"Future Of Classic Records" thread (part two)

AcousticSounds can still repress the titles if they bought the licenses as well. I wouldn't surprised if they sold their current stock at the inflated prices then had some of them repressed at a later date. They have repressed titles in the past that were claimed to be strictly 2500, which I have confirmed with one of their customer service reps after an OOP title was back in stock after a couple of years when AcousticSounds said "a box of these records were found in our warehouse".

 

Acoustic Sounds couldn't buy the licenses from Classic Records. You can't transfer them without the approval of the major label. Moreover, this is most likely happening because they didn't have licenses that were current. Licensing is very tricky and takes plenty of work in order to get the license. People have to keep in mind that licensing is a huge difficulty for the label and they make nothing off of the license. Yes, I know they make $5 or so per unit, but this is nothing for a label. The whole exercise is nothing but extra work for an executive within the label. I'm sure they are struggling to sell 5,000 copies of some of these titles.

 

To add my two cents in this "old ladies at a supper club" discussion, niche labels have to do what they can to survive. (Now can one of you ladies pass the gravy?)

 

FWIW the copy of Time Out(45 version) that I ordered from themusic.com last week just arrived. So folks who are complaining about pricing should take a look at their site where a lot of good titles still remain at normal prices.

 

I heard it this way:

One little old lady said to the other: "Tell me, Edna, what do you think of Red China?"

Edna: "To tell you the truth, the Hoffman master's the one to get."

 

I guess anyone with a differing opinion and speaks their mind is an old lady. Should we all shake our heads and just say yes or no? Sigh......

 

Relax ... it was a joke. I think.

 

Yeah, but what about the one about a guy who goes into a bar with a duck on his head and the bartender.........

I hear ya......

 

I'm glad other people like Myron Cohen tee hee....

'Tis all in good fun lads.

 

Good stuff at Elusive Disc as well.

I got my Big Star #1 Record, Casino Royale soundtrack and the Clarity PG2 45 rpm (in the pink box) this afternoon. My, how wonderfully they boxed my vinyl, too.

There's still good Classic titles out there at fair prices and I'm not waiting for a sale.

 

If music licensing is anything like film rights sales then the labels will most likely have a provision in the contract to stop CR from selling on the rights.

I suspect there is also a clause that stipulates the rights immediately revert back to the labels if CR files for bankruptcy, etc.

Eddie

 

A problem with not going thru acoustic sounds or elusive disc or soundstagedirect (Seth is a nice guy) is that I doubt the music.com will take back product that is defective...heck
they don't return customer service emails

 

They didn't always two years ago.

 

I hope Classic Records will consider updating their website soon to display the correct "in print" and "out of print" information for all of the titles still listed.

 

Just want to pipe in. Raising capital to acquire productive assets and produce something at a profit is capitalism. Until just now it seems, Classic was a capitalist firm.

That is not the same thing as a market, which is much more common in human history and has been around a lot longer than capitalism. Markets can be part of socialism, tribalism, primitive communism, and feudalism. Acoustic Sounds is a merchant, and selling scarce fetish objects at high prices is something entirely different than capitalism.

Also, it is fairly common in the history of record labels to be produced and distributed by another firm. I don't see why that would make Classic lose their licenses (their may be other factors, though). Also, there is nothing to stop the renegotiation of licenses to allow new pressings of titles which would sell. Chad certainly left the door open quite explicitly.

For many titles, it will be buy now, cry later. For a handful it will be buy now or cry later. No one knows because no one knows which ones might be repressed or superceded by better versions later. Ten years ago MoFi vinyl was a lot more expensive than it is today, with only a few exceptions. And few DCC titles have kept their peak value either.

Perhaps Classic is attempting to stay in business as an A&R/mastering house. One thing that occurs to me is they might make it as a producer for major label luxury vinyl. So maybe Sony contracts out Classic to produce Time Out. It could be manufactured and sold by Sony from the Classic plates and feature a little Classic logo and credit and royalty--or they could do this with new titles.

Finally, Classic has better visibility than Acoustic Sounds in that their reissues are actually sold in record stores much more frequently.

 

I ordered what will probably be my final purchases on Classic Records: 200 gram pressings of Hendrix's Axis Bold as Love and Band of Gypsys. I was able to get them for reasonable prices through Amazon of all places. Axis has already arrived. I'm hoping BofG arrives soon.

 

I would absolutely stay far away from Jazz Loft. I had one of the worst customer service experiences in my life with them. They also owe lots of money to a friend of mine for product that he supplied them and didn't receive payment for - and that was years ago.

 

While in theory, the ideal capitalist system there would be no monopolies or oligopolies, but the reality is there is no practical way to avoid that in the real world for any length of time. In theory, socialism would make everyone equal economically, and we all know what a crock that is.

We live in a real world and most countries have capitalist economies complete with monopolies and oligopolies. Deal with it. As has been said before, capitalism is the worst economic system, except for all the others.

You cry babies need to go back and retake Economics 101- there's this little concept of supply and demand. If demand exceeds supply, the price goes up. If acoustic sounds doesn't raise the price, marketeers will buy THEY will jack up the price. I guess legitimate businesses have no right to make a profit- or would you prefer a socialist or communist economy where someone decides what is a fair profit? The market speaks and smart businessmen listen. Those that don't work for someone who does.

Personally, I would prefer to pay the AS inflated price than get into a bidding war on Ebay.

 

My first lesson from my record dealer is about 10 years old:
"Buy now or cry later!"
He was right. I have all those CR high tickets and honestly, I have absolutely no problem when they are now 5x the price at ebay now, because they are out of print.
I guess, now they will rise much more

 

I have excellent experiences with Jazz Loft so hopefully the bad experiences are aberrational.....recent order was quickly dispatched and already received them including sketches of spain classic records 200grams onsale for $26

 

And then there're those Beatles mono boxes.

 

Exactly!

I'll bet Classic Records vinyl will be on the market as rare newely discovered warehouse stock for decades to come. Some times will just keep on coming forever.

 

Does anyone know about the status of their DADs and HDADs ?

Or are they in or out of print on a case by case basis?

Acoustic Sounds has some of the DADs as low as $10

 

Eventually the mono box will be scarce, it's just going to take a few years rather than a few months.