coauthor also had it on his, but I am not sure his site is still up. Is it out of print? Your call. I assume the original publisher is using a scanned version, but the corrected one on my site is a PDF created from a TeX file.