David Ayers

Haven't got time to read the piece, but regardless of vocabulary if he is relating the European reception of AEC to '68 he is surely correct.

For the rest, if people don't like these products they won't buy them. Paying for music is entirely optional these days. These labels are offering a service, that's all. In fact quite a good service in some ways. Masses of material is kept available, there is really good distribution. And that is actually what your music-dollar is paying for, not the musicians or the imaginary fat-cats. I sometimes think that the general fuss we make about royalties is a displacement of our own unease about how much of what we pay for music (over 90%) just goes to pay for the service. The retailer makes far more per unit than the musicians or composers. Some people think shop prices are too high. Guess what, they are not high enough, and stores close. Distribution the same, it costs money, and the reason that these PD releases cost as much as official ones is that you are paying for this chain, there's no way round it. You aren't paying for music, so much, you are paying for someone to get it to you. Mind you, a friend of mine is the estate of a name musician. Fresh Sounds recently did one of his. I haven't yet asked her about that, if she even knows about it let alone if they contacted her. She is periodically contacted regarding permissions so I am quite curious if FS went this route. If she's cross about it I might not defend them....

I guess you can use the word how you like but...that isn't what it means to most people. I forgive you though

If you think about what it is you pay and what it is you actually get, you (usually) really don't get what you pay for! Lot of truth in that. I paid £5 for the entire Lord of the Rings Trilogy on 3 DVDs. That begins to be value for money. If you can be bothered to watch it. Music is steadfastly over-priced. Only way that our small niche can be serviced with the massive over-production which it seems to require. Um, or maybe that's not what you meant...

Well I guess if they copied the Stateside set the quality is pretty reasonable . Like you I mainly avoid this stuff, partly on quality grounds, partly on aroma, and I haven't ever put my toe in the water with the '8 albums for the price of a (Swiss) beer' crew...

Not bootlegs, which are unauthorised releases of otherwise unavailable live recordings. And these are legitimate releases, with questions (for some) over ethics regarding sources. But...they are legal and not in any sense boots. Sorry to keep hammering over points of vocabulary. Oh and anyway boots are great - who'd be without them?

Evidently I didn't put enough winkies

We will be waiting with baited breath by the letter box ! Be careful what you catch. Bated.

Thanks. They're playing it close to the chest...

May be that the Japanese releases are licensed only for release in Japan. The recent spate of Warner euro-japanese releases may be an indication that could change more broadly. Maybe. Sorry, a bit OT.

I asked about the take-away window. Nobody's talking. Suspicious.

All the fuss that we made here about Don Was...

It looks like a Concord US release (the barcode indicates US product, if I'm not mistaken) for European markets. FWIW it's not listed in the Concord site and Amazon.com doesn't seem to carry it. (It doesn't appear on Amazon.jp either) I'm only speculating, though. It'd be great if anyone could tell what it says on the actual box. F Amazon.com lists the Coltrane as an (expensive) import...

Probably explains why the Coltrane and Davis are more costly than the universal.it sets. I wonder where they originate then. Does anybody actually have one?

@alankin - No. Those are the albums in Dolphy's name, one album per CD. The 9 CD set included six albums with Dolphy as sideman with live sessions presented in running order.

Good point on the JC Complete Prestige - I just assumed it was universal.it but maybe not. The Davis Chronicle which I mentioned in the other thread is certainly may be them. I actually don't know. There may be hopes yet that they will do the full Dolphy box and, who knows, the Kirk, if these things sell which it seems they do.

@ubu - maybe worth including the Coltrane Complete Prestige in the main list instead of in a note - I suspect that and the Miles Davis Chronicle will be among the most popular and I dare say they are responding to feedback about the other perhaps less satisfactory album sets by those two.I wouldn't want a casual browser of this thread to miss those!

i don't think we discussed it but universal.it have also done the Miles Prestige box.

Seems that 'the blues' is the last refuge of a scoundrel

Some good prices on Universal box sets at mdt.co.uk. This UK site has regular label offers, this particular offer seems to have some better reductions than usual. It may be these prices will be reflected on uk amazon, so worth checking these titles there too. http://www.mdt.co.uk/special-offers/collectors-edition-boxsets.html

No help from me, I'm afraid. I do have a few Incus LPs but have never worked out questions of labeling and I don't have LP of Topography.

What happened to the take-away window?

So Dusty Groove is in America! Helpful reminder to absorbed customers what country they are in when they raise their eyes from the racks.

Thanks for posting that.

That's one thing I didn't figure out from the article - demographic. I'm assuming they are talking about spend on recorded music - spend on live music is a different thing. It seems to me that it is mainly an older age-group which was brought up on LP and/or CD who are in the habit of purchasing and collecting, and it is surely true that many younger people wouldn't dream of paying for downloads and have little interest in CD. That said, the idea of Spotify was that people would pay for a service that was more convenient than illegal downloading. So the article is only really about how to reach people who are not that into this or that but might pay for a life-style service. So maybe MORE people WILL pay if it is served up right. But the model a lot of us here have - of pay-per-recording - is surely now on the back foot. People commonly pay monthly for various services, and that's the target.