Not only do they print the release date on the back of their records, not only they file many data online (ISRC, ISWC, credits including arrangers, track length,etc.).
But today I discovered yet another wonder in minc that I use everyday (for ISRC, track length, work link, etc.) but never yet paid attention to that next to already crazy detailed stuff, they even show the date of sold out! (here, 2003.07.01):
I think you were.
Google Translate translates 廃盤日 as “out of print date”, which is essentially the same as a deletion date (the date a release is taken out of print, not necessarily the date on which the last copy was sold).
Regardless, it’s interesting/useful to know that somewhere someone is keeping track of the dates on which releases were deleted in addition to their release dates.
For me, out of print — in French épuisé — is really not the same as deleted — in French retiré.
So I don’t know for sure how we should interpret that data, it is maybe both or either one of them.
Recently, Higelin’s discography was indeed withdrawn from shelves (oh, it was before his death, not related to his death, BTW, that happened shortly after), then re released by another label.
In France, I think, deleted is rare, compared with out of print.
So I naturally thought 廃盤日 was for out of print (sold out).
Maybe it’s not that rare but I just knew about Higelin’s case because I was looking for one of his albums, exactly at this time where everything had been removed.
Can you elaborate on what you see as the difference?
I would interpret both “deleted” and “out of print” to mean the same thing - the label is no longer selling this release, it’s been deleted from their catalog.
Retiré de la vente means that the remaining CD were removed from the shelves, and I think, destroyed (or given out to logistic workers’ friends).
I thought this would translate as the deleted@HibiscusKazeneko mentionned
Épuisé means that all the pressed CD have been sold
I thought this would translate as 廃盤日 and sold out
The Japanese word for “sold out” is 売り切れ. So I assumed that if there was a sold-out date, it would be noted with something like 売り切れ日 (or more elaborately, 最後の商品売れた日, “date last product was sold”).
I’m not fluent in the language, so this is mostly conjecture.
My knowledge is rather dated, but I think the “removed from the shelves” event is rare in the US as well. As far as I know this only happens when there is a legal issue (as in the case of U2 by Negativland) or something very controversial (like the “butcher baby” version of the Beatles’ Yesterday and Today ). Those are generally referred to as “withdrawn” or “recalled”.
“Deleted” to me means simply that the label is no longer selling it; copies may still be in stores, and in the distribution pipeline for some time. (In fact labels would often sell their remaining inventory as non-returnable “cutouts”. I don’t think this is done as much any more due to the decline of used book/record/CD stores which was where a lot of cutouts were sold, and perhaps also due to more precise inventory control.)
